Strip Search: Garfield Minus Garfield
On alternating Thursdays, Jennifer M. Babcock reviews and recommends comic strips available in print and on the web.
by Jennifer M. Babcock
I wasn’t sure what to write about for my first blog, other than I wanted to do something either about syndicated comic strips or web comics. After some thinking I decided I was going to write about a comic that relates to both: “Garfield Minus Garfield,” a web comic that is a new feature on GoComics.com, a site run by uclick, which is a part of Universal Press Syndicate (and where my comic, “C’est la Vie,” also happens to be featured!)
The original web site for “GMG” describes itself as “a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the “Garfield” comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon 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 love existentialism and am in a constant state of an existential crisis. Thus, I love “GMG,” and was excited to see that it had made it onto GoComics.com, which of course, includes the original “Garfield” strip as well.
Below every comic on GoComics.com there is a comments section, where readers can leave their opinions and thoughts, and I was surprised to see that “GMG” was not very well liked. People kept saying “it’s better with Garfield!” “What’s the point of this?” “I don’t get it.”
Well, I certainly didn’t get why people were having such a hard time understanding how Jon Arbuckle talking to himself – the lonely man he is even with Garfield – is hilarious. And I certainly didn’t get why people ACTUALLY thought that the strips with Garfield were funnier. Garfield hasn’t been funny in years.
Then I realized that these people never saw the original website, http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/
Their experience of “GMG” on GoComics.com is marred by poor layout, and, more importantly, by the poor decision to include the original “Garfield” strip below the hilariously depressing “GMG” one.
First of all, “GMG” is much funnier when you see the strips all lined up, top to bottom, on a web page. The uninterrupted flow of scrolling down and seeing all the non-adventures of lonely Jon Arbuckle really hits home how pathetic he is. And that’s funny.
On GoComics.com, however, the “narrative” of the strips as a collective whole falls flat, one reason being that there is only one comic per page and per day, and the other reason being that at the bottom of each strip is a reminder that in an alternate universe Jon isn’t really that lonely – he has a smart ass cat – which kills the entire point of “GMG.” On that note, I’d like to add that (making an assumption based on some comments I’ve seen) the whole business of putting the original strip below “GMG” confuses the readers as to what the point of GMG is: you’re not supposed to compare “GMG” with “Garfield!” “GMG” is supposed to be read on its own! I’m sure someone at GoComics.com thought that readers would be interested in seeing what the original strip looked like (I thought I was going to enjoy that initially) but in the end it confuses newcomers and makes it less enjoyable for “GMG” veterans.
Anyway, that’s the end of my rant. I highly recommend “Garfield Minus Garfield,” but please read it on its original site instead – it’ll be a better experience for all.
Jennifer M. Babcock holds her MA in art history and is currently pursuing her doctorate in Egyptology from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, where she is also known as a comics scholar. A creator herself, she is the artist and writer behind C’est La Vie, which is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and available at http://www.gocomics.com/cestlavie
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