Non sucking Garfield
I used to like Garfield when I was little. I liked the drawing style with the giant eyes and the round characters. I never really considered it to be funny, though, even then. I remember reading books of strips and hardly laughing at all.
When I got older, I stopped reading it altogether and am of the opinion now that it’s a terrible, one-note strip. Foxtrot repeats itself a lot, but it hits a clever note at least once a month, and that’s a pretty good rate for a daily. Garfield is lucky if it does it once a year.
This article was thus very intriguing. And so incredibly true. It’s amazing what a difference there is between the strips. I might actually read the second one.
Amazingly, yes, I think you’re right. I haven’t even so much as glanced at a Garfield cartoon in many years, but seeing them this way… much improved. Of course, it also severely cuts the marketability of its most marketable character — I mean, who would buy a suction-cup John doll to stick in their car window? Still, it would be interesting to see the whole series done that way. Don’t know if I’d pay money for it, but I’d definitely view it.
(February 11th, 2006 at 7:51 pm)
Wow, it’s true. The author’s doctored version actually made me very nearly smirk, which is a definite improvement.
I, too, liked Garfield as a kid, and particularly thought that Nermal was adorable. I remember crying over some animated special, and being impressed (though now I’m frightened) that my grown, unmarried, male second cousin living on his parents’ farm in Wisconsin had about twelve of the collections (this was 1984, so that was probably the extent of them at that point).
(February 11th, 2006 at 8:33 pm)
My brother was always the Garfield fan. Probably not so much anymore. But Garfield’s special because he shares my Dad’s birthday.
(February 14th, 2006 at 12:38 pm)
[...] Back in February, we had non-sucking Garfield. [...]
(December 4th, 2006 at 9:42 pm)