Garfield – yes, seriously

Garfield is the worst comic strip out right now.

It’s weird. The jokes haven’t changed in 20 years. Garfield can’t make me laugh any more.

But if I go back and read books of those old comics, I can still get a chuckle sometimes. It’s like Jim Davis just stopped trying.

But that’s not the point of this post.

A while back, I found a group of people who had figured out how to make Garfield good again. It was simple, too.

Never let Garfield say anything.

Remove all his lines. Once this is done, Garfield becomes a vaguely surreal comic about a lonely man who talks to his asshole cat. And Garfield, somehow, comes across as even more of an ass without text to redeem him. It’s great.

For example (click for embiggening):

You can click here to find more of this type, but that still isn’t the point of this post.

Today, I was introduced to the greatest thing to ever happen to this comic.

I’ll let the author describe it.

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?

Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

Welcome, dear readers, to “garfield minus garfield”.

So.

Freaking.

Surreal.

It’s great. It made my list of comics to watch immediately.

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