Friday, October 06, 2006

Garfield After Dark


Garfield could have, and would have done the same thing with his evening, whether Jon was home or not. One might protest another problem with this joke about how Garfield's plans to cut loose without any authority figures around: not only does Garfield not respect the authority or find Jon much hindrance, but his goals are so mild. I don't have a problem with just this low key observation; eating junk food and watching TV all night is probably how a lot of us kick back and enjoy a night without the roommate/spouse/whatever,-it's-your-business.

The semi-joke is bolstered with slight, telling uneasiness when Garfield lovingly includes his food and electronics in a collective pronoun. There's also the implication that Garfield is using Jon's absence as an excuse for binging and being sedentary; telling himself he's only doing this because Jon's not here to stop him, as if he would behave differently otherwise.

The potentially awkward situation of a cat thinking silently to no one/the fourth wall but still setting up a joke with a visual reveal is cleverly handled with a contact-print style symmetrical layout. I can't really say the suspended thought bubble in an otherwise empty panel two exactly generates suspense for the punchline, but it's a nice layout. But yeah, it's mostly a strip about how fun it is to be home alone, even when you're just going to goof off in an unexciting way. That's actually kind of a nice observation that I don't see too often, so, uh, enjoy your "TV remote", Garfield. Do you plan to use it on the TV, or just eat cookies and look at it?

9 comments:

Jordan said...

I don't like the bottoms of Garfield's feet.


-Jordan

Anonymous said...

Anyone notice that the two drawings of Garfield are identical except for a horizontal flip and an added smile?

And the bottoms of his feet are pretty weird.

Anonymous said...

My God, he's developed bipedal arches!
I wonder if twenty years from now, he'll stand six feet tall with simian hands and a human skull structure?

Anonymous said...

http://penultimate-panel.blogspot.com/2006/10/duck.html

Anonymous said...

Sorry, that's a "...duck.html."

Here's what it says about Garfield's feet:


"Have Garfield's feet always been this huge?
Maybe he has some freak disease and he will die soon. Maybe."

"Jim Davis is dropping acid. When Crumb did it in the 60s, he drew characters with incredibly huge feet (and small heads). Watch for Garfield's head to shrink as well."

Anonymous said...

i love garfield's feet... in a time when most cartoonists only draw tiny circles for feet, it nice to see someone still care about the very important details of feet! They may be a little wide, but if u compare the length of them to a real cat, it's pretty accurate when comparing to other cat body parts...

...plus i think they are pretty damn sexy

Anonymous said...

I'm another for Garfield's feet. So nice and detailed. Wonder what do they smell like?

Nyperold said...

In the past, he has "almost funned himself to death", and does not wish to risk that outcome.

Alpha Skua said...

Movie will be The Fly meets Spider Guy