elfs | Garfield without Garfield (Reply)

A few months ago, the blogger MackJ had a brilliant idea about Garfield: it would be funnier if the thought balloons were taken away. Garfield could continue to mug and mime, but he didn't have the words necessary to clutter up the joke. Jon becomes the central character; it's his strip, he's the human, and he's leading a pathetic, lonely existence where he talks to his cartoon cat from time to time. It points something out: Jim Davis is a hack who doesn't understand humor. He overladens it, and writes strips where he has to explain the joke to the reader because he's not sure he gets it himself.

Now comes an even more depressing look at Jim Davis: Garfield without Garfield. Now it's just Jon. Panel after panel of what Jon says, and only what Jon says and does. And it's depressing. Remember, the foil was just a cat: it doesn't talk, it doesn't really react except in Jon's mind. It doesn't even need to be there. And alone, Jon comes across as lonely, bipolar, schizophrenic, often manic.

XKCD made the point: Somewhere deep inside Jim Davis is a suffering genius, but I suspect Davis long ago ate him.