Bill Watterson returns to comics, with “The Mysteries”, working with John Kascht

By John Freeman on February 15, 2023

28 years after ending Calvin and Hobbes, comic creator Bill Watterson is back with The Mysteries, a new, 72-page book created with fellow artist and widely published caricaturist, John Kascht.

Described as “a fable for grown-ups”, The Mysteries is scheduled to be published by Andrews McMeel Publishing on 10th October 2023.

In a fable for grown-ups by cartoonist Bill Watterson, a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns.

For the book’s illustrations, Watterson and caricaturist John Kascht worked together for several years in unusually close collaboration. Both artists abandoned their past ways of working, inventing images together that neither could anticipate – a mysterious process in its own right.

Bill Watterson is the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, one of the most popular and well-regarded cartoon strips of the twentieth century. Calvin and Hobbes appeared in newspapers from November 1985 until Watterson’s retirement in 1995.

John Kascht‘s satirical drawings have appeared on book covers, billboards, theater marquees and more than a few cocktail napkins. Also, in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Esquire, GQ, Time, Newsweek, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, LIFE, The Los Angeles Times, Golf Digest, Forbes, TV Guide, The Village Voice, The New York Observer, The Chicago Tribune, Reader’s Digest, W, Vibe, Oprah, Glamour, US News and World Report, and MAD magazine.

• The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht | Pre-order it here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (10th October, 2023) | 72 Pages | ISBN 978-1524884949

With thanks to Paul Gravett

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.