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Book box | Welcome back, Bill. We've missed you.
The creator of Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson is back, this time with a darkly enigmatic new picture book (for adults)
Dear Reader,
28 years after writing his last Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson is back!
His new book, The Mysteries is breathtaking. It looks and feels vastly different from Calvin and Hobbes, his comic strip about a six- year-old boy and his stuffed tiger. But while Calvin and Hobbes comics help us to figure out our existentialism, this latest book cuts through to our very existence.
The Mysteries is a picture book. When I first heard of it, I was immediately intrigued.
For years, I’ve read picture books out aloud to our three girls from authors such as Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, Shel Silverstein, and an illustrated Lewis Carroll. After all, picture books are for kids. Or so I thought.
Then, three years ago, we invited writer-publisher Richa Jha, for a book club session. "Deep truths hide in plain sight in picture books" she pointed out, reading us The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld, a story about friendship, about ways of helping people deal with emotions, about coming to terms with loss and about rebuilding. We talked about many other such classic picture books.
Since then, I have gone back to picture books, dropping into the independent children's bookstore, Kahani Tree in Mumbai for regular fixes.
Back to The Mysteries. I flip through its black and white pages and am reminded of a tradition of dark tales I’ve liked, despite not being a regular reader of horror.
Sometimes I’ve even asked myself: why read scary stories when there's already enough fear in the world?
Turns out there's a scientific side to this fascination with horror. Scary stories allow us to confront our deepest fears and anxieties in a safe and controlled environment. They help us explore taboo subjects like death, the afterlife, and even planetary annihilation, ultimately making us better equipped to cope with reality.
With Halloween just behind us, it's the perfect time to revisit these dark narratives. Like those of Edward Gorey, an army veteran, Harvard graduate, brilliant writer and illustrator, and master of morbid verse. Take, for instance, this spooky limerick from Amphigorey:
“Each night Father fills me with dread
When he sits on the foot of my bed;
I'd not mind that he speaks
In gibbers and squeaks,
But for seventeen years he's been dead.”
For a more whimsically macabre experience, consider The Gashlycrumb Tinies, perhaps the darkest ABC picture book you'll ever encounter. Oddly, in its treatment of death, it leaves you feeling invigorated, urging you to savour life while you can.
Back to The Mysteries. I pore over the pictures.
These illustrations are a world apart from the playful charm of Calvin and Hobbes, the lovable young boy and his (stuffed) tiger. The moody landscapes, the realistic yet cartoonish figures seem to draw inspiration from the Gothic traditions of illustrators like Edward Gorey.
Creating these images was no quick task: it was a unique collaboration between Bill Watterson and caricature artist John Kascht. If you're curious about the backstory, there's a fascinating video on the Andrews McMeel Publishing YouTube channel, where Watterson talks about the aesthetics of these images and what led him to move on from Calvin and Hobbes, the beloved cartoon strip he left behind in 1995.
As for The Mysteries, go get the picture book. Read it for its profound resonances, its stark beauty, all with minimal text and monochrome that convey poignant possibilities. For me, this book was an important warning, a reiteration of the power of fairy tales where you fear the monster. Stop believing in the monster, and here’s what happens, the authors say. I won’t say more, so you pick up your personal interpretations from this book.
For now, here’s a tiny taste:
‘Nevertheless, the Wizards
watched the horizon uneasily and
and took note of
strange creaks and shudders
occurring far below in the ground.
Acrid smells drifted in
from across the seas.
Sometimes flaming objects
fell from the sky.’
And until next week, happy reading.
Sonya Dutta Choudhury is a Mumbai-based journalist and the founder of Sonya’s Book Box, a bespoke book service. Each week, she brings you specially curated books to give you an immersive understanding of people and places. If you have any reading recommendations or suggestions, write to her at sonyasbookbox@gmail.com. The views expressed are personal
