To Garfield Minus Garfield


Dear Garfield Minus Garfield,
 

I never liked Garfield - both the cat and the comic strip. The uninspired sarcasm of a fat and lazy cat always felt weak and juvenile. His contempt for Mondays matched my co-workers, and their so-called attempts at humor were about the same.
 

Jon Arbuckle always felt like a lame foil. He has a dismal dating life and - is that it? Is that the breadth of Jon’s character? It certainly seems so.
 

Then, I read Garfield Minus Garfield.
 

Wow. Thank you for giving me new insight into the troubled world of Jon Arbuckle. I never would have guessed that this cliché of a character could be so melancholy, disturbing and - dare I say compelling?
 

You describe yourself as “a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb,” which sounds pretentious and dull. (Admit it. It does.) But you pull it off. You amaze me. Every strip has a whole new depth to it. Your dark humor reveals a world as bleak as the best of Mike Leigh films.
 

Keep Garfield coming - but keep the cat out of it.
 



February 29th, 2008 | 03:59 am | Raves


5 Responses to “To Garfield Minus Garfield”

  1. Alan Says:
    February 29th, 2008 at 5:51 am

    Wow. Genius!

  2. Mikaela Says:
    February 29th, 2008 at 7:05 am

    How do you guys find this stuff to rant about??

  3. Jessica Says:
    February 29th, 2008 at 9:15 am

    I love twists on classics!

  4. Murphy Says:
    March 1st, 2008 at 9:12 am

    Amazing. I totally agree. Maybe someone should get rid of Heathcliff? But “Wuthering Heights” might suck now.

  5. Steve Says:
    March 7th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    this is scary… and brilliant… and SCARY.

Leave a Reply