Bill Watterson comes through with poster to promote Angoulême International Comics festival

Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson has produced the poster to promote the annual Angoulême International Comics festival held in France. Bill was the Grand Prix recipient last year which by tradition requires the winner to contribute the official poster for the following year. It wasn’t clear whether Bill would provide the poster after his win was announced, but he liked the challenge of it. Click the image above to read the announcement/interview if you know French, otherwise click here for Google’s translation with money quote translated below:

What did you want to express in this poster?
First I wanted to mention my own work, so I drew on a board reading strips such as are found in supplements of Sunday newspapers in the United States (note: “Calvin and Hobbes “was published in this form) … then I found it amusing that in the present model of a newspaper, as if it was one of those strips. To make the whole more universal, I deleted all dialogue, so any language barrier. Tell a story in pictures is only one of the great strengths -and the great pleasures – offered comics. In this sense, I hope I have managed to express both my work and comics in general. And to pay tribute to what makes this medium so pleasant to read.

Calvin and Hobbes have your celebrity. Why do not they appear on the poster?
I’ve never used my characters to promote anything other than my own work, and then he comes to promoting comics as a whole.