Garfield - Now with plot!

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:04 am

Apparently, Davis has listened a little bit to all the criticism bandied about over the last few years. Garfield has apparently aquired some temporary plot which will change the strip's dynamic forever.

It only took, what? Twenty five years to find a plot?*

So far, it looks like Jon's going to get married. Yawn.

http://www.garfield.com/

- Joel Fagin

* Maybe he should change his name to Robert Jordan.

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:11 am

Garfield always had little plots. They were really cute. I'm not sure I'm a fan of having some kind of major shit like that. Also: Jon getting married will be like Cathy getting married.

Like - WTF?!?!?!

Also, who in hell would want to marry Cathy? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard.

Kirb · Post by **Kirb** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:12 am

*spews coffee all over Blackaby and Joel's hat*

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:25 am

blackaby wrote:Garfield always had little plots.

Oh, yes. Such classics such as "Garfield gets amnesia" and "Jon goes on a date with a completely undesirable/insane woman". Wonderfully shallow, non-plots lifted directly from early sixties sitcoms in which, I should point out, they were probably already cliched.

I think the only decent one they ever had was when Garfield ran away from home but even that's a tired, overused cliche when you sum it up like that.

Newspaper comic are not awfully great at plots - and, indeed, that's not what they're about - but Garfield is definitly the shallowest and has the least thought involved. Even this world shattering plot they're dragging out now is so far taken straight from stock, unaltered, unadorned and entirely by the manual.

- Joel Fagin

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:06 am

I thought they were lovely.

Okay, so maybe I'm not the most intelligent person around, but I thought lots of them were fun and inventive and silly. They always made me laugh, and I always figured they were a perfect example of how to do strip comics, 'cos you could start reading a storyline in the middle and still get the joke.

Then again I'm really not a fan of storylines generally unless they're really simple ones... or developing characters, etc... in comics. :/

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:26 am

You know, I actually think it's a pre-requisite these days for Comic Genesis members to loathe Garfield. I'm sure it's in the EULA or something.

Most people here actually don't like it (or they're the most vocal) due to the fact it's the poster boy for the syndicates and therefore diametrically opposite to everything webcomicing stands for, or it's potential, or something.

(And as a writer first, I agree too.)

- Joel Fagin

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:52 am

I'm a writer first too! (And absolutely nothing second, though...)

And yeah, I noticed that. For a while I was all into like, oh syndstrip comics are bad... but then I remembered I really enjoyed most of them. I've got piles of Garfield comics at my parent's house, as well as Snoopy and Hagar the Horrible.

I prefer the syndicated style of comic strips to webcomics, since I'm not a fan of graphic novels, etc - most of the time I just can't follow them, and I'd prefer to be reading, not looking at pictures.

Glarryg · Post by **Glarryg** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:30 am

Well, he found a story to tell; good. Maybe in another twenty-eight years he'll find an original one to tell.

While I don't actively hate Garfield (it got me into drawing when I was a kid, so I owe it something), I am severely disappointed in the way it turned out. He ran out of ideas years ago; it's not like he has to keep it going. At least Bill Watterson had the guts to quit when his comic lost its edge.

Glarryg

RemusShepherd · Post by **RemusShepherd** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:43 am

Like the last big comic book wedding, this one will only be interesting if the Green Goblin firebombs it.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:54 am

Most of people here think that Garfield was funny at the beginning, but later wore out by repeating the same jokes over and over and over again.
I personally think that it was lame, unfunny, a conglomerate of everything that's obvious, tired and cliche from the beginning. Only perhaps it wasn't as noticeable at the beginning.
Wedding is a desperate attempt to make Davis's lack of effort less obvious again, but it won't bring any new readers. I always suspected that Garfield has enough readers to keep it running, but I also suspect that most of them are over 60 so Davis is afraid that soon, majority of his readership will die.

In fact, this inspired me to make a comic strip that would have the same punchline every day. It'll be interesting experiment.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:05 am

mcDuffies wrote:In fact, this inspired me to make a comic strip that would have the same punchline every day. It'll be interesting experiment.

I'm afraid you've been beaten to it.

- Joel Fagin

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:16 am

Ah well... that won't stop me.

Laemkral · Post by **Laemkral** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:51 am

I don't hate or loathe Garfield. But I don't LIKE Garfield. I still read it out of habit and because my inner child gets a smile out of it. In fact, when I was much younger it was very entertaining and I liked to read Garfield collection books right before bed.

Nowadays, yes it is no longer the strip I once cherished, but that happens to a lot of our childhood interests. We outgrow them and look back and go "Meh, not as good now", probably because we expect this awesome and amazing experience out of it that can no longer be delivered because we've changed and it hasn't.

Linkara · Post by **Linkara** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:29 am

I LIKE Garfield. I've found it funny since I was a little kid and continue to find it funny today. I think the revelation that Liz actually does like Jon that's just occurred is great and I'm curious to see where Davis goes with this. ^^

Grabmygoblin · Post by **Grabmygoblin** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:34 am

like everyone else, I read Garfield as a kid and loved it... (I remember really loving lasanga and being fascinated there was a president Garfield once) but when I grew older I began to get bored with it.

I wonder if Jon's roommate will return...

CJBurgandy · Post by **CJBurgandy** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:36 am

blackaby wrote:Garfield always had little plots. They were really cute. I'm not sure I'm a fan of having some kind of major shit like that. Also: Jon getting married will be like Cathy getting married.

Like - WTF?!?!?!

Also, who in hell would want to marry Cathy? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard.

Best cross-over, Cathy marries Jon.

no wait, that would still be stupid.

I'm wondering if this marriage would last or not, concidering that if Jon married the vet, she'd put Garfield on that diet.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:36 am

According to Davis, Lyman is rotting in Jon's basement.

KittyKatBlack · Post by **KittyKatBlack** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:42 am

Garfield is proably kept the way it is because it appeals to a large audience, and let's face it, it's not like the guy can't write a plot, but when you're writing a strip that's published in a daily newspaper, you have to keep things simple. For example, there's been one or two 'plot comics' in some newspapers I've seen. Ones with ongoing stories that go in sequence. Does ANYONE actually know what's going on? Has ANYONE actually read the strip EVERY SINGLE DAY. There's probably a few people who are that dedicated, but for most it's more or less something to do if you have some spare time. So if you get involved in a plot it has to be simple enough for people who haven't read the previous strips to still get something out of it. I don't really think it's because Garfield has bad writing, it's simply the medium in which it's presented. Storyline comics are probably harder to push in newspapers than online because there is no 'archives' unless you want to try and find all the old newspapers the comics were in. That's why a majority of them have simple plots, simple characters, and simple jokes. If it's overly complicated, people don't always know what's going on.

Take Doonsbury, for example. It's a political comic, but if you don't keep up with politics, it doesn't make any sense most of the time. Garfield, Foxtrot, Peanuts and all those others have characters that are easy to relate to and live simple lives. Though, occasionally something like Calvin & Hobbes comes along and provides a simple comic with very deep writing. But not everything can be Calvin & Hobbes.

The Neko · Post by **The Neko** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:28 am

blackaby wrote:Garfield always had little plots. They were really cute. I'm not sure I'm a fan of having some kind of major shit like that. Also: Jon getting married will be like Cathy getting married.

Like - WTF?!?!?!

Also, who in hell would want to marry Cathy? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard.

Cathy IS married now, apparently. To some idiot. So... yeah.

I'd like to see the Lockhorns have a big twist. Mrs. Lockhorn finally gets pushed to the brink and murders Mr. Lockhorn, and has sordid adventures in the womens' prison sysystem.

Spriteville, USA · Post by **Spriteville, USA** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:29 am

Strip = nicht so gut
Saturday morning cartoon = ausgeseichnit