Bill Watterson draws up his first pubilc cartoon since Calvin and Hobbes: The poster for “Stripped,” a new documentary about newspaper comic strips

Would you look at that?!

It’s the movie poster for Stripped, a new documentary about the history of newspaper comic strips and what happens to them now that newspapers are dying. And perhaps just as symbolically important — the poster image is the first public cartoon drawn up by Bill Watterson since he retired as the creator of “Calvin and Hobbes” in 1995. Watterson previously had picked up the pen for the public’s sake three years ago at a charity fund-raiser.

“It sounded like fun, and maybe something people wouldn’t expect, so I decided to give it a try,” Watterson told The Washington Post‘s Comic Riffs on Wednesday. “Dave sent me a rough cut of the film and I dusted the cobwebs off my ink bottle.”

“Given the movie’s title and the fact that there are few things funnier than human nudity, the idea popped into my head largely intact…The film is a big valentine to comics, so I tried to do something really cartoon-y. I had thought of having it colored with off-registered printing dots like newspaper comics, but Dave asked if I’d paint it instead, and I think he made the right call.”

Filmmakers Frederick Schroeder and Dave Kellett conducted more than 90 interviews with the world’s best cartoonist’s for Stripped — including the first-ever audio interview with Watterson, plus Jim Davis (Garfield), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), Mike & Jerry (Penny Arcade), Matt Inman (The Oatmeal), Jeff Keane (The Family Circus), Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics), Lynn Johnston (FBOFW), Zach Weiner (SMBC), Scott Kurtz (PvP), Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), Richard Thompson (Cul de Sac), Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Bill Amend (Foxtrot), Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant) and more.

Roll the trailer!

Stripped will be available for purchase in April.

Previously: There’s also a separate documentary just on Watterson and the influence of “Calvin and Hobbes” called Dear Mr. Watterson.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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