As folks probably know, Andrew and I are a big fans of the dying art of newspaper comic strips. And one of the more annoying aspects of comic strips, and one of the reason that “dying” is an accurate adjective, is that newspapers hold on to old strips far longer than they should. Peanuts, Herman, Family Circus, Wizard of ID, Frank and Ernst, etc. Some of these comics are on their third artist and are decades past when they stopped being funny. With the limited amount of page space that today’s newspapers have for comic strips, it is pathetic to see moldy unfunny crap taking up space that could be given to newer more interesting comics.

Garfield is a particularly bad example of this. Back in the 60’s/70’s, Peanuts was a funny, biting, and sarcastic look at the world through the eyes of a bunch of giant-head tiny-feet kids. Yes, by the mid-80’s it was just sappy drivel, but at least it started strong. Garfield, by comparison, has rarely ever been funny. But here it is, still plugging along 30 years later making the same jokes about Mondays, diets, and lasagna. The biggest change in 30 years? Jon seems to have gone from gay to straight. His “friend” Lyman disappeared in 1988, leaving his dog Odie behind and in 2007 Jon started dating his cat’s veterinarian Dr. Liz Wilson.

My buddy Greg Cohen changed my whole opinion of Garfield when he showed me the website “Garfield Minus Garfield”. The whole comic is improved 1000% by simply removing the main character. The strips become absurdest along the same vein and Maakies and the rest of the comics you find in the back of the Stranger. Perhaps it is my oddball sense of humor, but I find the minus-Garfield comics hilarious.

EDIT: I see I am one day late on this post as the Comics Curmudgeon made a note about Garfield Minus Garfield yesterday.