Reclusive comic artist alert! Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson has popped up again. Well, his art has anyway. On Wednesday, he revealed a new 15-panel comic strip poster promoting the Angoulême International Comics Festival, held from 29 January through 1 February 2015 in Angoulême, France. In typical fashion, the publicity-shy artist won’t be attending the event.

1st new comic in 20 years from creator of Calvin and Hobbes. Delightful and needs no caption. http://t.co/qE0xiBTS3R pic.twitter.com/nWpcwdmygN — Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) November 5, 2014

For many fans, it’s enough that Watterson created the strip, which follows a balding, bath-robed newspaper subscriber – yes, they still exist – who just wants to read the funny pages. Naturally, hijinks ensue. The dialogue-free artwork doesn’t look like an extension of Calvin and Hobbes’ world. Rather, the man’s sausage-like nose and the way he stalks through the action recalls one of Watterson’s biggest influences: George Herriman’s character Krazy Kat.

This poster caps off a relatively busy year for the once MIA cartoonist. Watterson drew a poster for the comic strip documentary Stripped – he also granted producers an audio interview – and he served as a guest artist on Stephan Pastis’ strip, Pearls Before Swine. In March, an exhibition of his work, Exploring Calvin and Hobbes, went on display at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University.

All this activity is somewhat startling for most longtime fans, since Watterson became the JD Salinger of cartooning after he ended Calvin and Hobbes in 1995. For years, there was zip, zilch, nada. Not a peep. These recent non-public appearances – and a few others that preceded it – have been a happy surprise for me. When I was writing my 2009 biography-detective-story-love-letter, Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip, I tried to procure an interview with Watterson. Not to give away the ending, but I never got the chance to speak with him. Luckily, I did manage to interview well over 100 of his colleagues, friends and family members, who were more than happy to talk in his stead.

After the book was published, I sent Watterson a copy, along with a letter. I’m not sure he ever read either. However, in my note I suggested he should embrace the considerable love and respect people have for him, which would in no way compromise his desire for privacy or his unwillingness to sell out. No matter the motivation, it is clear that Watterson is now more comfortable accepting praise for his artistic contributions and wants to be a vibrant part of the cartooning community again. Like Calvin and Hobbes, he clearly still has more exploring to do.