Lecture: Exploring Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes

From 1985 to 1995, Bill Watterson created one of the most celebrated and beloved newspaper comic strips of all time: Calvin and Hobbes. The strip featured the adventures (and misadventures) of 6-year-old Calvin and his trusty companion, Hobbes. Join Jenny Robb in exploring Watterson’s masterful artistry and storytelling, the evolution of the strip, and his significance in the history of the art form. Robb is Head Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, which houses the Bill Watterson Collection of more than 3,000 original Calvin and Hobbes daily and Sunday comic strips. In collaboration with Watterson, she curated the exhibition Exploring Calvin and Hobbes, which was featured at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum in 2014.

Jenny Robb is Head Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art and Associate Professor at The Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum where she manages the world’s largest collection of comics and cartoon materials. She holds master’s degrees in History and Museum Studies from Syracuse University. Before coming to Ohio State in 2005, she worked as a curator at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Robb has curated more than 25 exhibitions of comics and cartoon art and is the author of numerous comics-related book chapters, articles and essays.