Watterson said no to Spielberg, no to toys, and walked at the top (therepublicofletters.substack.com)
The essay opens with college Watterson painting Michelangelo on his dorm ceiling for months, then whitewashing it before he left: art for its own sake, kept by no one.
He turned down merchandising estimated against Garfield's 750 million to a billion dollars a year, fought his syndicate for six years, and quit in 1995 after a decade.
The thread caught the essay contradicting itself: it warns of widespread cancellation, then admits only 7 of 1,800 papers actually dropped him.
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