Garfield Article..

Post by **G.Silver** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:43 pm

A little article about Garfield's rampant success. I guess this means my suspicion that Jim Davis wasn't doing the comic himself anymore can be put to rest, but it doesn't exactly bring back my childhood love of the comic either.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2102299

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:53 pm

Yeah, I just finished reading that. I never really noticed the monotmy of the comic until reading that. I have tons of the Garfield books and there is probably only 4 or 5 funny things in the entire book. They just rehash them over and over.

Post by **Esrever** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:26 pm

Jon Davies hasn't been drawing that comic since the mid eighties, and quite frankly, it amazes me that he has a hand in the writing at all anymore.

That article was a really interesting read, especially when I'm a aspiring cartoonist myself. It's tempting, but I don't think I'll follow his model. ;)

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:27 pm

Meh. Yeah, Garfield certainly is bland. But as a child, I was overweight, grumpy, and lazy - so I loved Garfield back then.

Once in a while, the strip will do an on-going storyline that's geniunely funny and interesting - like when Garfield re-united with his mother.

Aside from that, it's not worth the read.

But you now what is? "Mutts".

FANTASTIC art. Every sunday strip comes with a parody-drawn picture of a famouse painting done with Mutts characters and style. The cast is charming, cute, and slightly insane. Good writing. Very talented artist.

In other words - if "Garfield" is Outlaw Star, than "Mutts" is Cowboy Bebop. They're both about the same subject, but one obviously has a lot more integrity, emotion, and talent put into it. It's like "Calvin and Hobbes Jr." in terms of art.

Also, the Mutts characters aren't specifically made for creating toys. One look at a strip will make that obvious. They're drawn in such a flat, impressionist, minimalist style, Krazy Kat-style, I don't think you could make a toy out of a Mutts character without violating some laws of physics.

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:40 pm

You know, when I was a kid in the 80's Garfield was my favorite comic strip as it was easy to understand the characters for my young mind and witty enough to keep me entertained. I think I have books volume 3 through 20--I think in my collection as well as the Garfield: His 9 Lives book somewhere around in the attic. I also enjoyed his televisions specials and the cartoon series Garfield & Friends because he was a great sarcastic character at the time and had decent cast of supporting characters. I still even own a Garfield plush I had since I was 9.

Somewhere in the mid-90's, Garfield became unfunny and I'm not so sure if it was the case of me outgrowing it. I think it had to do with the absence of most of the established cast and Davis only limiting most of the action to Garfield, Jon, and Odie. I mean do they ever show Nermal, Liz, Arlene, Jon's Family, etc. anymore? I know Jon's roomate and Odie's original owner Lyman was dropped so early in the comic's lifespan, but he really didn't have time to develop his character so it wasn't a big loss.

I did get to meet Jim Davis a year ago when he was having book signings for In Dog Years I'd Be Dead as well as others. I got him to sign me earliest collection I own. I really wanted him to sign my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ">Garfield: His 9 Lives</a>, but I could not find it at the time which is a shame since his said it was one of his favorite projects and he enjoyed working with other people and their interprtation of Garfield. It was also my favorite Grafield book. =(

In his 1982 interview with Shapiro, Davis admitted to spending only 13 or 14 hours a week writing and drawing the strip, compared to 60 hours a week doing promotion and licensing.

Amazing, seeing that the comic still managed to be enjoyable.

But today Davis spends even less time on the strip than he used toÃ¢â‚¬â€between three days and a week each month. During that time, he collaborates with another cartoonist to generate ideas and rough sketches, then hands them over to Paws employees to be illustrated.

Maybe that's why the comic is so bland nowadays.

If you want to see a funny comic strip that is on or even above the level on Garfield's "golden years", then look no further than Darby Colney's <a href="http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/">Get Fuzzy</a>. Bucky > Garfield

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:48 pm

It's not just Garfield, though, that's the plight of every long-running comic strip in existence. To be perfectly frank, comics aren't funny. I read them every day while I'm eating my lunch (in fact, it's the only part of the paper I read every single day), but I know exactly what to expect. Dagwood's going to eat lunch at Lou's and complain about the food, Sarge is going to beat the shit out of Beetle, the pointy-haired boss is going to say something utterly incompetent, Garfield is going to make a snide remark about Jon's inability to get a date, etc, etc.

It's the nature of the medium. Even Calvin and Hobbes would be old and repetitive today if Watterson (who strikes me as a very eccentric individual) hadn't pulled the plug.

Post by **Popcorn** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:23 pm

Has anyone here ever read <a href=http://www.mich.com/~drhanna/lihkill8hours.jpg>Life in Hell</a> ? Now that's a fucking comic strip.

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:35 pm

Yes, Life in Hell is a great strip. Does Matt Groening still draws it?

Sometime recently, I've got into Bloom County and I'm impressed to who well it held up more than a decade since the last strip was created. All of the characters and stories are charming and hilarious. And I like how it tackled social, political, and other issues that were important in the 80's in a satirical way.

plasticwingsband · Post by **plasticwingsband** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:46 pm

I've always had a lot of of respect for Bill Watterson. Calvin & Hobbes being my favorite strip, I think that ending it allowed it to keep a lot of its' integrity.

Here is a speech that Bill made called "The Cheapening of Comics".

http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cheapening.html

Post by Bo » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:13 pm

Dilbert manages to have a good jab at something consistently, and Foxtrot is occasionally worth a chuckle, but that's about it for me.

Spazz · Post by **Spazz** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:41 pm

Foxtrot is pretty good. Here's a few of my favorites:
<img src="http://www.livaudaisnet.com/Cory/FTC.gif">
<img src="http://www.livaudaisnet.com/Cory/FTHTML.gif">
<img src="http://www.livaudaisnet.com/Cory/FTboot.gif">

Post by **Esrever** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:11 pm

Gibs sums up the problem with newspaper comics perfectly... they're usually repetitive. The characters don't develop, their situations never change, repeat, repeat, repeat. It's sitcom syndrome: after the adventure, everything goes back exactly to the way it was before.

It's a limitation of the medium, I guess. After all, you can't have a daily newspaper strip that requires someone to know the finer details of ten years of backstory, because they'd have to buy tomes-worth of books to catch up. One of the nice thing about webcomics is that you can make the entire archive of previous strips available to read, and link back to particular relevant strips when necessary to clue in the newbies on what is happening now.

Watterson is an extremely eccentric individual, but damn, he sure had intergrity. When you think of the millions of dollars that man turned away by refusing to liscence his characters and halting such a popular comic altogether... he's like the anti-Davies. I don't think all merchandising is wrong by any means, but you've got to respect a guy who does think that and then actually stands by it rather than becoming filthy rich. There are about a total of three known photos of him. He looks like a mix of Calvin's Dad and someone out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:20 pm

Gibs sums up the problem with newspaper comics perfectly... they're usually repetitive. The characters don't develop, their situations never change, repeat, repeat, repeat. It's sitcom syndrome: after the adventure, everything goes back exactly to the way it was before.

This is not exactly true for all comic strips. Many or the 'slice of life' strips such as Crankshaft, Better of For Worse, and Funky Winkerbean actually have ongoing stories/arcs and character development with changing situations that happen in their life despite how limited the space is for the comic pages.

Post by **Esrever** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 5:52 pm

Yes, that's why I said "usually."

Ash Holt · Post by **Ash Holt** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:16 pm

Hmm, this reminded me of the Maddox article about Garfield.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 7:27 pm

I've always thought Garfield was particularly bland, more so than the other bland strips, but I never thought it was intentional. That Davis article was a real eye-opener.

P.S.: Netaku, I love your avatar.

Post by **Segaholic2** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:57 pm

Calvin and Hobbes is the best comic strip ever, of all time, hands down. I love it to death. I was sad to see it go, but at the same time I'm happy with his decision. Bill Watterson was really all about the strip's genuine integrity as a medium for his ponderings on the world. C&H was always incredibly fresh, funny, intelligent, and plain fun to read.

I think second place for me would be Peanuts. I didn't think it was very funny when I was younger, but the older I get, the more I appreciate Charles Schulz's simple drawings and dry humor.

EDIT: For Better Or For Worse sucks now. It actually used to be interesting and pretty funny, but now it's just crock.

EDIT AGAIN: Gah, my brain is slow right now. Regarding Garfield: It used to be my favorite strip when I was little, mainly because Garfield was lazy and sarcastic. Then it got retarded and uber-freaking-repetitive and greatly overshadowed by the greatness of Calvin. What happened to all the other supporting characters? And how many times can they do the SAME gags and jokes OVER AND OVER AND OVER and expect us to laugh every single time?? I think I stopped reading Garfield altogether somewhere in the mid-90s.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:26 pm

Schulz's genius is that he had a profound understanding of human nature and the human condition. Though I fear his timeless, whimsical musings are lost on all those ignorant fuckwads who just think Snoopy is cute.

Neon Chaos · Post by **Neon Chaos** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:36 pm

Well, the hard thing about daily comics is coming up with something funny every day. That's pretty damn hard if you ask me. Comics that do come out often that are funny are ones that have no recurring characters, such as Far Side.

I don't read newspaper comics that often. I do read some web comics like Penny Arcade and Consoles. I used to read Sluggy Freelance, but I just couldn't keep up with it.

The Almighty Bunghole · Thu Jun 17, 2004 7:34 am

I'm not sure if it's published in America, but there's this one cell strip called "Insanity Streak", and it's very funny 9 times out of 10. And it's only done in one cell, not 3 like most newspaper strips.

Post by **Crazy Penguin** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:11 pm

This reminds me, I should pick up volume 1 of The Complete Peanuts soon.

http://www.fantagraphics.com/peanuts/peanuts.html

Post by **Esrever** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:53 pm

I was just about to plug that! ;)

Very different from what the strip eventually became, but completely brilliant.

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:01 pm

If anything, this certainly accounts for Davis's haughty corporate ponytail.

And I love early Peanuts. I'd never given it much thought, but Charlie Brown certainly never chases Lucy off in anger in the later strips.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:50 pm

Just out of curiosity, how does U.S. Acres fit into all this? Is that even still running?

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 1:10 pm

USAcres was the second comic from PAWS Inc. It had Jim Davis' name on it, but as near as I can figure it - he was involved less in it than he was with Garfield - with the PAWS Inc staff doing all the drawing and writing.

After it failed, it was shortly pulled from comic strips.

As near as I can recall, in only ran for about 3-5 years before it was pulled.