Calvin and Hobbes Visit the Trailer Park

Even after the better part of a decade, the only thing that remains more elusive than Calvin and Hobbes illustrator Bill Watterson is Calvin and Hobbes merchandise.

After the legendary comic strip's last panels printed in 1995, with 3,150 strips under his belt, Watterson held his ground and refused to allow licensing for Calvin and Hobbes products: no lunchboxes, no stuffed animals, no nothin'. You can find collections of the comics bound in book form, and that's about it. The young blond boy and his best feline friend were forever supposed to remain in their inked frames and boundless imaginations. Only recently have fans launched things like Michael Yingling's themed search engine or Pants Are Overrated's Hobbes and Bacon.

But finally, after all these years, fans are at least getting the opportunity to say thanks. According to Slate, in 2007, director Joel Allen Schroeder started interviewing fans of the comics; two years later, he raised almost $25,000 in a Kickstarter campaign for a future documentary project. That project, titled Dear Mr. Watterson has distribution, and the first trailer is now out.

If you're one of the thousands of fans worldwide for whom the comic strip was an integral part of childhood, you'll appreciate everything these fans – from everyday kids to other great comic strip artists like Berkeley Breathed – have to say.