William Boyd "Bill" Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist and the author of the influential and popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. His career as a syndicated cartoonist ran from 1985 to 1995; he retired at the end of 1995 with a short statement to newspaper editors and his fans that he felt he had achieved all he could in the comic strip medium. During the early years of his career he produced several drawings and additional contributions for Target: The Political Cartoon Quarterly. Watterson is known for his views on licensing and comic syndication, as well as for his reclusive nature. ([Wikipedia][1]) [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson