WATTERSON, BILL. B. 1958.
Calvin and Hobbes. ['Let's Go Exploring.'] [Kansas City]: Universal Press Syndicate, 1995.
Signed color proof, 250 x 350 mm (image size approximately 225 x 323 mm), of the final 'Calvin and Hobbes' cartoon strip, December 31, 1995. Printed in black and half-tone colors. Light handling creases to margins.
WITH: Typed Letter Signed from Lee Salem, Editorial Director of Universal Press Syndicate, to Richard Walker of the Roseville, CA, Press Tribune, 1 p, Kansas City, April 15, 1996, on Universal Press Syndicate letterhead, stating 'Though Bill Watterson is gone from your comic pages, he hasn't forgotten. The enclosed color proof is a thank-you from him.' With original transmittal envelope.

The iconic final comic strip of Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes, which was in syndication from 1985 to 1995. Watterson was critical of the way newspaper publishers required comic strips to be laid out, putting space requirements before the artistic integrity of the comics. In November 1995, he published a letter to his readers stating that he would be stopping Calvin and Hobbes at the end of that year, saying he was 'eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises.' This final strip, published December 31, 1995, depicts Calvin and Hobbes in new-fallen snow, which Hobbes likens to 'a big sheet of white paper to draw on,' and ends with Calvin saying, '... Let's go exploring!' Thus, Watterson's last message to his readers was that life is a blank slate, full of limitless creative possibilities.
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