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Bill Watterson went to my college. Not with me, mind you; I graduated from Kenyon College, a cozy liberal arts enclave in Ohio, in 2001 — Watterson, famous for creating the world’s best comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, preceded me by nearly twenty years. We’ve matriculated minor presidents (Rutherford B. Hayes), legendary poets (Robert Lowell), great scientists (Carl Djerassi, who developed the first oral contraceptive pill) and even some famous flossers (my good friend John Green) — but perhaps no alumnus is as vaunted, especially by my generation, who grew up on Hobbes, as cartoonist Bill Watterson.
The oldest private college in Ohio, Kenyon isn’t a place where change comes fast. So my college experience shared a lot of DNA with Watterson’s: many of the same teachers and traditions from 1980 remained in 2000, and I instantly recognize our alma mater in the cartoons Watterson drew for the yearbook and the school newspaper, The Collegian, when he was a student. Lucky for Watterson fans everywhere, a contemporary of his recently scanned and posted some of these rare early works, which can be found here.
Allow me to contextualize a few of them.
Nine stories tall, Kenyon’s Caples residence hall is the highest, and quite possibly the ugliest, building in rural Knox County, Ohio. It’s an architectural anomaly in the Soviet-bloc style amidst a campus filled with graceful 19th-century buildings, and its warrens of tiny, freezing rooms are arranged around depressing, windowless common areas (known somewhat aspirationally as “suites”). February at Kenyon can indeed be depressing, especially if you’ve been sentenced by the Housing Office to spend it in Caples — as the subject of this comic has. (By the way, fans of Hobbes will recognize this guy as an early version of Calvin’s dad, who we can be fairly certain was meant to resemble Watterson himself.)
Surrounded by miles of rolling cornfields and rural hamlets, coming to Kenyon could be a shock for students from big cities. (”What do people do?” “Where do you buy light bulbs and socks?” “Will hillbillies kill us?”) They either transferred before the first semester was over, or became, as my friends and I did, converts to the countryside. As charming as our campus was, the lure of an idyllic bike ride down to the Kokosing river was a siren song that often overwhelmed the responsibilities of classwork — especially on perfect Spring days like the one pictured above.
I feel this one; ten months after graduation, I was working as a mortgage loan processor in a positively Orwellian corporate center in Beaverton, Oregon. Not exactly what I had in mind for my future as I was writing my English literature thesis (Faith and the Postmodern Awakening, if you must know). Kenyon tries to be sensitive to the plight of their many liberal arts grads (English is by far the most popular major), offering seminars with titles like “What can you do with an art history major?” (The answer? Teach art history!)
The joke’s not a gut-buster, but anyone who’s been to Kenyon can name the landmark the ashamed student is about to pass though: the “Gates of Hell.” A set of stone pillars which bisect the campus between its north and south halves, the Gates have a freaky lore and legacy all their own. From this month’s Alumni Bulletin:
It is said that writer Anthony Burgess, who spoke on campus during the late seventies, later appeared on the Phil Donahue Show and told a national audience that Kenyon College was home to the Gates of Hell and the most intense evil energy that he had ever experienced. Hearing about this, the College requested a videotape of the show, but when it arrived there was no mention of evil at Kenyon, or of any hellish gates. Some cite this “excision” as eerily suggestive in itself. Others scoff, raising the obvious question of whether Burgess ever said any such thing at all. There are other tales. According to one, it was a psychic who identified Gambier as home to the Gates of Hell. Another insists that the evil portal is actually the old gated entrance to the Bishop’s House, in the densely wooded lower reaches of Brooklyn Street. Whatever the case, superstitions have grown up around the gates. Some say that you shouldn’t walk between the gates when the bells in the Church of the Holy Spirit are chiming midnight, or you might be transported to Hell itself.
As someone who graduated halfway between Watterson and you (Class of ‘91), and has seen a lot posting of these cartoons, thank you for being the first to actually offer some intellignet commentary on them. When Boing Boing says that Kenyon is in “Kenyon, OH”, or that it’s “Kenyon University”, I grit my teeth.
With the “Gates of Hell” cartoon, I immediately recognized the guy as taking “the walk of shame” after spending the night in a (presumably female) classmate’s room. Do they still call it that?
posted by Nufftin on 10-26-2007 at 7:29 am
what a great post. I’m a huge Watterson fan, and it’s thrilling to get a glimpse at his early work (along with the explanations). Nice work, Randy!
posted by Mangesh on 10-26-2007 at 8:02 am
Bill Watterson for President!!
posted by Kasren on 10-26-2007 at 8:12 am
The first link isn’t working for me. Perhaps it’s that gates of hell business…
posted by Tom on 10-26-2007 at 8:13 am
One day when my 8 year old son was bored and had read everything in the house already, I gave him an one of my old Calvin & Hobbes books (Something Under the Bed is Drooling or Yukon Ho!). He’s now checked out every single one of the books available in any library in our city. It’s both hysterical-I love that he gets the humor and his vocabulary is expanding, and maddening-he’s coped some major attitude.
I also believe that Watterson is singlehandedly to blame for the Jackass-syndrome.
posted by mamamellon on 10-26-2007 at 8:22 am
Damnit - Watterson was the best cartoonist that ever was. Calvin and Hobbes is probably the one thing from my childhood that has stood the test of time, and is just as funny as the first time I read them. Too bad he had to escape from society…
posted by Sammael on 10-26-2007 at 8:35 am
Thanks for such an interesting post - great read!
(Yes, the link seems to be cursed.)
posted by elizabutt on 10-26-2007 at 8:41 am
Hi Nufftin - yep, we’ve still got the “walk of shame,” and you’re right, that’s probably what the fella in the 4th panel is doing. Good call!
posted by Ransom on 10-26-2007 at 9:29 am
If I’m so famous, how come I’m commenting on the mental_floss blog? -John
p.s. great post.
posted by John Green on 10-26-2007 at 9:46 am
Another lovely post from Mr. Riggs!! No walk of shame for you.
posted by Higgins on 10-26-2007 at 10:46 am
agreed about the link. doesn’t seem to work
so happy to have ANY insight into his life. every once in a while i go on research kicks and try to find out what is going on or try to find his newest paintings, etc.
posted by cary on 10-26-2007 at 10:59 am
Hey Randy - Well done! Glad to see so many people enjoyed this. I’ll have to let John Hiester know that his e-mail forward was such a big hit!
Ahhhh, Kenyon…
To Philander Chase!
posted by Anne Morrissy on 10-26-2007 at 11:31 am
We are indeed like Kokosing…
Nice to see your work here Randy!
posted by John Hiester on 10-26-2007 at 12:18 pm
I lived in Gambier for 5 years in the late ’80s as a local with no ties to the college, commuting to Columbus for work. Charming town, more activity than anywhere else for 50 miles. My son and I started reading Calvin n Hobbes when he was three, and we met Bill at the bookstore in town twice. At the time, it was the best bookstore west of Boston until you get to SF. At least one of my sons antics inspired a couple of panels, since he had met “Calvins dad”, he KNEW Calvin was real!
posted by Rock on 10-26-2007 at 12:41 pm
Hey, Randy –
Loved reading this. Thanks for making me a new Watterson fan.
–B
posted by Brooke Hauser on 10-26-2007 at 3:38 pm
i matriculated at Kenyon in 1996 (transferred after two years) but i still think of it as my college home. such an idyllic place. professor jensen, my freshman “quest for justice” seminar professor tried to convince me, an art major, to double major in political science, citing that Bill Watterson was a double major in art and poli sci! maybe i should have followed her advice….
thanks for the post, it brought back a lot of memories.
posted by sheryl on 10-26-2007 at 9:37 pm
This was a nice walk down memory lane — I have the 1980 yearbook most of the cartoons on your link came from, since I’m class of ‘80 myself. Didn’t know Bill well, but I did know him a bit. Agree that he’s the greatest cartoonist of his generation, maybe even ever.
posted by Steve Bolhafner on 10-29-2007 at 12:04 pm
Isn’t Paul Newman also a Kenyon grad? I’m pretty sure he at least attended and I know he gave the school a bunch of dough.
posted by Lindsey on 1-10-2008 at 5:27 pm
According to Wikipedia, Paul Newman is a Kenyon Grad
posted by Dave on 1-11-2008 at 11:16 am
I’m an alum as well…Newman is a grad…Jonathan Winters attended but did not graduate and Josh Radnor, now on How I Met your Mother is class of ‘96
posted by David on 2-14-2008 at 1:12 pm
Bill is a true master and I mourn the loss of Calvin and Hobbs every day still,….
One cannot gaze at the sun too long… no?
posted by Dreamer on 4-11-2008 at 11:05 am