Bill Watterson editorial cartoon, 1982

An extremely rare original Bill Watterson cartoon, from before Calvin and Hobbes, but after his brief stint as an editorial cartoonist in Cincinnati. Watterson drew this when he was just 23 or 24. The drawing is stunningly large, it measures 22" x 28" (about 55 x 70 cm).

In his introduction to the Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson writes about this period in his life: "By the fall of 1981, I was living with my parents again, trying to come up with a different comic strip. (...) On weekdays, I designed car and grocery ad layouts in the windowless basement office of a free weekly shopper for minimum wage. (...) On weekends, I drew editorial cartoons ($25 each) for the local suburban newspaper, where my specialty was weather commentary. (...) Such were the prime years of my youth. (...) In the free time I had, I drew up more comic strips."

Nevin Martell adds in his book "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes" that: "despite being a newlywed man with a full-time and a part-time job, Watterson was quite prolific during this period. Though (Watterson's college friend Richard) West couldn't remember all of the many side projects Watterson undertook, he implied that Watterson generated a fair amount of miscellany during that time. The diverse nature of the projects Watterson participated in allowed him to flex his creative muscles and hone his cartooning skills. Two projects West does recall are a T-shirt Watterson designed for an environmental event in suburban Cleveland and a 1982 calendar, 'Jude Ernest's Single-handed Survival Calendar' ". (As well as illustrations and postcards for the 'Mark Twain Journal').

The book also points out that Watterson submitted the first finished sample strips of Calvin and Hobbes already in the summer of 1983, and that was after the characters had already appeared (as Marvin and Hobbes) in supporting roles in his previous attempts, including a strip called "In the Dog House" Watterson submitted to syndicates in March 1982. So he was already working on these characters when he drew this (huge) panel!