Ever since I was a kid, one of my favorite parts of the newspaper has been the Comics. Being a child of the 80’s, one of my favorite comics was Garfield (along with Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts). Since then, either the quality of Garfield has gone downhill, or my tastes have changed. My hope is the former is true. Currently, Garfield isn’t drawn by its creator Jim Davis. Rather, there is a team of artists that churn out the new comics.
To my surprise, Boing Boing had an interesting story today regarding “The Death of Garfield“. It turns out that there was a series of Garfield comics in 1989 that were delightfully grim. Anyone who is familiar with Garfield would be surprised at how dark the comics were, though I think that is what makes them so interesting. Supposedly, there were several theories going around regarding whether of not Garfield had died. The Boing Boing piece clears up the matter.
Below I have linked to the comic strips in question. Don’t read them in the dark (just kidding). Despite what I said above, yes I still read Garfield every day.
- Garfield – October 23, 1989
- Garfield – October 24, 1989
- Garfield – October 25, 1989
- Garfield – October 26, 1989
- Garfield – October 27, 1989
- Garfield – October 28, 1989
Click here for some of my fiction writing
Edit: This is by far my most read post. Please leave a comment if you are new here. I am curious how you found this site and also if you are just interested in Garfield, or just this particular set of comics.
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[...] WordPress.com has a new site where they list the fastest growing blogs in their system. For a brief period of time today, this blog was in the top 100 English language blogs. The highest ranking I saw was #89, woo hoo! Their stats are updated every 6 hours, so I am no longer in the top 100. Just so you know, I am not bragging or anything (especially since my most viewed post, by far, is the one about The Death of Garfield). I just thought it was interesting. For those who care, here is the proof: [...]
I came here through google.
I was attempting to find ridiculously recaptioned garfield comics, or those that rearranged the frames into comedy of the absurd.
Trying to find someplace that collected links to all these comics since trying to access them through the Garfield site was annoying.
I got here from wordpress.com, your blog was the blog-of-the-minute. I’ve enjoyed your previous posts.
Thanks Erik.
[...] that. Instead, it’s due to 114 views for the post I made a few years ago about the “Death of Garfield“. This post has been a constant hit source for me, which I find amusing. Posts like this [...]
I did a search on “wordpress comic strip theme” because I’m trying to find a better wordpress theme for comic strip content like mine. This site came up and intrigued me. I’m glad I visited. The dark Garfield strips are cool. I’m in the same place as you. I used to love Garfield in my youth but it doesn’t interest me anymore. Not sure if it’s changed or my tastes.
Came here from google. Looking for the Garfield strips that are rewritten to be really bizzare (not the Garfield panel engine: http://www.dougshaw.com/garfield.html).
Hello!
I am a huge Garfield fan, well in my youth at least!
Thank you for pointing out those fascinating strips; I had never seen them before and I can see how people would think Garfield had died.
If he had been a real cat living in real-time, he would have been quite old so maybe he did…or it could just have been a small story written to make a point. Whatever it was, I liked the change in direction – it is shame that it doesn’t happen more frequently in Garfield these days.
I really enjoyed reading your blog today – keeping going mate.
RDK
I was looking for 1 strip in particular, the one where its a beautiful spring day and jon says something like, even you can’t help smiling today garfield, and garfield thinks “I have a mouthful of butterflies” That’s my favorite one for some reason. I wish they were searchable somewhere so I could find it again. I still cling to Garfield. I read it every day too, even if they kinda suck. The ones with the spiders always make me chuckle. I remember reading those dark ones though and wondering what was going on in his head that week. The strip will be thirty years old this summer, no?
dap – thanks for stopping by. I still read garfield every day. It has improved slightly in the past few years I think. Also, my daughter loves Garfield, Odie, and John.
i like garfield, odie and john .. death of garfield? hopefully its only garfield’s nightmare on monday!
raymonddeekay, you’re right; it was an “imaginary story”, as they used to call it.
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/09/death-of-garfield-my.html
I’d previously linked to the very odd and curious Garfield Minus Garfield on my blog, and a friend sent this link. Neat.
I came across this site while looking for articles pertaining to Towel Day. The story could’ve been a Garfield nightmare induced by a near lethal overdose of lasagna, no?
I found this site while searching for blogs regarding one of my favorite pasttimes: reading newspaper comic strips. I thought I was up on my Garfield lore, but you taught me new things.
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.