Calvin and Hobbes and Licensing.

My Birthday Comic. It’s not my Birthday, I just chose to hunt down my Birthday comic on Sunday, felt like a funny thing to do. Like the Sunday Funnies.

This was published on my birthday 3/12/1986

I love Calvin and Hobbes. The creator, Bill Waterson, has influenced millions of children and or 33 year old men named Adam at this point. It is also unique, despite it’s success, you will never see a Calvin and Hobbes TV show or movie. Isn’t that facinating… not only that, no one knows where Bill Waterson is.

I went deep down the Youtube rabbit hole at one point believing I could solve a mystery from behind my computer that had baffled millions of fans for years.

The comic is about a young boy, who has a stuffed animal tiger that comes to life when no one is around. The success of it, and it’s target demographic would make IP licensing teams drool dollars – A Stuffed Tiger is the main character, yet you will never find a stuffed Hobbes for sale at your local toy store.

There have been estimates made of how much licensing forgone revenue was ignored by not licensing the IP, and the estimates are at around $300m.

Bill Waterson stopped drawing comics after exactly 10 years of Calvin and Hobbes and has been the comic book worlds JD Salinger ever since.

Here is a great short video about the decision that Bill Waterson made with Calvin and Hobbes. I love the reasoning given:

“It’s the one artform where you have full control.”

Dear Mr. Watterson (2013)

By Adam Draper

I ponder as a VC.

It's a quick one minute read to make you think, smile, or laugh.

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