When you remove sarcastic dead weight from a comic—even from his own comic—you leave behind a disturbing but compelling product.
Creative Talent:
Writer: Dan Walsh and Jim Davis
Artist: Jim Davis
Packaging:
If you're the type who likes to collect Garfield paperbacks (even if it's for reasons you can't fathom—may we recommend an exorcist if that's the case) will get a rush of nostalgia from the care that went into Garfield Minus Garfield. It'll fit in snugly with the rest of your collection, causing visitors to double-take as they idly scan through your lined-up book spines. Author/assembler Dan Walsh (owner of garfieldminusgarfield.net) wrote the Foreword, in which he sympathises with Jon Arbuckle and talks about the strange events that drove him to start rubbing Garfield out of his four-panel abode.
The altered comics even include the originals below for the sake of comparison. Garfield creator Jim Davis, in the ultimate show of sportsmanship, even contributed some of his own ideas. Incidentally, Davis' strips are the best ones.
Artwork:
Well, it's Garfield. The image edits are well done for the most part; no trace of Garfield remains, and he's not necessarily hard to miss.
Text/SFX:
Garfield Minus Garfield's text makes for interesting analysis. The removal of Garfield really sharpens the edges around Jon's lonely existence. It's grim, it's sad and yet it's still hilarious in a dark way. Jon and Garfield have “talked” to each other for decades—and even though Jon never heard Garfield's retorts, we took it for granted that Jon was never actually alone. Garfield Minus Garfield alerts us to the truth: Jon is alone, Jon has always been alone, and there are a whole lot of people in the world who are just like him.
Content:
Garfield Minus Garfield is a published collection of strips altered by Dan Walsh to “reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr Arbuckle.” The back cover of the collection emphasises Jon's torment: “Garfield Minus Garfield takes everyone's favourite fat cat out of the picture, leaving us with only the lonely ennui of Jon as he's left to voice thoughts about his own existence in an empty void.”
Commentry:
Walsh's Garfield-eliminating site averages more than half a million hits a day, and for good reason: there is something unsettling and bizarre about Jon talking (and often crying) to himself. Garfield Minus Garfield is predictable, of course...but it's impossible to turn away from it.
Writers always hear “less is more.” We can pump a handcart to the rhythm of the rule. Still, it's hard to imagine that removing the main character from a classic strip could actually improve it so dramatically, to say nothing of how sharply Garfield's non-existence tilts the strip's tone on its axis.
Reading a few Garfield Minus Garfield strips makes us aware that Jon is, and always has been, the star of the comic. Garfield is a hand in the face, an obstacle that prevents us from sharing in the clownish antics of this guy who has more in common with us than we want to admit. Jon, my friend...you're free.
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