From The Comics Journal 142, June 1991

Calvin and Hobbes Departs

Bill Watterson has placed his highly popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes on hiatus as of May 5. In a statement released through Universal Press Syndicate, Watterson said, "The strip requires a great deal of research, and I need to do more interplanetary explorations and paleontology work before I continue." The syndicate will supply newspapers with repeats until Watterson's scheduled return next February.

In other strip news, writer Larry Doyle has left Walt Kelly's Pogo, leaving Dean Sterneckey in charge of both writing and drawing; both parties claim the parting was amicable.

Tribune Media Services has launched The Buckets by Arizona Republic editorial cartoonist Scott Santis. The syndicate calls it "a fresh, upbeat comic strip depicting the perils of parenthood in the '90s... The two Bucket boys, a pint-sized cereal killer and four-year-old crayon terrorist, drive Dad's patience and Mom's en- durance up the family room wall."

Quaternary Features is launching a weekly a alternative strip by ex-National Lampoon contributor and ex-Harvard Law student Ruben Bolling. Tom the Dancing Bug has no character by that name, but does have one-shot strips about tax lawyers, talking pigs who endorse pork products, and generic cartoon animals.