Growing up in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, you no doubt had at least one Where’s Waldo? book in your house. The traveler with his iconic red and white striped shirt, round glasses, and bobble hat enticed many a child who loved those Highlights “hidden pictures” pages in your doctor’s offices with something even more challenging — finding Waldo in a large two-page crowd scene. A delight for the eyes, these scenes grew increasingly complex, thus making Waldo harder and harder to find. But where did Waldo originate? For that, we look to England.
In the early ‘80s, British illustrator Martin Handford was working as a freelance illustrator who specialized in drawing crowd scenes. After seeing some of Handford’s artwork, an art director for Walter Books in England, David Bennett, contacted Handford about developing a children’s book showcasing his drawing talents. But the book would need a throughline, something to connect it all together and become a focal point, and it was then that Handford came up with the character of Wally. Wait a minute — Wally? Yes, that’s right, Waldo’s real name is Wally.
After he came up with Wally in 1985, Handford got to work on creating the 12 pages for the first book in what would become a worldwide series sensation. Each of those two-page spreads took quite some time for Handford to complete, with some of them taking more than eight weeks per spread. Typically, he would draw the complete crowd scene first, and then go back in and insert Wally into the scene. Handford has stated that there was no science to where he put Wally in each scene, rather that he placed him simply in a place he felt was a good spot.
It took two years to complete the first Wally book, which was released in September 1987 as Where’s Wally? in the United Kingdom. But, American publishers thought that name wasn’t going to resonate with their audiences, so in North America the book was released as Where’s Waldo? Indeed, many countries around the world where the Wally books would eventually be published changed his name to suit their particular cultures: Charlie in France, Walter in Germany, Willy in Norway, and Effy in Israel, to name a few.
The original Wally book was popular pretty much immediately, so Handford got to work straightaway on the next book in the series, which was published just one year later in 1988. That wasn’t the end, either. In total, there have been seven books published in the Wally series from 1987 to 2009, as well as a multitude of spinoffs. There was even a short-lived animated television series created in 1991 that aired in the UK and the US. And, as recently as 2019 there was a new animated series created by DreamWorks that has two seasons so far, and can be found on Peacock. A film based on the books has been in development multiple times throughout the years, but hasn’t made it past that development stage quite yet.
Yes, Wally has been everywhere, and eventually was joined by companions that Handford would draw into each scene as well, including Wilma, Wenda, Woof, Wizard Whitebeard, and of course, Wally’s nemesis, Odlaw, who dresses in yellow and black stripes to differentiate himself. All of these additions gave readers more and more to look out for, making each crowd scene that much more fun to examine to make sure you found everyone and everything special that you could. Indeed, if we all opened up a Wally/Waldo book today, we’d surely be just as entertained trying to track him and his compatriots down. Would part of the entertainment be due to feeling a sense of nostalgia? Of course! But isn’t that half the fun?
What are your best Where’s Waldo? memories? Did you know his real name was Wally? Let us know in the comments!
- The Wally/Waldo series has sold over 55 million books, and has been published in more than 35 countries and 30 languages.
- Handford came up with the name Wally as it was a commonly used slang term in Britain for a somewhat spacey person. He has stated that he named him that because when he originally thought of the character, he figured Wally must be kinda dumb to get lost in all of these scenes.
- From 1990-1999, Where’s Waldo? was on the American Library Association’s list of the top 100 banned books. Why in the world would Waldo be banned? Well, there was a particular beach scene that featured a woman lying on her towel topless. You could see the hint of the side of her breast — in 1997, a re-release was edited to cover her up.
- Over the years, people have gathered to break world records for the largest gatherings of people dressed as Wally. The first occurred in 2009 when 1,052 people dressed as Wally at Rutgers University. That was broken in 2011 when 3,872 Wally’s gathered in Merrion Square in Dublin, Ireland. And that record was broken in 2017 when 4,626 Wally’s gathered in Nagasaki, Japan after multiple previous failed attempts.
- Prior to the Wally books, Handford gained attention when he drew the cover for The Vapors’ album Magnets, which features a crowd that has formed in the shape of a giant eye.
- The Wally/Waldo series has sold over 55 million books, and has been published in more than 35 countries and 30 languages.
- Handford came up with the name Wally as it was a commonly used slang term in Britain for a somewhat spacey person. He has stated that he named him that because when he originally thought of the character, he figured Wally must be kinda dumb to get lost in all of these scenes.
- From 1990-1999, Where’s Waldo? was on the American Library Association’s list of the top 100 banned books. Why in the world would Waldo be banned? Well, there was a particular beach scene that featured a woman lying on her towel topless. You could see the hint of the side of her breast — in 1997, a re-release was edited to cover her up.
- Over the years, people have gathered to break world records for the largest gatherings of people dressed as Wally. The first occurred in 2009 when 1,052 people dressed as Wally at Rutgers University. That was broken in 2011 when 3,872 Wally’s gathered in Merrion Square in Dublin, Ireland. And that record was broken in 2017 when 4,626 Wally’s gathered in Nagasaki, Japan after multiple previous failed attempts.
- Prior to the Wally books, Handford gained attention when he drew the cover for The Vapors’ album Magnets, which features a crowd that has formed in the shape of a giant eye.
