Freakin' Funny Friday ~ Jon Arbuckle is a Sad, Sad Man

Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield (the comic strip, not the president), is the person who inspired me to start drawing. I started drawing a little comic strip called "Egg Head" when I was nine years old. Later, when I was in high school, I drew a comic strip called "Sam". I'll have to see if I can dig up some of my old comics and post them on here some day.

I was trying to decide if this post belonged on Artsy Fartsy Wednesday or Freakin' Funny Friday, and I chose Friday because it's more about the humor than the art and creativity. It's about Garfield minus Garfield. Garfield minus Garfield is a website that shows Garfield comics in a different light. It was created by Dan Walsh of Dublin. Each comic has had all the characters taken out except for Jon Arbuckle, Garfield's owner (the cat, not the president). Here's the blurb found on the front page of the website that explains it better than I can:

Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain younge Mr. Arbuckle. 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.

I'll include a few of my favorites throughout this post and I will add a link to the website at the end. I've always loved Garfield (the comic strip, not the president...ok, I'll stop doing that). I would read the comics in the newspaper everyday and save Garfield for last (the comic...oh yea, I said I was going to stop doing that. My bad). I enjoy this website because it takes the Garfield comic to a whole new level. Some of them are funnier, some actually make you think, and then some just don't make any sense at all.


You're probably wondering what Jim Davis thinks of all this. He's seen it and he actually likes it. You have to admire Jim for not taking legal action or getting upset over this. An article by Amy Orndorff of the Washington Post stated:

One of Walsh's occasional readers is (Jim)Davis, who heard about the site a few months ago. The cartoonist calls the work "an inspired thing to do" and wishes to thank Walsh for enabling him to see another side of "Garfield."

"Some of the strips were slappers: 'Oh, I could have left that out.' It would have been funnier," Davis says.

Garfield was born on November 19th, 1831 (the president, not the comic strip). Sorry, I couldn't resist. Most of you have probably stopped reading this post by now anyway.

The Garfield comic strip first appeared on June 19th, 1978 which is about two months before I was born. Garfield and I are pretty close in age. I guess that would make him 210 years old in cat years. Like I said before, Jim Davis was the one who inspired me to start drawing, which led me to an interest in art, which led me to the career I'm in now. I owe Jim Davis a lot of credit for where I am today.


I enjoyed watching the cartoon Garfield and Friends when I was a kid. I wasn't too impressed with the Garfield movie that came out in 2004. I guess it was okay though. Lorenzo Music, the original voice of Garfield passed away in 2001 so they got Bill Murray to do the voice of Garfield which I thought was an excellent choice. I thought it was a very interesting choice as well because Lorenzo Music also did the voice of Dr. Peter Venkman on the Ghostbusters cartoon, and Bill Murray played Dr. Peter Venkman in the Ghostbusters movies. Wow, I am a geek.(On a side note, they are currently working on Ghostbusters III.)


I'm going to bring this post to a close now. Blogging about this got me thinking of starting a side project. I think I'll call it Garfield replaces Garfield. It will feature Garfield comics in which president Garfield replaces Garfield the cat...




...or, maybe not.

Here are the links to some websites:

Garfield Minus Garfield

The Official Garfield Website

President Garfield