Some time ago a guy named Dan Walsh had the brilliant idea of digitally removing Garfield from the Garfield strips. The result--Garfield Minus Garfield--is hilariously disturbing because the typical setup for a Garfield strip is that Jon Arbuckle says something depressing and then Garfield makes fun of him. Take out Garfield, and youre left with a schizophrenic psychopath.
At some point I asked myself where does Garfield go when hes not in his own strip. I figured if removing him from his own strip made it funnier, maybe adding him to some other situation would increase its funniness. I tried envisioning him in various placesin the woods, in space, in the hood, basically anywhere where a Leprechaun movie has been made. None of them turned out very funny, because heres the analogy: Garfield is to funny what water is to dryness.
The success of Garfield is an absolute mystery to me. I mean, hes a sad sack fat cat that eats lasagna and hates Mondays. Why does he hate Mondays? He doesnt work. Who exactly relates to this feline? Not only that, but the artwork is absolutely bizarre. We tried to mimic Jim Daviss style and discovered that its weird as all hell. Look at a few strips. Look at his nose and mouth. Arbuckle looks like the guy from District 9 towards the end.
All that being said, Daviss strip is obviously way more popular than ours, so props to him for tapping into something that people can relate to. And more importantly, props to Dan Walsh for finding a way to make it funny.
If life gives you Garfield, make Garfield-ade (which involves a blender), wont you?
C
