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

Garfield is one of my favorite comic strips, but I really didn't like the duplication of the sketches (in black and white) and the regular comics (in color) and close-ups of some of the panels in this collection of Sunday strips. I would have preferred more strips in the book instead. It was fun to see how Garfield changed over time. I remember the "chubbier" Garfield, but I always liked him better after he wasn't quite that chubby. It was also interesting to see that Odie started out as show more someone else's dog and ended up living with Jon and Garfield. I'd forgotten that, if I'd ever paid attention to the fact. I guess this was a trip down memory lane! show less

This graphic novel will definitely appeal to adults, especially to Garfield fans. And it might explain why Garfield is the way he is. No, he does not kill his owner in one of his lives. He doesn’t have a knife or gun - he has teeth and claws! What cat carer (I hesitate to use the term “owner”) has not been scratched and/or bitten by a cat? It doesn’t result in death! My favorite life was life number six. (It was also Garfield’s favorite.). I liked it because Garfield finally does show more the right thing! It’s an entertaining novel, pure fun with lots of Garfield inspired humor. 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