In 1989, creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip Bill Watterson gave a speech about a comic strip’s potential to be a form of art, and how licensing frivolous products for profit can destroy the precious world of the comic. Here is an excerpt from his speech:

“Characters lose their believability as they start endorsing major companies and lend their faces to bedsheets and boxer shorts. The appealing innocence and sincerity of cartoon characters is corrupted when they use those qualities to peddle products. One starts to question whether characters say things because they mean it or because their sentiments sell T-shirts and greeting cards. Licensing has made some cartoonists extremely wealthy, but at a considerable loss to the precious little world they created. I don’t buy the argument that licensing can go at full throttle without affecting the strip. Licensing has become a monster. Cartoonists have not been very good at recognizing it, and the syndicates don’t care.”

I couldn’t help but think about the current state of punk rock when reading this article. A band is a small world – you create an intimate relationship with a musician based on the notion that they care about writing as much as you care about listening. Believing this idea is the corner stone for those who seek sincerity and honesty in music. Seeing bands and musicians begging their fans to vote for them on TRL, or watering down their message for a wider audience cheapens that world – it damages the belief that these individuals are more concerned with expressing themselves than making a profit. Without that belief, punk rock is no different than the Backstreet Boys. It’s pretty funny that an aging cartoonist seems to understand the punk rock mindset better than a good portion of the bands around today…

You can read the lengthy, but incredibly interesting transcript for Watterson’s speech here.