If there was one thing that united the internet this week, it had to be the big reveal that Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson has a new book coming out. The Mysteries by Watterson and caricaturist John Kascht is set to be published by Andrews McMeel Publishing this fall.
It’s been almost 30 years since Watterson ended Calvin and Hobbes, one of the most creative and beloved comic strips of all time. Since then, Watterson hasn’t been seen or heard from much, except for the rare interview or a guest comic strip or to turn down a trip to France after winning the Grand Prix d’Angoulême. So this was a welcome surprise.
If you’re expecting it to be something like Calvin & Hobbes, though, think again. Here’s a preview:
It’s a picture book rather than a comic, and the description from the publisher calls it a “fable for grown-ups”:
From Bill Watterson, bestselling creator of the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, and John Kascht, one of America’s most renowned caricaturists, comes a mysterious and beautifully illustrated fable about what lies beyond human understanding.
In a fable for grown-ups by cartoonist Bill Watterson, a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns.
For the book’s illustrations, Watterson and caricaturist John Kascht worked together for several years in unusually close collaboration. Both artists abandoned their past ways of working, inventing images together that neither could anticipate—a mysterious process in its own right.
The 72-page book will arrive in stores Oct. 10.