The real questions should be: what would Jon ever do if Garfield, America’s favorite sarcastic feline and other characters such as Odie the dog and Nermal the kitten were to pass on from Jim Davis’ cartoon strips? Well Dan Walsh, hailing from Dublin, Ireland, thought up this very idea and thus began his auspicious creation of Garfield minus Garfield. In this strange comic landscape, Jon Arbuckle sans domesticated animals, magically transforms into a pathetically lonely and at times deranged suburban bachelor. Several doctored strips were then introduced into his webcomic and generated an overnight sensation.

Due to the immediate success of the website, Paws, Inc. and Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, announced at this year’s Comic-Con International that they will publish a book inspired by the popular webcomic, Garfield Minus Garfield. The full-color novel will feature both the original and doctored Garfield strips juxtaposed on the same page for comparison with a forward written by Dan Walsh.

Davis remarked about the book project, “I think it’s an inspired thing to do.” He then went on to say, “I want to thank Dan for enabling me to see another side of Garfield. Some of the strips he chose were slappers: ‘Oh, I could have left that out.’ It would have been funnier.”

The conceptual possibilites of Garfield Minus Garfield will have you seeing Jon Arbuckle in a new light. Some that most Americans may find strangely familiar–the existential despair that accompanies climate-controlled cubicles or the growing boredom of a suburban living. In Walsh’s own words, he explains: “It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.” The book will be published alongside the Garfield 30th Anniversary book.

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To keep updated yourself on Walsh’s webcomic, visit: http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

via Sylvia Adams, 17 August 2008 11:04pm | |