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I read a lot, and if someone were to ask me who my favorite author is I would have to say, of all writers, Bill Watterson is definitely in the top five. Been slowly working my way through something requested for my birthday some time ago - a four-book anthology of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes - and the man is a genius. What many don't realize is that the subtleties of his facial expressions and the content included (or not included) in each frame is just as much a part of the writing as what is written in the dialogue or thought bubbles.
In the first book he goes into great detail on his personal journey as a cartoonist and the creative process, recognizing that the obstacles he faced served ultimately to lead him to the famous pair. This to me is fascinating and mirrors some of the conclusions I'd already reached regarding the thought process and making use of your talents at the expense of apparent immediate success. I'd highly recommend getting the series even if just to read what is in the beginning of the first volume.
If someone were to push me to name some of the others in the top five I would have to go back to the mid-nineteenth century. James Silk Buckingham was one, Frederick Douglass another. Seems that folks back then had longer attention spans and greater powers of concentration than the TV-fed generations of today. In more recent times - that is, in the middle of the twentieth century - James Herriot (Jim Wight) is up there, as mentioned several times in previous posts.
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