What do you think?
Rate this book
The Mysteries
A New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Indie Bestseller.
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.
With The Mysteries, Watterson and Kascht share the fascinating genesis of their extraordinary collaboration in a video that can be viewed on Andrews McMeel Publishing's YouTube page.
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.
With The Mysteries, Watterson and Kascht share the fascinating genesis of their extraordinary collaboration in a video that can be viewed on Andrews McMeel Publishing's YouTube page.
72 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2023
About the author
Bill Watterson
389 books4,623 followersBill Watterson (born William Boyd Watterson II) is an American cartoonist, and the author of the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes". His career as a syndicated cartoonist ran from 1985 to 1995; he stopped drawing "Calvin and Hobbes" 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 964 reviews
October 10, 2023
I have long admired Bill Watterson because his past works really spoke to me as a teenager. (He sits, for me, among other important creators such as Jim Henson and Mister Rogers) Needless to say, I have been looking forward to this book release for months! It was nice to have something to look forward to. I kept saying, “If Bill Watterson is putting this out after ALL these YEARS…He must have something VERY important to say, and I want to know what that is!!!” So yes, my expectations may have been a bit high, and I am sorry if my review comes across too harshly. It breaks my heart to write this but my first impressions have left me disappointed. I may have to, and am completely willing to, sit with the book a bit longer to see if my initial view changes. As some other reviewers have stated, the message seems to be how As an introvert and highly sensitive person existing on this planet, this was a more depressing and outright demoralizing message than what I personally need right now, although I 100% completely understand the viewpoint and believe the actionable message is important. I think there are many people who need to heed this message, but are they the ones picking up a book by Bill Watterson? On the artwork itself: I did not find the artwork to be what I’d hoped either, as there seem to be digital blur effects that make it look less professional, or not at the correct resolution. The exception being the marvellous illustration on the page where
But like the description states, it is “a fable for grown-ups”
Maybe I am still just too young at heart, still looking for treasure everywhere.
But like the description states, it is “a fable for grown-ups”
Maybe I am still just too young at heart, still looking for treasure everywhere.
October 11, 2023
Suspend your knowledge of Calvin & Hobbes. Approach this book without expectations based on your favorite cartoonist. To do so would be unfair. I almost think Watterson should have published this under a pseudonym so people would see it with fresh eyes and appreciate it for what it is—not what you hoped it would be. Personally I really enjoyed it. I read it several times and spent time with each illustration—I loved it. Did I want it to be longer, like a novel? Perhaps. But, as with C&H, Watterson has never needed that much length to say what he could through the right word choice and superb artwork. To those who said they could have churned this book out in an hour—don't embarrass yourselves. Quantity doesn't equal quality. If you want C&H, go buy the 3-volume treasury. It's definitely worth it. My only hope is that we don't have to wait 25 years for his next offering...
![Profile Image for [Name Redacted].](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1347082397i/287915._UY200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
October 11, 2023
Bleak, beautiful, brief, and with one heck of a punchline.
EDIT: I just realized that this book reminds me of one of my favourite Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zbpt...
"...Then we headed back to our world and left the forest behind
Our hearts singing with all the knowledge of love
Then somewhere, somehow, we lost the message along the way
And when we got home, we bought ourselves a house
And we bought a car that we did not use
And we bought a cage and two singing birds
And at night we'd sit and listen to the canary's song
For we'd both run right out of words
"Now the stars, they are all angled wrong
And the sun and the moon refuse to burn
But I remember a message in a demon's hand
'Dread the passage of Jesus for he does not return...'"
EDIT: I just realized that this book reminds me of one of my favourite Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zbpt...
"...Then we headed back to our world and left the forest behind
Our hearts singing with all the knowledge of love
Then somewhere, somehow, we lost the message along the way
And when we got home, we bought ourselves a house
And we bought a car that we did not use
And we bought a cage and two singing birds
And at night we'd sit and listen to the canary's song
For we'd both run right out of words
"Now the stars, they are all angled wrong
And the sun and the moon refuse to burn
But I remember a message in a demon's hand
'Dread the passage of Jesus for he does not return...'"
February 2, 2024
The Mysteries is an intriguing collaboration between Bill Watterson of "Calvin and Hobbes" fame and the artist John Kascht best known for his caricatures.
The book blurb calls this one a fable for grown-ups. The text is spare and superbly complemented by the artwork. There is so much to see and infer from each page. I have literally spent hours pouring over this book. There is so much room for me to look and wonder and to fill in with my own thoughts and feelings. This is a work about the questions, not the answers.
The publisher, Andrews McNeel, has posted a great youtube talking about this collaboration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHND7...
Thanks to my GR friend David for letting me know that this book is in the world.
Publication 2023
The book blurb calls this one a fable for grown-ups. The text is spare and superbly complemented by the artwork. There is so much to see and infer from each page. I have literally spent hours pouring over this book. There is so much room for me to look and wonder and to fill in with my own thoughts and feelings. This is a work about the questions, not the answers.
The publisher, Andrews McNeel, has posted a great youtube talking about this collaboration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHND7...
Thanks to my GR friend David for letting me know that this book is in the world.
Publication 2023
October 13, 2023
Great to finally see Watterson back on the horse after Calvin and Hobbes. A fantastic little fable. Loved the art and the story. Hopefully it won't take him another 30 years to follow this up with a Jazz record, a contemporary art exhibition, or a performance piece at the MoMA.
Read
October 13, 2023Video now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMOal...
It’s a tale told so simply and so subtly that it’s like a whisper at bedtime.
It’s a tale told so simply and so subtly that it’s like a whisper at bedtime.
January 17, 2024
Good to have you back, Bill Watterson!
I've been a fan of Bill Watterson's work since Calvin and his tiger Hobbes debuted just before Thanksgiving in 1985 and I mourned with millions a decade later when Watterson ended the award-winning series. I found solace in buying the two-volume boxed set of all those comic strips and have re-read them over the nearly three decades that have passed.
That was the state of the world for Watterson fans until The Mysteries was released just in time for Christmas shopping in 2023. And that's why more than 800 enthusiastic fans have written reviews on Amazon, many of which feel to me like love letters to their beloved comic strip. (By the way, Goodreads makes it very difficult to share images, but the Amazon book page offers bigger photos of a couple of beautiful double-page spreads to let readers experience the look of this new book.)
The Mysteries is called "a fable for grown-ups," but I think it's appropriate for kids of the right age and maturity as well. I certainly plan to read it with my grandkids, who I know will marvel at the illustration and ask lots and lots and lots of questions.
That's really the power of this book: It prompts questions. Some of them truly unanswerable. One might call those questions—mysteries.
In his prime with Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson was famous for sometimes creating very wordy comic strips (although he also was a master of almost wordless comic strips). This book is 72 pages and the text is only 43 sentences—two of those sentences just two words—which I know because I counted. This is Watterson at his most concise.
The story is simple: In a mythical medieval-ish world, a grand quest is launched to find and capture the worlds "mysteries." A long time passes, but finally those mysteries are found, the world domesticates a lot of them—in fact far too many of them—and the planet begins to change.
Then, here is Watterson's haunting six-word epitaph for our world as we know it: "Rather late, the people grew alarmed." I've now read this book a couple dozen times and those six words are sure to be quoted over and over again in coming years.
If you care to read more, there's a fascinating New York Times feature by Neima Jahromi, an editor at the Book Review, explaining how Watterson showed this basic story to artist John Kascht in 2018. You've seen Kascht's work in most major national magazines and two dozen of his works are in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. This collaboration was very unlikely to succeed because their aesthetics are vastly different—yet they hammered away at the idea for years and finally produced this landmark volume.
It's also a lovely gift book bound in a stark cloth cover with a glossy illustration inset on both front and back covers. The paper is thick, premium stock and the entire work is intended to be saved and handed down—in the hope that there are generations to which we can hand down this fable.
I definitely hope there are such generations.
I work every day in the hope that there will be.
And this book in my library—along with that big boxed set of Calvin and Hobbes—will be part of my legacy, now.
I've been a fan of Bill Watterson's work since Calvin and his tiger Hobbes debuted just before Thanksgiving in 1985 and I mourned with millions a decade later when Watterson ended the award-winning series. I found solace in buying the two-volume boxed set of all those comic strips and have re-read them over the nearly three decades that have passed.
That was the state of the world for Watterson fans until The Mysteries was released just in time for Christmas shopping in 2023. And that's why more than 800 enthusiastic fans have written reviews on Amazon, many of which feel to me like love letters to their beloved comic strip. (By the way, Goodreads makes it very difficult to share images, but the Amazon book page offers bigger photos of a couple of beautiful double-page spreads to let readers experience the look of this new book.)
The Mysteries is called "a fable for grown-ups," but I think it's appropriate for kids of the right age and maturity as well. I certainly plan to read it with my grandkids, who I know will marvel at the illustration and ask lots and lots and lots of questions.
That's really the power of this book: It prompts questions. Some of them truly unanswerable. One might call those questions—mysteries.
In his prime with Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson was famous for sometimes creating very wordy comic strips (although he also was a master of almost wordless comic strips). This book is 72 pages and the text is only 43 sentences—two of those sentences just two words—which I know because I counted. This is Watterson at his most concise.
The story is simple: In a mythical medieval-ish world, a grand quest is launched to find and capture the worlds "mysteries." A long time passes, but finally those mysteries are found, the world domesticates a lot of them—in fact far too many of them—and the planet begins to change.
Then, here is Watterson's haunting six-word epitaph for our world as we know it: "Rather late, the people grew alarmed." I've now read this book a couple dozen times and those six words are sure to be quoted over and over again in coming years.
If you care to read more, there's a fascinating New York Times feature by Neima Jahromi, an editor at the Book Review, explaining how Watterson showed this basic story to artist John Kascht in 2018. You've seen Kascht's work in most major national magazines and two dozen of his works are in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. This collaboration was very unlikely to succeed because their aesthetics are vastly different—yet they hammered away at the idea for years and finally produced this landmark volume.
It's also a lovely gift book bound in a stark cloth cover with a glossy illustration inset on both front and back covers. The paper is thick, premium stock and the entire work is intended to be saved and handed down—in the hope that there are generations to which we can hand down this fable.
I definitely hope there are such generations.
I work every day in the hope that there will be.
And this book in my library—along with that big boxed set of Calvin and Hobbes—will be part of my legacy, now.
October 12, 2023
This graphic novel comes with a huge weight of expectations. Except for 3 strips he partly drew for Stephan Pastis’ Pearls Before Swine, Bill Watterson hasn’t done ANYTHING for the public since Calvin and Hobbes rode their toboggan down the hill one final time on December 31, 1995.
It was jaw-dropping when this was announced. Watterson is legendarily reclusive - I would have been only slightly more shocked if they’d announced that the late JRR Tolkien was going to finish A Song of Ice and Fire. As Calvin & Hobbes was formative for me as a kid - I’m far from the only one - of course I jumped on it and preordered.
So, to get this out of the way: this isn’t Calvin & Hobbes. This isn’t anything like Calvin & Hobbes, except for a few minor quirks that I recognize as Watterson’s style.
But I could imagine this as a sequence in Calvin’s ever-hyperactive imagination.
This is called “a fable for grown-ups,” and that works. It definitely has a fable-ish tone, and tells a simple, straightforward story. It’s about how the fear of the unknown can hold us back, and, simultaneously, about how a lack of respect for the limits of our understanding can bring catastrophe. The analogies to real world issues are not subtle.
There’s very little text - one sentence per page, in large print and usually short. If one were to just pick up this book to read it, it would take fewer than 5 minutes to complete. But that’s not how one should read a graphic novel, of course. You need to take the time to appreciate the art.
Which is stellar. It’s all black and white, and very atmospheric, and very creepy. The general theme of the art is that people are rendered in very sharp, almost photorealistic, detail, while everything else is blurred and vague and obscured. And the people are mostly drawn lumpy, scarred, and generally unattractive.
This isn’t going to be for everyone. Graphic novels usually aren’t, and this isn’t even what I would think of as a graphic novel, really. It’s a picture book, but one much more mature than the stuff I read my nephews. The art was gorgeous. The story was disturbing. It’s a book to experience, rather than read, and I’m glad I did.
My blog
It was jaw-dropping when this was announced. Watterson is legendarily reclusive - I would have been only slightly more shocked if they’d announced that the late JRR Tolkien was going to finish A Song of Ice and Fire. As Calvin & Hobbes was formative for me as a kid - I’m far from the only one - of course I jumped on it and preordered.
So, to get this out of the way: this isn’t Calvin & Hobbes. This isn’t anything like Calvin & Hobbes, except for a few minor quirks that I recognize as Watterson’s style.
But I could imagine this as a sequence in Calvin’s ever-hyperactive imagination.
This is called “a fable for grown-ups,” and that works. It definitely has a fable-ish tone, and tells a simple, straightforward story. It’s about how the fear of the unknown can hold us back, and, simultaneously, about how a lack of respect for the limits of our understanding can bring catastrophe. The analogies to real world issues are not subtle.
There’s very little text - one sentence per page, in large print and usually short. If one were to just pick up this book to read it, it would take fewer than 5 minutes to complete. But that’s not how one should read a graphic novel, of course. You need to take the time to appreciate the art.
Which is stellar. It’s all black and white, and very atmospheric, and very creepy. The general theme of the art is that people are rendered in very sharp, almost photorealistic, detail, while everything else is blurred and vague and obscured. And the people are mostly drawn lumpy, scarred, and generally unattractive.
This isn’t going to be for everyone. Graphic novels usually aren’t, and this isn’t even what I would think of as a graphic novel, really. It’s a picture book, but one much more mature than the stuff I read my nephews. The art was gorgeous. The story was disturbing. It’s a book to experience, rather than read, and I’m glad I did.
My blog
October 11, 2023
I'm not sure what I expected, but this didn't meet the minimum of what I would pay $20 to be entertained by.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2023
I pre-ordered a while ago this without knowing anything about it other than Bill Watterson was involved.
I loved Calvin & Hobbes as a kid, although I'm not a die hard fan and I don't own the books. As such I haven't reread them in a while. However his name was enough for me to check out his first new work in forever.
I promptly forgot about this book until I got the ship notification this week.
It's incredibly short. Some pages have a single sentences. At most there are 2 or 3. Each pair of pages has text on the left and a picture on the right. It's only 72 pages long. So there really isn't a lot to it.
I enjoyed it, but probably would have preferred to simply borrow it from a library to read once.
I loved Calvin & Hobbes as a kid, although I'm not a die hard fan and I don't own the books. As such I haven't reread them in a while. However his name was enough for me to check out his first new work in forever.
I promptly forgot about this book until I got the ship notification this week.
It's incredibly short. Some pages have a single sentences. At most there are 2 or 3. Each pair of pages has text on the left and a picture on the right. It's only 72 pages long. So there really isn't a lot to it.
I enjoyed it, but probably would have preferred to simply borrow it from a library to read once.
October 17, 2023
So I don't know exactly what to say about this one.
I adore Calvin and Hobbes and there was much gleeful shrieking when I learned this was coming out.
Look I wasn't expecting little boys and tigers and I know he's supposed to be something of an odd duck but seriously what in the world is this book?
We've got people in some kind of medieval society who are all terrified of something called "mysteries." The king sends his knights to find out what they are and capture them. Years go by and finally one lone knight returns with a mystery and everyone realizes they're no big deal. Lots of time goes by and then the sky turns weird colors and fire rains down and animals start to disappear and then it just ends...
No idea what the mysteries actually are or what this book is. I guess its about climate change? Or maybe its a political statement? Something about the dangers of organized religion? There's like twelve words on a page and while the illustrations are cool, black and white, photorealistic depictions of what almost look like marionettes, there's no actual story to follow.
I think its fantastic that Bill Waterson is still creating art and I love weird shit but I have no earthly idea what was happening here.
I adore Calvin and Hobbes and there was much gleeful shrieking when I learned this was coming out.
Look I wasn't expecting little boys and tigers and I know he's supposed to be something of an odd duck but seriously what in the world is this book?
We've got people in some kind of medieval society who are all terrified of something called "mysteries." The king sends his knights to find out what they are and capture them. Years go by and finally one lone knight returns with a mystery and everyone realizes they're no big deal. Lots of time goes by and then the sky turns weird colors and fire rains down and animals start to disappear and then it just ends...
No idea what the mysteries actually are or what this book is. I guess its about climate change? Or maybe its a political statement? Something about the dangers of organized religion? There's like twelve words on a page and while the illustrations are cool, black and white, photorealistic depictions of what almost look like marionettes, there's no actual story to follow.
I think its fantastic that Bill Waterson is still creating art and I love weird shit but I have no earthly idea what was happening here.
April 9, 2024
Bill Watterson’s name holds enough weight, as it should when you are the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. This is meticulously created – an arresting short story told in fable format. It shouldn’t take you longer than 10 minutes to get through, but it will stick with you for a while.
November 13, 2023
oh my oh my, can't wait
September 27, 2024
I think this story delves into our relationship with the unknown—how we once feared it, then gradually began to understand the world through science. However, it also warns of the risks that our flawed relationship with nature and the universe could lead us back into the unknown.
That being said, the story itself is quite short. While it spans 72 pages, with each odd-numbered page featuring illustrations and each even-numbered page containing only a small amount of text, it reads more like a 30-page story.
The illustrations are the book’s standout feature. They appear to be a blend of photography and illustration, creating a visually compelling experience.
Overall, while the visuals are striking, the story feels quite brief.
That being said, the story itself is quite short. While it spans 72 pages, with each odd-numbered page featuring illustrations and each even-numbered page containing only a small amount of text, it reads more like a 30-page story.
The illustrations are the book’s standout feature. They appear to be a blend of photography and illustration, creating a visually compelling experience.
Overall, while the visuals are striking, the story feels quite brief.
November 20, 2023
Watterson's first offering in many years is a strange little picture book. This fable opens with a kingdom surrounded by a deep dark forest. The people are fearful of mysteries which live in the forest, so the king sends his knights into the forest to capture a mystery. Most return empty handed, or do not return at all. One knight captures a mystery and it is not what the people expected. The art is quite elegant, black and white photographs of dolls posed in blurry but evocative settings. The story is very slight, and I'm not sure it delivered on the depth it seemed to be reaching for. Maybe check this one out from the library rather than buying it.
March 24, 2024
Just ordered pizza! How many pictures books can my wife and I read before it arrives? Here's #1:
A disappointing and depressing parable about how xenophobia and paranoia are bad but nothing matters because we're all just insignificant motes who are all going to die anyway. The art is ugly and creepy to boot.
Yuck.
A disappointing and depressing parable about how xenophobia and paranoia are bad but nothing matters because we're all just insignificant motes who are all going to die anyway. The art is ugly and creepy to boot.
Yuck.
November 26, 2023
SPOILERS:
I pre-ordered this and have read it a few times in the last couple months.
It’s been gnawing at me a bit.
I actually appreciate the story more than the innovative art, though the images do a good job of evoking the dark, uneasy feeling.
Is it about religion and the assumptions we make about God and that which surpasses our understanding?
Is it about our worship of science in place of a fear of God - but both are actually overconfident and thinking too small?
Is it about Mother Nature and our arrogant, failed stewardship over the earth?
Is it all of the above?
My current take:
The people are assumed to be the main characters of the story. That is our default assumption when we read a tale like this. But at the end of the fable we realize: maybe we’re not. The Mysteries were always the main character. Our confirmation bias put us at the center, when that wasn’t reality.
Maybe the people - we - are but an arrogant blip in the vast history and space in which we currently occupy. Maybe we can clear the forests and pave our highways and set up our governments, but the mountains and oceans and mysteries of the earth, sea, and sky will be thee long after us, just as they were there long before us.
The mysteries are the main characters. We’re just making a a cameo.
Maybe the twist and lesson is this: The more we appreciate that, the more compatible we’ll be with the mysteries. The more we’ll live in healthy wonder of them. Maybe human progress is inevitable, but maybe that progress should maintain a healthy dose of respect for the mysteries, vs. misguided hubris that we can harness and control them for short term survival, comfort, then gain. Short-term connects to short-term but eventually we pay for our overconfidence and our tendency to kick the can down the road.
Later generations will only know what our modern wizards say of the mysteries, and what ancient records speculated. And later generations may take note too late.
I pre-ordered this and have read it a few times in the last couple months.
It’s been gnawing at me a bit.
I actually appreciate the story more than the innovative art, though the images do a good job of evoking the dark, uneasy feeling.
Is it about religion and the assumptions we make about God and that which surpasses our understanding?
Is it about our worship of science in place of a fear of God - but both are actually overconfident and thinking too small?
Is it about Mother Nature and our arrogant, failed stewardship over the earth?
Is it all of the above?
My current take:
The people are assumed to be the main characters of the story. That is our default assumption when we read a tale like this. But at the end of the fable we realize: maybe we’re not. The Mysteries were always the main character. Our confirmation bias put us at the center, when that wasn’t reality.
Maybe the people - we - are but an arrogant blip in the vast history and space in which we currently occupy. Maybe we can clear the forests and pave our highways and set up our governments, but the mountains and oceans and mysteries of the earth, sea, and sky will be thee long after us, just as they were there long before us.
The mysteries are the main characters. We’re just making a a cameo.
Maybe the twist and lesson is this: The more we appreciate that, the more compatible we’ll be with the mysteries. The more we’ll live in healthy wonder of them. Maybe human progress is inevitable, but maybe that progress should maintain a healthy dose of respect for the mysteries, vs. misguided hubris that we can harness and control them for short term survival, comfort, then gain. Short-term connects to short-term but eventually we pay for our overconfidence and our tendency to kick the can down the road.
Later generations will only know what our modern wizards say of the mysteries, and what ancient records speculated. And later generations may take note too late.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
February 15, 2023Bill, out of nowhere!! Can't wait for it.
January 31, 2024
A short fable with a warning for our time and interesting manipulated images which left me unexcited (a bit of variety would have been nice).
December 25, 2023
Story 3⭐️ artwork 5⭐️
October 27, 2023
Be warned - this takes like five minutes to read. It is absolutely nothing like Calvin & Hobbes and if different names were on the cover no one would suspect Bill Watterson at all.
It's pitched as a "fable for adults" but I'm not sure why you couldn't read this to/with your kids. Each time you turn the page there's just one sentence and one picture. There's no difficult language or frightening images, there's nothing worse than say, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I think it fits in with a book like that, for sure.
It's fine. The art reminds me of weird old claymation cartoons that I don't particularly enjoy. The story is unsatisfying but I think that is the point. Ultimately this is going to be purchased by Calvin & Hobbes fans chasing nostalgia who won't really know what to do with it. Get it from the library instead. Read it to your kids.
As an adult with no kids it's about two stars. As something you could spend time with your child discussing what they think it means it might be a little better.
It's pitched as a "fable for adults" but I'm not sure why you couldn't read this to/with your kids. Each time you turn the page there's just one sentence and one picture. There's no difficult language or frightening images, there's nothing worse than say, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I think it fits in with a book like that, for sure.
It's fine. The art reminds me of weird old claymation cartoons that I don't particularly enjoy. The story is unsatisfying but I think that is the point. Ultimately this is going to be purchased by Calvin & Hobbes fans chasing nostalgia who won't really know what to do with it. Get it from the library instead. Read it to your kids.
As an adult with no kids it's about two stars. As something you could spend time with your child discussing what they think it means it might be a little better.
October 11, 2023
Subtly dense. Beautiful and ghastly.
October 10, 2023
I can openly admit I bought this solely because of Bill Watterson's name (and John Kascht certainly only adds to the hype). I can't say I knew what I was getting from the description or the art preview, but I had prepared myself for something different than the expected material of the past.
I'm confused (and pleased) to report that it is indeed different but absolutely familiar to the previous work of both. The faces and art is very much a wonderful work of Kascht, and every face deserves a study in the next few readings.
And the story is absolutely what is contained in Calvin and Hobbes. It's just as "grown up" as any other part of those stories. It is simple, but leaves itself open to a nice round of deeper thought. A fairy tale it sure is.
I'm confused (and pleased) to report that it is indeed different but absolutely familiar to the previous work of both. The faces and art is very much a wonderful work of Kascht, and every face deserves a study in the next few readings.
And the story is absolutely what is contained in Calvin and Hobbes. It's just as "grown up" as any other part of those stories. It is simple, but leaves itself open to a nice round of deeper thought. A fairy tale it sure is.
February 1, 2024
The first book by Bill Watterson since the year I was born!!
An odd sort of fable/picture book for adults with these amazing, very strange illustrations. Sort of photo collages of puppets with real human appendages. watterson themes of narrow minded humanity and wonder at the natural world are very present!
Almost feels like cheating to log this as u could read and enjoy it fully in 15-20 min. But who cares it’s beguiling and wonderful and everyone (You!) should read it!
An odd sort of fable/picture book for adults with these amazing, very strange illustrations. Sort of photo collages of puppets with real human appendages. watterson themes of narrow minded humanity and wonder at the natural world are very present!
Almost feels like cheating to log this as u could read and enjoy it fully in 15-20 min. But who cares it’s beguiling and wonderful and everyone (You!) should read it!
January 21, 2024
The Mysteries is about the impermanence of human existence. This is well-worn ground, to be sure, but something most of us need to hear most of the time. This theme is very much in step with Watterson's work in Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is constantly asking deep questions, and Hobbes is always providing discomfiting answers. The Sunday strip for February 23, 1992 is what I first thought of after reading The Mysteries. "Turn on the lights! Turn up the heat!" cry the people when confronting the car crash/gang rape ethics and future prospects of human society. We turn to the familiar to blot out the mysterious, but our life (and our society) begins and ends with mysteries that we cannot comprehend. This makes for rather bleak reading, especially in these humorless and slightly menacing charcoal drawings.
I will close with what Watterson misses: reality is cruciform. In the scandal of Christ's cross, all is changed. His blood makes us white as snow. His rising ensures that death will die. His redemption brings his immortal image out in us where before there was merely dust. The mystery of Christ is the revelation of all that is. Crux sola est nostra theologia.
I will close with what Watterson misses: reality is cruciform. In the scandal of Christ's cross, all is changed. His blood makes us white as snow. His rising ensures that death will die. His redemption brings his immortal image out in us where before there was merely dust. The mystery of Christ is the revelation of all that is. Crux sola est nostra theologia.
November 8, 2023
It could’ve been an actual turd and I’d have probably still liked it.
What does it mean? Other than that Bill Watterson hasn’t seemed to have changed all that much (not a bad thing), and that odd, beautiful illustrations are always fun, who really knows?
What does it mean? Other than that Bill Watterson hasn’t seemed to have changed all that much (not a bad thing), and that odd, beautiful illustrations are always fun, who really knows?
December 1, 2023
THIS! Eeeeeee!!!
October 11, 2023
Bill Watterson could publish a pamphlet on time shares and I’d still read it. That’s how much Calvin & Hobbes meant to me. The Mysteries is decidedly not Calvin & Hobbes, nor is it trying to be. Instead, it’s Watterson and co-author John Kascht trying something different.
If there is a connection to Watterson’s past work, it’s that he made something that’s seemingly for children but speaks to adults. The Mysteries has the shape of a children’s book, but its tone, style, and message are decidedly for older readers. Younger people may still appreciate the book, but it’s clearly speaking to an older audience that will appreciate the book’s bittersweet approach.
Anyway, I hope we don’t have to wait another 29 years for Watterson’s next work.
If there is a connection to Watterson’s past work, it’s that he made something that’s seemingly for children but speaks to adults. The Mysteries has the shape of a children’s book, but its tone, style, and message are decidedly for older readers. Younger people may still appreciate the book, but it’s clearly speaking to an older audience that will appreciate the book’s bittersweet approach.
Anyway, I hope we don’t have to wait another 29 years for Watterson’s next work.
November 4, 2023
Spooky and bleak <3
August 1, 2024
I am hungry for the desperate swirling terrifying things of this reality to be woven gently and simply. In its brevity, it spans ages. I have begun pondering the idea that human beings are not entitled to existence, and this very much explores that idea.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 964 reviews