Death of Garfield

Twenty years ago this week Garfield creator, Jim Davis, tried something a little weird. The week before Halloween a series of six comic strips were published depicting the titular feline alone in a time he no longer exists. The comics were serious in nature. Their darker tone and lack of humor threw off many fans and raised a lot of questions. Was Garfield dead? Was this an alternate universe? Jim Davis has not been forthcoming with an explanation.

I followed Garfield for many years in elementary school. I had all of the comic collections. I had several plush toys. I taped the television specials. I clipped the newspaper strips. When I started junior high, I abandoned Garfield completely. That would have been a few months before these strips originally ran. I only became aware of them about a year ago.

As one of the lightest comics in print, this is quite an anomaly. I guess Jim Davis felt burned by the fan reaction and stuck to the safe (read boring) stuff since. After thirty-plus years of syndication, and a massive multimedia franchise it's hard to argue against safe comics.