Bill Watterson is a celebrity, known for his drawings of the impish Calvin and his sidekick stuffed tiger friend, Hobbes. But before he became wildly famous for his cartoon strip, he drew editorial cartoons for Sun Newspapers in the early to mid 1980s.

When I became editor in 1983 of several east side editions of Sun, the retiring editor introduced me to Bill one day, when he walked into the newspaper office to hand in his weekly drawing.

For the next two years while I was there, he dutifully drove from Chagrin Falls to the newspaper office in Solon. We rarely spoke, although he was always pleasant. Sometimes he just dropped off the cartoon with the receptionist.

None of us guessed back then that his career would take off like a 747, although those of us in the newsroom agreed that he had exceptional talent. His cartoons were frequently funny and sometimes poignant. Occasionally they rubbed readers the wrong way.

We were sorry to see Bill leave our fold but were thrilled to see his Calvin and Hobbes characters become household names.

Luckily, we were able to retrieve some of his drawings that he did for Sun from our microfilm archives. Also see an exclusive Plain Dealer interview with Watterson.



— Linda Kinsey

Executive Editor