And as with these sorts of things there’s a link trail…. via Pootling first of all, but he got it via Metafilter with an “Everybody & Hobbes” link section, some I’d seen, some I’d not…..

(Cthulhu & Hobbes T-shirt, artist unknown)

(Rockwell inspired Calvin & Hobbes by Jamie Posadas)

(Jack’s Imaginary Friend – Fight Club as a Calvin & Hobbes by Sean Clarity – based on Galvin P. Chow’s theory that Fight Club is Calvin and Hobbes)

Via Wim (and Reddit), although no artist mentioned sadly – any idea who it’s by? Is it you? Get in touch if you know. But a great Calvin & Hobbes image. UPDATE 22/5/10: Thanks to Jason Garrattley in the comments – the artist is Kyle Latino.

Lou Romano’s  Monster Squad series (more at the link) inspired by the 1987 film Monster Squad. (Via Drawn)

Kizer’s lovely 60s style Peter Parker & Spidey – although Peter does look like he’s about to die in a Star Trek away team. (Voa Superpunch)

Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes, and famous recluse, breaks a 20 year silence with an interview for the  Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“By the end of 10 years, I’d said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It’s always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip’s popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now “grieving” for “Calvin and Hobbes” would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I’d be agreeing with them.

I think some of the reason “Calvin and Hobbes” still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I’ve never regretted stopping when I did.”

Yes, completely agree with that. There’s a continued magic in Calvin And Hobbes that passes through the generations of the Bruton family. I’ve passed it to Molly, I hope she’ll pass it on to her children in time. There’s so little Calvin & Hobbes to read. And it’s magical.

However, there are members of the comic community who don’t seem to share that feeling. DC Comics Dan Didio for one.

Rich Johnson ran the Watchmen 2 story this week, pointing out that it’s one of Dan Didio’s pet projects to get more comic product out of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. For years Paul Levitz saw to it personally that Watchmen was allowed to stand alone and untouched, even after Moore had his big falling out with both DC and Levitz.

But Paul Levitz isn’t with DC anymore and, according to Rich, this means there’s the possibility of more Watchmen – sequels, prequels, Watch-babies, crossovers with Green Lantern (and consequently the possibility to make more crappy plastic rings to go with another DC Comic). The possibilities are endless.

Still, let’s not forget that just because Rich says it’s a possibility doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. And, like so many have said, the only good result from it will be many more incredibly entertaining interviews with Alan Moore where he stays just shy of exploding with contempt for his former employers.

(the US Postal Service’s Calvin & Hobbes stamp coming this summer, art (c) Bill Watterson)

(Calvin & Hobbes art by and (c) the great Bill Watterson, pic via the Web Urbanist)

Like Wim said on his post – it can’t be Watterson, but that doesn’t make it any less wonderful. Painful, heartbreaking and wonderful.

(Seen first via Wim and then @Glinner‘s twitter)