"unto the end" and "commoditized to death" made me briefly paranoid that Mr Watterson had died, but thankfully he is still quite alive:
"Watterson lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio as of January 2024"
"Watterson lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio as of January 2024"
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-Wa...
I think I read the story in about five minutes.