Okay. So you’ve been reading Garfield for quite a while. Since childhood, let’s say. It’s getting pretty old, right? The same basic elements seem consistent throughout: the cat kicks the dog off the table, eats pasta and ridicules his owner. Ah, Jon Arbuckle, you poor, miserable bastard. Your life really is a monotonous string of torment with that fat, lazy cat as your only companion. I mean, is it any wonder Liz doesn’t want to date him? Women aren’t too into the dude with a bad perm that hangs out with his cat all day. Where was I? Oh yes. We’re all familiar with Garfield and how boring he can seem. But what if there was no Garfield?
Dan Walsh considered this idea a while ago with Garfield Minus Garfield, a comic taking the works of Jim Davis and simply trimming one minor element of his comics: Garfield. So what’s left after the cat is given the boot? Well, we are simply left with the lunacy of a lonely, crazy individual named Jon Arbuckle. He rants. He raves. He talks and shouts to no one. What does this imply? Is Jon’s only connection to sanity his ability to contend with that fat orange ball of fluff? Is Jon really that sad and depressed? Okay, the answer to that one is clearly ‘yes’.
Some of the strips are awkward. Some of them are creepy. Some of them just serve to illustrate how pathetic Jon is and how crazy one individual can be. And think about it. Consider some of the things that Jon has said in Garfield, regardless of who he’s speaking to. With no one there to hear what he’s saying, things get really, really weird. In not having that other side of the conversation, we catch a glimpse at the life of a madman. He talks on the phone, he exclaims about odd things, and he complains to a person that isn’t there, who also seems to be paying him no attention. I find it interesting how much it seems like he’s having an argument some times, and yet he seems to be losing said argument to that nonexistent person. If you’re at all interested in seeing some of the strangest altered comic strips around, take a look at Garfield Minus Garfield. It’s a quick read, but funny as all hell.
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