Bill Watterson’s ‘Pearls Before Swine’ Artwork Raises $62,000 To Benefit Parkinson’s Disease Research

Even those of you who don't keep up with daily newspaper comic strips probably heard about Bill Watterson's secret return to comics earlier this year. In a storyline in Stephan Pastis's Pearls Before Swine, Pastis was briefly replaced by a second-grader named Libby, who claimed she could draw the strip far better than Pastis had been. While the strip was running, Pastis hinted at a "mind-blowing surprise" for readers, and he definitely delivered when he revealed that "Libby" was actually the legendary creator of Calvin & Hobbes, brought back to comics for the first time since 1995.

As you might expect, this was a pretty big deal, but became even bigger this week when Watterson's three strips were sold at auction, raising $62,000 to benefit Parkinson's Disease research.

Including the premium paid to Heritage Auctions, who ended up donating about half of their take as well, collectors paid over $74,000 for the strips, including a single bid of $30,000 for the June 3 "Martian Robot Attacks" strip above. Also of note: The three strips were purchased by three separate collectors.

The proceeds from the auction will be donated to Team Cul De Sac, a charity set up by cartoonist Richard Thompson to benefit Parkinson's disease research, affiliated with the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

[via the Washington Post]