Customer Reviews

Garfield Minus Garfield

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let me get this out of the way first: I am a huge fan of the Garfield Minus Garfield website [...]. In retrospect, I am surprised noboby had thought of it earlier; Jon Arbuckle was talking to a cat this whole time, and with Garfield's removal, Jon's sad, lonely life becomes shockingly apparent. Some strips make Jon appear depressed, while others, he appears to be losing his mind. For almost a year now, Dan Walsh has been removing Garfield from the strips, and I cannot thank him enough for making me laugh with nearly every new update. Essentially, I felt I owed it to him to purchase this book.

Fast forward to the present, where Jim Davis (the creator of Garfield) has embraced Walsh's work and creativity, eventually leading onto the release of this book. In glorious colour and with entertaining, interesting written remarks by the two creative talents, I had nothing but huge anticipation for getting my hands on it.

What surprised me is that the majority of the book contain Garfield Minus Garfield strips already featured on the website, shown against the original comic (where Garfield and others are still present). This is not a bad thing at all; it is obvious that the strips were handpicked with care, essentially leaving us with a 'best of' from the archive found on the Internet. Whether Jon is talking to sock puppets, splattering ice cream into his face, or contemplating how he has wasted his life, you'll laugh yourself to death reading them. It's a great way for those new to the edited strips to get into the craze, or for current fans to revisit their favourites.

At the end of the book are Garfield Minus Garfield strips that Jim Davis himself is responsible for. These strips, while not quite on par with Walsh's work, are still quite amusing, and certainly a commendable effort.

Garfield Minus Garfield is simply a brilliant concept, and has finally received justice by being published into a book. I hope that it sells well, and I hope that you enjoy reading it. And who knows? Maybe you'll see a bit of yourself in Jon Arbuckle's life... although I sure hope not!

Taking Garfield out of "Garfield" is a clever concept, and also a pretty insightful recognition that -- as with Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts," but on a much less profound level -- there's an awful lot of sadness at the heart of this strip. When you start from the premise that cats can't talk, and that therefore Jon never shares in Garfield's interior monologue or the (alleged) punchlines of the jokes, all you're left with is a man struggling with failure, rejection, and the occasional runaway electric toothbrush. It's kind of like The Book of Bunny Suicides. Funny, but also a disturbing.

But not to get too heavy. "Garfield" is still a comic strip, and there are a few laughs to be found here. What I am particularly impressed by, though, is not only Jim Davis' ability to see the joke, but also his willingness to run with it instead of sending in the intellectual-property attorneys with cease-and-desist orders. That raises him quite a bit in my estimation. Of course, in keeping with the spirit of the Big Orange Cat Empire, Davis is making a buck off this book -- it's his name in the byline, with Dan Walsh, the guy who had the insightful recognition in the first place, granted but a Foreword. Still, for "Garfield" fans who want to see the strip in a new, and perhaps unsettling, way, or for readers who enjoy a sort of meta-analysis of a long-running media presence, "Garfield Minus Garfield" has a surprising amount going for it.

This is my first enounter with Garfield Minus Garfield, and it has left me in awe. The approach of taking Garfield out of Garfield, leaving Jon to his self depreciating monologues is inspired genius.

Dan Walsh, in his foreword, notes that people have written in citing GMG as mirroring bi-polar disorder. Pretty weighty stuff for a comic strip. Who hasn't had thoughts about watching TV for a whole year? Or done silly walks in private just for a private laugh? I haven't put a plunger to my face yet though (yet).

This is great book that will make you and your sock puppet laugh. [...]
Tim Lasiuta

There's something slightly tragic and absolutely hilarious about Garfield once you take out the title cat. We're left with poor, pathetic John talking to himself; on his own, he becomes more of an existentialist philosopher than the fall guy for Garfield's sarcasm.

In a few places, editing the dialogue differently would have made John's newly-discovered monologues even funnier. Some of his responses to Garfield are omitted, presumably on principle, even where they would have made hilarious sense.

Overall, though, this book is a terrific find for those who love Garfield and for those who can't stand him, since you'll find that Garfield becomes a completely different cartoon once you take out Garfield.

Simply brilliant. On the surface it's a silly internet meme that seems to attack the Garfield comics we loved during our simple un-jaded youth. An easy target for a cheap laugh, but...

It's not that simple. Read 9 or 10 of these an you start to see there's more to it than a joke. You start to see the real picture. Jon is the failure of faith; he's a man who has put his trust in the law, in the golden rules, in the hope that good things come to those that play by the rules -- but rarely finds anything but failure. This is reality folks. This is a month of lonely Saturday nights. This is 5 years without a raise. This is having to take the bus to your High School Reunion because you can't afford your car repair bills. Garfield the cat is just the spoonful of sugar -- take him away and we're left bitter medicine to swallow. Yes, it's very funny too.

Kudos for Jim Davis for being brave and sensible enough to embrace and run with Dan Walsh's concept. In an age were such post-modern actions typically result in a lawsuit, Jim's decision to release this book and include Dan in it are quite refreshing.

I saw this at the book store and spent about an hour with it. Perhaps its funnier for lonely people who can see themselves in Jon. It also makes me kind of sad sometimes, but I know there are other people like me in the world looking for some kind of acceptance and failing miserably, and in a strange way its consoling. Bought the book and skim through it whenever Im feeling bummed about not having anyone around. Maybe I should get a cat?

Each page has the original and the modified version of the strip. However, unlike the concept of only erasing Garfield, John's words are actually changed on some occasions for whatever reason. Also, the strips presented here aren't the best possible but they certainly aren't the worst, either. If you really feel the need to have the physical copy of this, then buy it. Otherwise, save your money and keep reading them online.

Some of the strips in this book are worth a half-smile...but others are worth a full-on out-loud laugh. It did make me notice, though, how many of the original "Garfield" strips were already all about Jon. For instance, some of the strips only remove Garfield's reaction after Jon has done something absolutely nutso. But don't let that take anything away from the heart of this book. There is some hilarious stuff there.

Another interesting thing was the forward by the "editor" of the Garfield comics, and how he received fan mail from people who suffered from things like depression and other mental issues, and how they identified with Jon. I initially read through the book without having read the forward, but then after reading said forward...I read the book again, and from an entirely different set of eyes and enjoyed it on a whole 'nother dimension.

You do really have to feel sorry for Jon by the end of the book, though. That guy's so sad. *laughs*

Garfield Minus Garfield is a hilarious look at Jon Arbuckle's life without Garfield. Without a personal life to speak of, his cat the primary speaking partner, any other person would be labeled insane. Removing Garfield from Jon's life exposes either his neurosis, or if he's actually hallucinating, his insanity.

Socially awkward at best, Arbuckle's life is a sad tale seen through a loser's lens. I suppose it could be an insider look at mental illness; with Jon uttering the nonsensical in one frame, and then staring at a wall, a sock, or some other inanimate object for the next two frames. At the least it's the look inside the life of severely reclusive, borderline retarded person who battles through life choices like, "Should I eat that glue?" and "Should I go on the imaginary date?" while dancing with his broom and singing to his bunny slippers.

Given that Garfield has never really been all that funny to begin with, the removal of the anthropomorphic protagonist doesn't really take much away from the comic. In fact, it accentuates the previously non-existent laughs. If you're a fan of comics that are actually funny, then you'll appreciate the clever concept that took an unfunny comic and made it funny by removing its focal point. Actually, I'm hoping someone runs with this idea and creates, "Cathy minus Cathy," because that comic absolutely sucks.

This book is an excellent print version of Dan Walsh's website. Walsh takes Garfield comic strips and erases Garfield from them. In these new strips, Jon Arbuckle, standing alone, contemplates the emptiness of his existence. The effect is quite funny.

The book places the "new and improved" strips in color alongside the original strips in black and white. It's interesting to note how Garfield's presence or absence in the strip changes the strip's feel, but not really its message. I gave up on Garfield about 10 years ago, thinking that I had grown up. Instead, I started enjoying somewhat more adult strips like Dilbert. This book has given me a new appreciation for Garfield. It really is still funny after all these years; I just had to read it with eyes to see (or not see actually).

I was also pleased to see that Jim Davis, Garfield's creator, helped create this book. He's a big fan of the website. Reading his thoughts on Jon sans Garfield was quite enjoyable. I strongly encourage this book for anyone who has ever enjoyed Garfield at any time ever.