Friday is April Fool's Day, which means that you probably shouldn't believe anything you see, read or hear on that day.
However, that doesn't mean that it's not a good day to celebrate a laugh, though, especially when it comes to some creative pranks that turn up on the magical world of the Internet.
Sure, ThinkGeek releases some fairly funny (and sometimes awesome) fake products on this day every year, but Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed wins April Fool's Day 2016 by making an announcement that he recently bought the rights to Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes.
Poking fun at Watterson's reputation as a recluse, Breathed made the announcement on Facebook:
"A big day for C&H fans: Bill Watterson and myself in Tuscany signing the franchise over to my 'administration.' Watterson's in great shape — he's out of the Arizona facility, continent and looking forward to some well-earned financial security. You rock, Bill."
That didn't end the hijinks, though. Breathed also released his own Calvin and Hobbes comic strip featuring the daring duo as they contemplate eating the brains of Bloom County's Opus.
Breathed's humor made a comeback last year when he decided to bring Bloom County back to the masses, posting a new strip nearly every day since last July. The original strip ran in American newspapers from 1980-1989 and featured a cast of characters that ranged from children to adults to animals — including a dead cat — that often discussed topics as varied as pop culture and politics in a humorous manner.
Breathed's decision to bring back the strip came with the popularity of social media, as well as the freedom to be his own boss while working on it.
"The option of self-publishing allows for the freedom that will keep it fun, which it can't stray from — or forget it," he said to the Washington Post. "Dead-tree media requires constancy and deadlines and guarantees. "This flattens the joy. It also presents a huge income. It's an interesting trade-off, isn't it?"
Last year, Watterson also came out of semi-retirement to quietly work on a few strips of Pearls Before Swine with Stephen Pastis. Did Watterson have anything to do with Breathed's April Fool's Day joke? If he did, he's not talking about it.
