Editing Calvin and Hobbes (section)

==Sunday formatting==
[[File:Comics half page.svg|thumb|This standard half-page layout can easily be rearranged for [[:File:Comics full page.svg|full]], [[:File:Comics third page.svg|third]], and [[:File:Comics quarter page.svg|quarter]] pages (optionally discarding panels 1 and 2). However, Watterson wished to draw comics which did not conform to the standard panel division.|alt=|205x205px]]
Syndicated comics were typically published six times a week in black and white, with a Sunday supplement version in a larger, full color format. This larger format version of the strip was constrained by mandatory layout requirements that made it possible for newspaper editors to format the strip for different page sizes and layouts.

Watterson grew increasingly frustrated by the shrinking of the available space for comics in the newspapers and the mandatory panel divisions that restricted his ability to produce better artwork and more creative storytelling. He felt that without space for anything more than simple dialogue or sparse artwork, comics as an art form were becoming dilute, bland, and unoriginal.<ref name="west1989">{{cite web|url=http://ignatz.brinkster.net/ccomicsjournal.html|title=Interview: Bill Watterson|last=West|first=Richard Samuel|date=February 1989|work=[[The Comics Journal]] / [[Fantagraphics]] via Calvin and Hobbies: Magic on Paper (fan site)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714012735/http://ignatz.brinkster.net/ccomicsjournal.html|archive-date=July 14, 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=August 30, 2012|issue=127|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="astor1988">{{cite journal |title=Watterson Knocks the Shrinking of Comics |first=David |last=Astor |journal=[[Editor & Publisher]] |publisher=Duncan McIntosh |location=Irvine, California |date=1988-12-03 |page=40}}</ref>

Watterson longed for the artistic freedom allotted to classic strips such as ''[[Little Nemo]]'' and ''[[Krazy Kat]]'', and in 1989 he gave a sample of what could be accomplished with such liberty in the opening pages of the Sunday strip compilation, ''The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book—''an 8-page previously unpublished Calvin story fully illustrated in watercolor. The same book contained an afterword from the artist himself, reflecting on a time when comic strips were allocated a whole page of the newspaper and every comic was like a "color poster".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book|last=Watterson|first=Bill|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|year=1989|isbn=0836218523|url=https://archive.org/details/calvinhobbeslazy00watt}}</ref>

Within two years, Watterson was ultimately successful in negotiating a deal that provided him more space and creative freedom. Following his 1991 sabbatical, Universal Press announced that Watterson had decided to sell his Sunday strip as an unbreakable half of a newspaper or [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] page. Many editors and even a few cartoonists including [[Bil Keane]] (''[[The Family Circus]]'') and [[Bruce Beattie]] (''Snafu'') criticized him for what they perceived as arrogance and an unwillingness to abide by the normal practices of the cartoon business.<ref name="astor1992">{{cite journal|last=Astor|first=David|date=1992-03-07|title=Cartoonists discuss 'Calvin' requirement|url=http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/article_brief/eandp/1/1165165|url-status=dead|journal=[[Editor & Publisher]]|location=Irvine, California|publisher=Duncan McIntosh|page=34|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320192434/http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/article_brief/eandp/1/1165165|archive-date=2007-03-20|access-date=2007-01-19}}</ref> Others, including [[Bill Amend]] ([[FoxTrot|''Foxtrot'']]), [[Johnny Hart]] ([[B.C. (comic strip)|''BC'']], [[The Wizard of Id|''Wizard of Id'']]) and [[Barbara Brandon-Croft|Barbara Brandon]] (''Where I'm Coming From'') supported him. The American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors even formally requested that Universal reconsider the changes.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Astor |first=David |date=11 January 1992 |title=More response to half-page 'Calvin' strip |url=http://timhulsizer.com/cwords/cmoreresponse.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127143634/https://timhulsizer.com/cwords/cmoreresponse.html |archive-date=November 27, 2024 |work=Editor & Publisher |page=30}}</ref> Watterson's own comments on the matter was that "editors will have to judge for themselves whether or not Calvin and Hobbes deserves the extra space. If they don't think the strip carries its own weight, they don't have to run it." Ultimately only 15 newspapers cancelled the strip in response to the layout changes.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://www.tcj.com/|title=Watterson Returns, Demands His Space|date=February 1992|work=Comics Journal|access-date=19 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19971224031534/http://tcj.com/ |archive-date=December 24, 1997|issue=148|pages=14–15}} [http://timhulsizer.com/cwords/cdemands.html Alt URL]</ref>