Where's Waldo?
Martin Handford was an illustrator who liked drawing crowds, and his publisher asked him to put something in them for a reader to find. That is the whole invention.
About Where's Waldo?
Martin Handford was an illustrator who liked drawing crowds, and his publisher asked him to put something in them for a reader to find. That is the whole invention. The books have no plot and almost no text, and they work because Handford draws each spread by hand over several weeks, hiding the figure among hundreds of small jokes that reward the reader who has already found him. The character has a different name in almost every market — Wally in Britain, Waldo in the United States, Charlie in France, Walter in Germany — because the joke translates but the name does not, and the one constant is the outfit.
The name changes by market; the red-and-white striped outfit does not, which is why the character licenses so cleanly onto clothing.
Rights holder: Classic Media / DreamWorks Animation, published by Candlewick and Walker Books. CharacterTshirts.com is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with, authorized by, endorsed by, or connected to any character rights holder, publisher, studio or network named on this site. All character names and titles are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to identify the products described.
Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Where's Wally? | 1987 | Published by Walker Books in the UK. |
| Where's Waldo? | 1987– | The American edition from Little, Brown, with the renamed character. |
| Screen and licensing | 1991– | Animated series, games and a large costume-apparel market. |