Garfield is Boring!
Dragun32
20 years! I remember when Garfield, Jon, and Odie used to go to the beach, and
when Nermal would come over. Those were interesting. I also like the stories
that used to happen a long time ago. If Jim Davis can't come up with any new
ideas, he should stop writing the strip. Any strip is charming if it's jokes
and story lines aren't constantly rehashed, several times over. I quit reading
Garfield, because I know I'll probably find the same joke in some old book.
Remove 'KILLSPAM' to reply.
Newspaper Headline: "Kids make nutritious snacks."
Mwcartoons
-Peter Gullerud
THREE NEW STRIPS added Jan 7th 1999 (Patch Adams; Brain Surgeon Clown, You've
Got Mail and Catwoman):
http://members.aol.com/uzima/strips4.html
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/uzima/strips4.html">"This is Getting
Ridiculous"</A>"
Ray
>I don't like reading Garfield anymore. It's the same jokes over and over.
Yeah, Garfield's been brain-dead for a long time now. I think it's a
written rule that sparks of creativity and originality are not
allowed.
>If Jim Davis can't come up with any new
>ideas, he should stop writing the strip.
Since when has *he* been writing it...? ;-)
Ray
Mwcartoons
"Garfield is Dismal" thread going. I know people here will say, "there's a
reason"...but um...can't we think of something better to talk about?
If ya hate a strip, ignore it! [the syndicates do that to me.] LOL/
John Allison
Mwcartoons wrote in message <19990202042842...@ng06.aol.com>...
>No offence folks...but I've noticed that about every month or so there's a
>"Garfield is Dismal" thread going. I know people here will say,
"there's a
>reason"...but um...can't we think of something better to talk about?
>
>If ya hate a strip, ignore it! [the syndicates do that to me.] LOL/
I think its just the case that those of us who remember early garfield
strips feel a certain sort of tragedy. I love to read those old
collections because they have a really great "feel" that you can't put your
finger on.
Watching someone piss on the past never gets old, or any easier to watch.
John
Scott Kellogg
: >If ya hate a strip, ignore it! [the syndicates do that to me.] LOL/
Good advice!
: I think its just the case that those of us who remember early garfield
: strips feel a certain sort of tragedy. I love to read those old
: collections because they have a really great "feel" that you can't put your
: finger on.
: Watching someone piss on the past never gets old, or any easier to watch.
I used to feel that way about Garfield. Then I went back and looked at
the old Garfield books I really laughed at when it first came out.
Suddenly I realized they were just as good or bad as the strips are
today. The strip hasn't changed, only my impression of it. It's not
that the writing has gotten stale, it's just that when it first came out
we didn't know the formula yet. Now we do, in excruciating detail, and
it's a very limited one.
Scott Kellogg
James Nicoll
John Allison <eggsbe...@allisonj.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
>Mwcartoons wrote in message <19990202042842...@ng06.aol.com>...
>>No offence folks...but I've noticed that about every month or so there's a
>>"Garfield is Dismal" thread going. I know people here will say,
>"there's a
>>reason"...but um...can't we think of something better to talk about?
>>
>
>
>strips feel a certain sort of tragedy. I love to read those old
>collections because they have a really great "feel" that you can't put your
>finger on.
GArfield used to be a cat rather than a fat grouchy human in a
cat suit. IMO.
--
March 20, 1999: Imperiums To Order's 15th Anniversary Party. Guests include
Rob Sawyer [SF author], Jo Walton [game designer and soon to be published
fantasy author] and James Gardner [SF author]. DP9 is a definite maybe.
Imperiums is at 12 Church Street, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Michael Vezie
Dragun32 <drag...@aol.comKILLSPAM> wrote:
>I don't like reading Garfield anymore. It's the same jokes over and over. For
>20 years! I remember when Garfield, Jon, and Odie used to go to the beach, and
>when Nermal would come over. Those were interesting. I also like the stories
>that used to happen a long time ago. If Jim Davis can't come up with any new
>ideas, he should stop writing the strip. Any strip is charming if it's jokes
>and story lines aren't constantly rehashed, several times over. I quit reading
>Garfield, because I know I'll probably find the same joke in some old book.
I never thought I'd actually be defending Garfield, but today's was
actually rather new (and funny).
It doesn't happen often, but it does, on occasion, happen.
Michael
Elisabeth Anne Riba
> GArfield used to be a cat rather than a fat grouchy human in a
>cat suit. IMO.
One of my friends claims that he can pinpoint the moment Garfield went
downhill. It was the first strip in which Garfield walked on his hind
legs. From that point on, he became a short furry human instead of a
cat.
Anybody remember when Garfield would climb up the screen doors and get
stuck? When's the last time we've seen that in the strip.
When did Garfield stop sitting on top of the television set and start
using the easy chair and remote?
The only thing remotely catlike that Garfield still does is chase mice.
Sure, there were other problems too, such as the gradual loss of Wyman,
Liz, Nermal, and every other regular character besides Garfield, Odie and
Jon.
But once Garfield stopped behaving like a cat, it really signalled the
end.
Crazy question for someone who has the early Garfield books:
When *was* the first time Garfield walked on hind legs?
When was the first time Garfield sat in the easy chair humanlike, rather
than curled up on the TV?
When was Garfield first shown to have opposable thumbs (or at least, show
the ability to hold something like a coffee cup or remote)?
When was the last appearance of Wyman, Liz, Nermal, and that female cat
who used to turn Garfield down?
When, in your opinion, did the strip go downhill?
I believe the strips are dated, but otherwise you can just say "last half
of the second book" or whatever. I'm just curious about the proximity and
chronological order of these events.
--
---------------> Elisabeth Anne Riba * l...@netcom.com <---------------
"[She] is one of the secret masters of the world: a librarian.
They control information. Don't ever piss one off."
- Spider Robinson, "Callahan Touch"
nancy g.
> I never thought I'd actually be defending Garfield, but today's was
> actually rather new (and funny).
>
> It doesn't happen often, but it does, on occasion, happen.
Yep. About once or twice a year, I'd say, he does one of his rare
(and always funny) "Odie gets back at Garfield" strips. My kids
and I watch for them, and cheer when we see one (seriously. It's
an occasion for celebration in our house. The first kid who looks
over my shoulder and sees a Garfield strip that's actually FUNNY
will run shrieking to get the other one to bear witness to it.)
nancy g.
... oh, what, like you expected my kids to have
NORMAL attitudes about the comics? MY kids? Be REAL.
Ali Assa Seen
mwcar...@aol.com (Mwcartoons) wrote:
> No offence folks...but I've noticed that about every month or so there's a
> "Garfield is Dismal" thread going. I know people here will say, "there's a
> reason"...but um...can't we think of something better to talk about?
>
Really! Let's try something new, like "Johnny Hart is insane!"
ali assa seen
Mwcartoons
> No offence folks...but I've noticed that about every month or so there's a
> "Garfield is Dismal" thread going. I know people here will say, "there's
a
> reason"...but um...can't we think of something better to talk about?
>
Really! Let's try something new, like "Johnny Hart is insane!"
ali assa seen>>
Yes. I like this one better. But then, so am I.
-Peter Gullerud
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/mwcartoons/mw.html">"The MW Website Home
Page"</A>"
maiko covington
>I don't like reading Garfield anymore. It's the same jokes over and over. For
>20 years! I remember when Garfield, Jon, and Odie used to go to the beach, and
>when Nermal would come over. Those were interesting. I also like the stories
>that used to happen a long time ago. If Jim Davis can't come up with any new
>ideas, he should stop writing the strip. Any strip is charming if it's jokes
>and story lines aren't constantly rehashed, several times over. I quit reading
>Garfield, because I know I'll probably find the same joke in some old book.
Okay, a serious Garfield question: Who owned Nermal? Was his owner
visiting too, or was Jon cat-sitting for a friend, or what?
Maiko Covington
maiko covington
> GArfield used to be a cat rather than a fat grouchy human in a
>cat suit. IMO.
Yes. A low point for me was seeing Garfield sitting HUMAN style
(knees bent forward hanging over the edge of a chair seat, back to the
chair back) in a strip a few weeks ago.
Garfield ceased being funny around the time when his nose turned
into a jellybean.
Maiko Covington
Wei-Hwa Huang
>The only thing remotely catlike that Garfield still does is chase mice.
Except that the early Garfield NEVER chased mice.
>Sure, there were other problems too, such as the gradual loss of Wyman,
>Liz, Nermal, and every other regular character besides Garfield, Odie and
>Jon.
Lyman.
>When was the last appearance of Wyman, Liz, Nermal, and that female cat
>who used to turn Garfield down?
Arlene? I'm sure I saw her no more than two years ago.
--
Wei-Hwa Huang, whu...@ugcs.caltech.edu, http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~whuang/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Pop", "Soda", or "Coke"? http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/
Michael Vezie
Or when he lost weight?
(In the first book, that cat is huge, with these tiny beedly
little eyes, and this body that looks like a fur-lined water
baloon. To call the current garfield fat is an absurdity by
comparison).
Michael
Metlhd3138
reruns while im getting ready for school in the morning. At least THAT show was
consistently funny.
Wei-Hwa Huang
>We're all boring. Til we die. Look at Van Gogh.
Yeh, he bored a hole through his ear! Until it fell off.
Tim Sparks
>
> jam...@ece.uwaterloo.ca (James Nicoll) writes:
>
> > GArfield used to be a cat rather than a fat grouchy human in a
> >cat suit. IMO.
>
> downhill. It was the first strip in which Garfield walked on his hind
> legs. From that point on, he became a short furry human instead of a
> cat.
>
> Anybody remember when Garfield would climb up the screen doors and get
> stuck? When's the last time we've seen that in the strip.
>
> When did Garfield stop sitting on top of the television set and start
> using the easy chair and remote?
>
>
> Liz, Nermal, and every other regular character besides Garfield, Odie and
> Jon.
>
> end.
>
> Crazy question for someone who has the early Garfield books:
> When *was* the first time Garfield walked on hind legs?
> When was the first time Garfield sat in the easy chair humanlike, rather
> than curled up on the TV?
> When was Garfield first shown to have opposable thumbs (or at least, show
> the ability to hold something like a coffee cup or remote)?
> who used to turn Garfield down?
>
> I believe the strips are dated, but otherwise you can just say "last half
> of the second book" or whatever. I'm just curious about the proximity and
> chronological order of these events.
> --
> ---------------> Elisabeth Anne Riba * l...@netcom.com <---------------
> "[She] is one of the secret masters of the world: a librarian.
> They control information. Don't ever piss one off."
> - Spider Robinson, "Callahan Touch"
That theory makes a lot of sense! I never thought of it in that way.
When the cat became a furry human, the humor lost its edge...
Caius Marcius
become so obsessive in recent Garfield: Jim Davis is vainly striving to
remove the ever-thickening cover of cobwebs over his increasingly
moribund creation.
- CMC
Matthew W. Miller
Tim Sparks
>
> In article <19990202042842...@ng06.aol.com>,
> mwcar...@aol.com (Mwcartoons) wrote:
>
> > No offence folks...but I've noticed that about every month or so there's a
> > "Garfield is Dismal" thread going. I know people here will say, "there's a
> > reason"...but um...can't we think of something better to talk about?
> >
> Really! Let's try something new, like "Johnny Hart is insane!"
>
> ali assa seen
The real question is, are kids reading it and finding it funny? If so,
then it still works. I personally can't stand it anymore, but that's
because all the gags repeat, maybe new readers find the new gags as
funny as I found the old gags? Although if you compare them, the
original occurances of the gags was far better.
Ray
<tspar...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> jam...@ece.uwaterloo.ca (James Nicoll) writes:
>>
>> > GArfield used to be a cat rather than a fat grouchy human in a
>> >cat suit. IMO.
>>
>> One of my friends claims that he can pinpoint the moment Garfield went
>> downhill. It was the first strip in which Garfield walked on his hind
>> legs. From that point on, he became a short furry human instead of a
>> cat.
>That theory makes a lot of sense! I never thought of it in that way.
>When the cat became a furry human, the humor lost its edge...
In a somewhat related turn of events, anyone see the comic strip
Marvin the past couple days, and the dog "Bitsy" therein? He be
walkin' like a man! Hmmmmmm Maybe Armstrong is trying to emulate
Davis' ignoble fall from originality, creativity and artistic
integrity? Maybe this former-animals-walking-like-humans behavior is
the first symptom of a strip in rapid decline! How long will it be
before Marvin's parents (and other ancillary characters ) are
"forgotten" (victims of the Lyman Conspiracy!)? How many strips
before it sinks into a repetitive stupor of "I Hate Mondays"
complaints from Marvin, diet woes for Bitsy and spider swatting by the
both of them?!?! IEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! We now KNOW the warning signs!
Watch for them! Save other strips before it's too late!
The cause of all of this, of course, is the Evil influence of Garfield
on the comics pages. Its rank mediocrity spreads like a cancer over
the newsprint and infects other strips, especially those already weak
and crippled by total loss of inspiration. Call in Professor Van
Helsing! Garfield Must Die!!!
Ray :-)
(then again... Marvin was never a great strip to begn with.....)
Mwcartoons
would be funny!
;)
-Peter Gullerud
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/mwcartoons/mw.html">"The MW Website"</A>
"From today painting is dead." -Paul Delaroche (French painter), commenting on
the first public showing of the daguerreotype, 1839
Wei-Hwa Huang
Proves that Mark Evanier is a better writer than Jim Davis. But we all
knew that.
Dragun32
he was a cat a copy of a strip where he doesn't act like a cat, the reader
would never know that Garfield was supposed to be a cat. At least when I read
the older strips, I was aware that he was a cat. Now, all we get is him
walking upright, swatting spiders, weird mice gags, and that half-eyed look in
the last panel. Oh yeah, not to mention the annoying Jon-can't-get-a-date
ones. Kill your self, Jon, you can't get a date! :-)
Remove 'KILLSPAM' to reply.
Newspaper Headline: "Kids make nutritious snacks."
Anthony Dean
drag...@aol.comKILLSPAM (Dragun32) wrote:
> I'll bet if you gave someone who never heard of Garfield and didn't know that
> he was a cat a copy of a strip where he doesn't act like a cat, the reader
> would never know that Garfield was supposed to be a cat. At least when I read
> the older strips, I was aware that he was a cat. Now, all we get is him
> walking upright, swatting spiders, weird mice gags, and that half-eyed look in
> the last panel. Oh yeah, not to mention the annoying Jon-can't-get-a-date
> ones. Kill your self, Jon, you can't get a date! :-)
>
At least the present-day Jon can't; the Jon of the older strips seemed to
have a lot less trouble (Liz the vet aside....yep, another character we
don't see much of anymore :-) Also, the "Jon's-a-big-nerdy-loser" thing
wasn't nearly as emphasized in older strips as it seems to be these days.
Don't also forget the "Garfield-lying-on-his-back-doing-absolutely-nothing"
strips... :-)
Anthony
---------------------------------------------------------------
My Home Page: http://members.iquest.net/~adean
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Can two heads live in the same body without driving each
other crazy?" ---Tom and Crow as "The Odd Couple: 1999", MST3K
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wei-Hwa Huang
>the last panel. Oh yeah, not to mention the annoying Jon-can't-get-a-date
>ones. Kill your self, Jon, you can't get a date! :-)
On the plus side Jon hasn't aged, ever. Perhaps the key to immortality
is not being able to date ...
Elisabeth Anne Riba
>drag...@aol.comKILLSPAM (Dragun32) writes:
>>the last panel. Oh yeah, not to mention the annoying Jon-can't-get-a-date
>>ones. Kill your self, Jon, you can't get a date! :-)
>On the plus side Jon hasn't aged, ever. Perhaps the key to immortality
>is not being able to date ...
Yeah, but who would *want* to live that way?? What would be the point?
Tigrtoons
In article <36C034...@hotmail.com>, Tim wrote:
>The real question is, are kids reading it and finding it funny? If so,
>then it still works. I personally can't stand it anymore, but that's
>because all the gags repeat, maybe new readers find the new gags as
>funny as I found the old gags? Although if you compare them, the
>original occurances of the gags was far better.
I doubt it'd still be in so many papers if no children read it.
It's not my cup of tea, but then neither is Lipton's.
Peter Gullerud (Note: To email me omit 'antispam')
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/tigrtoons/index.html">"TIGR:3 NEW
STRIPS2/21/99"</A>
"The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is
laughter."-Mark Twain
Andrew Heiz
Wei-Hwa Huang wrote:
> drag...@aol.comKILLSPAM (Dragun32) writes:
> >the last panel. Oh yeah, not to mention the annoying Jon-can't-get-a-date
> >ones. Kill your self, Jon, you can't get a date! :-)
>
> On the plus side Jon hasn't aged, ever. Perhaps the key to immortality
> is not being able to date ...
No wonder why Charlie Brown looks so young.
Andy
maiko covington
little compilations of "Garfield" from the public library. They are
actually FUNNY for the most part, because the jokes are indeed CAT jokes.
Reading them made me realize anew just how unfunny the modern
strips are though.
Maiko Covington
D
>> On the plus side Jon hasn't aged, ever. Perhaps the key to immortality
>> is not being able to date ...
>
>No wonder why Charlie Brown looks so young.
>
>Andy
>
Yea but he's bald.
Daniel Moser
Tigrtoons wrote in message <19990222004957...@ngol02.aol.com>...
>
>
>In article <36C034...@hotmail.com>, Tim wrote:
>
>>The real question is, are kids reading it and finding it funny? If so,
Mwcartoons
>>>The real question is, are kids reading it and finding it funny? If so,
>I'm a kid and I personally hate Garfield and the repeated gags.
Then it's not your cup 'o' tea. Time to hit the ignore protrusion and on
to the next strips!
Peter Gullerud(to email, remove'antispam')
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/tigrtoons/index.html">"TIGRtoons"</A>
"We don't stop laughing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop
laughing."
-Anonymous