Artist Bill Watterson reveals why at the height of fame he axed America's most beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and just walked away.

In the world of fame crazy maniacs that loom over every waking minute it's hard to fathom why an artist at the top of this game would abruptly retire and vanish to lead a normal, albeit, reclusive life.

But for Bill Watterson, who created the imaginative and brilliant comic strip Calvin and Hobbes that dominated the 1990s, it's a no-brainer.

"It's always better to leave the party early," Watterson told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now 'grieving' for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent.

"And I'd be agreeing with them." 

Despite the fact that Bart Simpson's more philosophical cousin Calvin and his stuffed toy tiger  Hobbes, have never been licensed into action figures, Saturday morning toon shows, lunch boxes  or video games, collections of  the old strips remain print best-sellers.

"In pop culture time, the 1990s were eons ago," Watterson divulged

"An artwork can stay frozen in time, but I stumble through the years like everyone else."

And like true classics, Calvin & Hobbes remain timeless.

Which is why the US Post Office is issuing their first ever Calvin & Hobbes commemorative stamp. Not bad for Spaceman Spiff aka Stupendous Man and his tawny tiger pal.