I know people like Watterson. They generally are "nice" but they seriously can't handle dealing with people. He never wanted to do Calvin & Hobbes. He was selling Spaceman Spiff and the editors just wanted a story about the kid and suggested a stuffed animal sidekick. I think this is what is at the core of his detachment - he was writing scripts for a character born at the suggestion of an editor. That's why he did Spaceman Spiff in most of the Sundays - with color. That was "his" strip. His way of doing what he wanted to do. And to be honest, the Spaceman Spiff parts were some of the worst strips of Calvin & Hobbes. Already repetitious early on and not nearly as funny as the other stuff.

Creative people can be that way. It is clear he was doing Calvin & Hobbes like an assignment - a chore. He never embraced it as his own even though it was his mind that gave the characters life. If it were picked up as he sold it - Spaceman Spiff - he wouldn't be so nonchalant about the characters. He bregrudges the intuitive syndicate head who transformed what he wanted to create.

I loved Calvin & Hobbes the comic strip. Watterson, himself, leaves me quite cold.