Jim Davis (1) (1945–)

Garfield as you've never seen him before! The main premise of the story is that each of Garfield's previous lives shaped something about his personality. This collection of Garfield tales re-interprets the well-loved feline and showcases a variety of styles, genres, and iterations. Consequently, Jim Davis and his team had more freedom to play with the character; things happen here that could not be done in a typical installment of Garfield's established timeline. See?
Jim Davis was show more reimagining his characters before it was cool!

The storytelling AND artwork vary dramatically between the tales, one of which is even in prose and not comics; and this works well, as each of the nine lives stands apart from every other one. The tone changes, too, with some slapstick, some gentle fun, some horror, and even some noir. The stories can't even be said to take place in the typical Garfield universe, as one might be set on a more magical or even spiritual plane, and one takes place in a city run entirely by humanish cats who wear clothes and have humanoid forms. Since this book pushes the boundaries of Garfield's character, it involves some things that maybe are a bit . . . unorthodox. One of the stories involves a scantily-clad woman and a man who spanks Garfield with a paddle (a possible fraternity hazing?) while another tale implies some romance for Garfield involving a lady cat, alcohol, and a convenient couch. The tone is in many places darker than in other Garfield stories, and sometimes things even border on the macabre. There is, for example, a tale in which a homeless cat (not Garfield) asks for someone to bury him, and another story involving people experimenting on and then dissecting animals. Not for the faint of heart!

These stories are, on the whole, very well-crafted, and the creativity involved is just astounding. Shining through all of it, of course, is a love for Garfield and a desire to play with his character a little bit, to try him out in different circumstances and styles, and (as Jim Davis put it), to stretch him to the limits of the imagination. show less

Whille Garfield starts out as an ugly, giant beast in the first strip, by the end of this volume he has evolved to be pretty much on model as the cute, chubby cat we know today. The humor meanwhile has hardly evolved at all. The gags established in this book are the same ones we see in the strip today, from Mondays to lasagna to all the seven deadly sins, with an emphasis on gluttony and sloth. Jon's sexual harassment of Garfield's veterinarian, Liz, ages the most poorly.

Most of the major show more characters are here, with Jon and Garfield sharing a house with Odie and his owner Lyman (soon to disappear without any explanation). Other familiar faces include Pooky the teddy bear, Nermal the cutest cat, and Irma the waitress. show less

I think Jim Davis is amazing. It’s hard to think of many authors whose books convey such a sense of fun. These cartoon vignettes don’t seem to have much purpose beyond simply trying to delight their readers, and at that goal, this book excels. The style is a bit different from the daily comic strip, but the humor is completely on point. And of course, Garfield himself is pure gold.

A collection of Garfield comics with Garfield erased from them. Which sounds dumb and pointless, but when you've seen a few, you understand. Suddenly it's not a moderately entertaining Sunday funny about a lasagna-loving cat anymore, but is instead a portrait of a lonely, depressed, pathetically insane man standing around talking to himself. Which, as Dan Walsh, who came up with the idea, points out, is exactly what it always was. It's just that without the distraction of a kitty-cat show more thought-ballooning sarcastic comments, its true nature stands starkly revealed, and it's surreal, hilarious, and often astonishingly poignant.

Unlike on the website -- where the phenomenon originated and still continues -- this book includes the original, with-cat strips underneath the doctored ones. Which is great for satisfying one's curiosity, but in my opinion kind of ruins the effect. I went through and read all the "minus" versions first, then flipped back to look at the originals, which worked much better. show less