Dark Garfield?

[Turcano]

During my trawling of the internets, I came across a seemingly forgotten story arc in the comic strip Garfield. As you can see, this arc has a comparatively dark and creepy undertone to it:


http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga891023.gif
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga891024.gif
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga891025.gif
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga891026.gif
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga891027.gif
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga891028.gif

And yes, these are for real. You can find them in the official archive, starting here (http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_archives_strip.html?1989-ga891023).

It's really common on the internets to dislike Garfield for being bland, childish, and stale. But what truly infuriates me is that the strip has a ton of potential that is simply squandered. This story arc illustrates that fact more starkly than anything else.

(A note to our Friendly Moderator Overlords: I wasn't sure whether this is more appropriate here or in the Comic Books forum--the latter seems to be devoted to comic books specifically. Feel free to move this there if you think it's more appropriate.)

[Vespe Ratavo]

*sniff*
It's beautiful. Honestly. And Garfield is squandered on what it does now. :smallfrown: Still, I have to say I like it.

[Lemur]

I remember that arc. I can't remember the exact space of time in which Garfield ceased being amusing and started sucking, but I do remember the older strips having something to them.

An interesting internet project I've seen is Arbuckle (http://www.tailsteak.com/arbuckle/index.php?date=780619). The concept is people submit redrawings of Garfield strips, but take out Garfield's dialogue. The point being, cats can't talk, so it gives a different perspective on what Jon's life is like.

[Turcano]

An interesting internet project I've seen is Arbuckle (http://www.tailsteak.com/arbuckle/index.php?date=780619). The concept is people submit redrawings of Garfield strips, but take out Garfield's dialogue. The point being, cats can't talk, so it gives a different perspective on what Jon's life is like.

I've seen a similar (if much less thorough) experiment using Davis' original artwork here (http://www.websnark.com/archives/2006/02/would_the_nerma.html). It usually does work quite well, although the context makes different strips funny on different levels (some are the same joke, just not overdone, some of them are completely random).

[FdL]

Interesting. It seems like a big departure from what we're used to from Garfield. It's always interesting to experiment within an established art form, but in cases like this what happens is that makes you question the worth of its normal status. I mean, Garfield is funny and all but this is pretty good, maybe too good to be just an ink spot, a curiosity in this strip's long run.

Don't you feel it has a lot to do with indie comics? I got that vibe when I read it.

[ElfLad]

I remember reading that in my old Garfield books. So great.

And I still actually like Garfield. I don't know why, but I despise Family Circus and FBOFW, so I know it's probably nostalgia rather than poor taste.

[FdL]

Ohhhh I know what this reminds me of! A little less whimsical "The Adventures of Beaver and Steve". If you've never read that webcomic, do it! It's great! :D

[Fax Celestis]

I remember that arc. I can't remember the exact space of time in which Garfield ceased being amusing and started sucking, but I do remember the older strips having something to them.

An interesting internet project I've seen is Arbuckle (http://www.tailsteak.com/arbuckle/index.php?date=780619). The concept is people submit redrawings of Garfield strips, but take out Garfield's dialogue. The point being, cats can't talk, so it gives a different perspective on what Jon's life is like.

Man, that Arbuckle's depressing. It just feels like a guy so out of touch with the rest of humanity that all he does is talk to his cat.

It struck me during the "You're my best friend" strip.

[FdL]

Some reworked strips fail horribly, but mainly because the art is not good. Without the expression of the thought balloons the comic has to rely on the facial expressions of Garfield.

And though some of the artists are definitely not good, I think most of them miss this. The artist that draws a realistic cat is good, but is one of the best examples of this potential of failure. I think the point is not to draw a realistic comic strip (a contradiction in terms if there ever was one), but to change its perspective.

I actually think the first project is better than this Arbuckle; simply taking the balloons out of the picture works a lot better.

[Lemur]

Man, that Arbuckle's depressing. It just feels like a guy so out of touch with the rest of humanity that all he does is talk to his cat.

It struck me during the "You're my best friend" strip.

Well, I thought it might be appropriate for a thread about "Dark Garfield".

However, I just remembered an even better thing to bring up. Does anyone remember the book "Garfield: His 9 Lives"? I remember reading it as a kid and being seriously creeped out by some of the stories in there. It's hard to imagine Jim Davis writing heavy stuff nowdays, and it makes the things that seemingly seeped through the cracks more potent.

[Alex Kidd]

Didn't see the book of that, but I remember the TV version struck me as being suprisingly dark, like Bambi's mother being shot repeated for an hour and a half with gallows humour thrown in. Which is all the more suprising really.

[Nevrmore]

I remember that arc. I can't remember the exact space of time in which Garfield ceased being amusing and started sucking, but I do remember the older strips having something to them.

An interesting internet project I've seen is Arbuckle (http://www.tailsteak.com/arbuckle/index.php?date=780619). The concept is people submit redrawings of Garfield strips, but take out Garfield's dialogue. The point being, cats can't talk, so it gives a different perspective on what Jon's life is like.
Oh, man. This one (http://www.tailsteak.com/arbuckle/index.php?date=810926) is definitely my favorite. The original made it low-brow slapstick comedy. This re-imagined version turns it into animal abuse, just by taking out Garfield's one line. That's great.

[Lucid_Archon]

This... this is disturbing. I like it. I wonder if the author could be convinced to do a re envisioning of the strip....

[Hitchhiker]

Hehe. This arc, while disturbing, was pretty fun, though Garfield has left its Golden Age. I think I remember where it started getting sort of pathetic...
The first five to ten years of Garfield were uproariously funny. Storylines were carried out with beauty, and simpler, non-storyline comics were good as well. The best part of it was that it was original.
Slowly, throughout the years, however, it started getting less...good. You could see Jim Davis starting to lose his originality. Cartoons from before were re-used, and Garfield started to get less and less funny. It was subtle, at first, until it all-out shot down the mountain and crashed to Earth, almost like the Golden Age of the Simpsons and its quick fall to what Chris Turner prefers to call, 'the long plateau'. The standard for Garfield strips was now occasionally something that could bring forth a chuckle, but it had jumped the shark long ago, and now it became a regular strip.
You could see Garfield slowly dying off, and then...
Jim Davis hits his own strip when it's down with this. (http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_archives_strip.html?2006-ga060717) Throughout the storyline, Liz and Jon start going out, therefore ending one of the strip's strongest running gags in a pathetic attempt to gain readership. Saaaaaad.

[Amotis]

I don't think you can totally blame Jim Davis. More like Paws, the staff of cartoonists under him. :smallwink:

[Assassinfox]

Wow. That's dark. :smalleek:

Reminds me of that really trippy "9 lives of Garfield" cartoon I watched.

[Turcano]

Hehe. This arc, while disturbing, was pretty fun, though Garfield has left its Golden Age. I think I remember where it started getting sort of pathetic...
The first five to ten years of Garfield were uproariously funny. Storylines were carried out with beauty, and simpler, non-storyline comics were good as well. The best part of it was that it was original.
Slowly, throughout the years, however, it started getting less...good. You could see Jim Davis starting to lose his originality. Cartoons from before were re-used, and Garfield started to get less and less funny. It was subtle, at first, until it all-out shot down the mountain and crashed to Earth, almost like the Golden Age of the Simpsons and its quick fall to what Chris Turner prefers to call, 'the long plateau'. The standard for Garfield strips was now occasionally something that could bring forth a chuckle, but it had jumped the shark long ago, and now it became a regular strip.
You could see Garfield slowly dying off, and then...

This is endemic to cartoons. There seems to be a point where the cartoonist just runs out of fresh ideas, and by that time the cartoonist is no longer an essential part of the franchise; cartoonists are relatively expendable and it would be better, in the creator's eyes, to continue getting a paycheck for it instead of someone else. It gets even worse when the creator retires or dies and the franchise is picked up by another cartoonist and loses whatever originality was still left. Conversely, cartoonists that everyone raves about for their originality (i.e., Watterson, Larson, and Breathed) gave up the game when they felt that their respective strips had run their natural course and had retained enough creative control to keep the syndicates from keeping them on life support. I wonder if Garfield's shark-jumping coincides with Davis' lack of personal involvement in the strip; that would be very interesting.