Garfield, but without Garfield

I read about this a few weeks ago, but didn't get around to checking it out until today: a comic strip called Garfield Minus Garfield. As you may have guessed, it's the well-known strip by "Jim Davis,"¹ but with its main character, Garfield the cat, having been digitally removed from every panel in which he originally appeared.

So, it's just Jon Arbuckle, Garfield's owner. Instead of talking to Garfield, he talks to himself. Without Garfield's sarcastic replies, there's just silence. (When you reflect upon the fact that Garfield's replies are really only thoughts, you realise how one-sided Jon's conversations with Garfield have always been. With Garfield removed altogether, it becomes particularly evident, and even a little sad.)

The effect is quite interesting. The site says the strip is a "journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb."

Yeah, maybe.

At any rate, it's an improvement. Some of them are actually very funny.

(I hate Garfield, by the way. HATE it. It's not even inadvertently funny.)

Check it out here, and read a pretty good article about it here. (Links open new windows.)


Notes

[1] I put "Jim Davis" in quotation marks because the strip as published is not actually drawn by Jim Davis. Davis provides an artist with a sketch, and then signs it when it's finished. Davis used to draw the strip in its early days, but had to stop, apparently, so he could focus his attention on the real money-maker, officially licensed Garfield merchandise! Just one more reason why I hate Garfield.

Davis, to his credit, has given the thumbs-up to Garfield Minus Garfield, which was cool of him.