STRIP MINING

“Calvin and Hobbes,” Bill Watterson’s ultra-popular newspaper comic strip about a difficult little boy and the toy tiger who serves as his imaginary companion, is getting some rare tributes lately--homages from other cartoonists. Teddy Monclava, the problem child in “Mary Worth,” has been wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Hobbes, the tiger. And in “Bloom County,” cartoonist Berke Breathed pictured character Michael Binkley in a T-shirt that read “Calvin and Hobbes Rule.”

“Bill Watterson happens to be my favorite cartoonist,” explained Bill Zeigler, who draws meddling Mary. “I was casting about, wondering what to put on the kid’s T-shirt: I thought of a cartoon character, and I thought of Hobbes. I think of Hobbes when I think of cartoon characters. Watterson’s combination of timing and cartoon material amounts to sheer genius. I roll on the floor when I read some his strips--how can I get my own drawing done when he interrupts me like that?”

During a phone call to his Ohio home, Watterson accepted the praise with modest good humor: “I sent a letter to Bill Zeigler and said that it was a shame the kid was such a little gasbag, but otherwise a boy who wants to blow up the world was a perfect endorsement for the strip.”