'Calvin and Hobbes' just turned 30 - here's the history of the strip and its mysterious creator Bill Watterson

Thirty years ago, the comical adventures of a six-year-old boy named Calvin and his tiger best friend named Hobbes captivated readers. 

Named after theologian John Calvin and philosopher Thomas Hobbes as "an inside joke for poli-sci majors," as its creator said, "Calvin and Hobbes" was first published November 18, 1985.

Creator Bill Watterson had graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in political science in 1980 and promptly started working as a political cartoonist for the Cincinnati Post. The paper fired him after three months, but he continued drawing, even as he struggled to create a comic strip that worked.

He pitched a comic to United Feature Syndicate, publisher of "Peanuts," in which a little boy and his toy tiger were supporting characters. The company recommended that he focus on those characters, and though it ultimately rejected the strip, Universal Press Syndicate accepted it. 

Within a year, "Calvin and Hobbes" was being published in roughly 250 newspapers. By the time Watterson ended the strip in 1995, it was appearing in more than 2,400 newspapers. It had become a beloved classic.

But through it all, Watterson remained an enigmatic figure. Find out more below.