October 18, 2025
Sometimes, as a parent and grandparent, I worry about who we have become. My current creative dilemma is how do I reframe a very famous historical story?
All the while being honest and true? And without overly glorifying the bloody aspects of the tale? As most parents know, the wrong examples can ruin kid's lives.
Speaking of which, a couple years ago, I was visited by this crazy cat.
Yesterday, I received a book in the mail from London and it was a gift from Darcy.
It's mostly a book full of crazy Old West caricatures and I must say, I especially enjoyed this obvious homage to a certain Kid we all know:
Here is the foreword from a famous cartoonist:
"These drawings are about history. They're about the brutal, feral part of America. They're about guns and violence. They're about cultural collisions. They're about environment. They're about deranged roles of masculinity and femininity. They're about phony cultural mythologies and cheap patriotism. These drawings explore the themes of America—the historical and the mythic West as the essence of the American character. . .and ye gods, look at who we are!"
—Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes's cartoonist
"They're about deranged roles of masculinity and femininity." Sometimes, it's best just to keep your mouth shut...I'll exercise that now. I wish Bill had. I loved Calvin and Hobbes; Bill Watterson is a hell of a cartoonist. I think Wyatt Earp would've told Bill this, “I suppose it’s easy to diagnose 19th-century masculinity from the comfort of a 20th-century sketchpad. The frontier didn’t have much use for irony—or air conditioning. I think you're trail was not very rough, and your hands are very soft.”
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