24th May 2008, 3:25 PM
Yeah, Garfield is funny enough to elicit a small chuckle once in a while, but most of it is tired crap and a shell of its former self. It's more of a business than a good comic strip. There's nothing entirely wrong with seeing comic strips as a business, but Garfield's artistic integrity is obviously compromised when it's nothing more than a joke factory of sarcasm of the same jokes surrounding the fatness/laziness of Garfield, kicking Odie off the table, Jon being a loser, etc. Not to mention the free-spirited commercialization. Garfield reminding kids to read? Oh, you kidder Jim Davis!
There are better comic strips out there, but it'd be nice if there was more flexibility involved for the artist instead of having to cram everything into a tiny space. Bill Watterson was able to fight a bit for that to introduce the half-page comic that doesn't have to be conveniently reformatted to 1/3 or 1/4 page or smaller panel. Unfortunately, newspaper sales are plummeting, and the funnies are (for good reason) seen as something secondary that should be subject to the convenience of the editors. A lot of good comics are released online for this reason, which is a good alternative.
There are better comic strips out there, but it'd be nice if there was more flexibility involved for the artist instead of having to cram everything into a tiny space. Bill Watterson was able to fight a bit for that to introduce the half-page comic that doesn't have to be conveniently reformatted to 1/3 or 1/4 page or smaller panel. Unfortunately, newspaper sales are plummeting, and the funnies are (for good reason) seen as something secondary that should be subject to the convenience of the editors. A lot of good comics are released online for this reason, which is a good alternative.