Summary
The “Garfield Minus Garfield” webcomic, created by Dan Walsh, takes the famous strip and subtracts its star feline, thrusting Jon Arbuckle into the spotlight and putting his character in a fresh, though often bleak context.
The result of omitting Garfield from
Garfield
is a closer look at the nightmare of existence, starring Jon Arbuckle, a man trapped in a desperate search for life’s meaning.
In its most famous strips,
Garfield Minus Garfield’s
Jon Arbuckle grapples with his darkest thoughts, voiced aloud to nobody, reaching for depths of existential despair found in only the most philosophical fiction.
The comic strip Garfield has always been a funny staple of newspaper comics sections, but one notable experiment has given the series a dark makeover. Garfield Minus Garfield is a webcomic created by Dan Walsh that edits Garfield strips by creator Jim Davis that removes the titular cat and his commentary from the strips. This often leaves Garfield’s owner, Jon Arbuckle, alone and talking to himself.
The changes are always unforgettable, and often for the darkest possible reasons. Many strips present Jon as lonely, downbeat and quite sad. Of all the Garfield Minus Garfield strips, the following 15 stand out as some of the darkest to ever be created.
20 “Where’s Garfield?” Asks A Chilling, But Necessary Question
Describe This “Garfield,” Jon
One of the simplest Garfield Minus Garfield strips portrays Jon trying to enjoy a cup of coffee, before looking around and asking “Where’s Garfield?”. Ordinarily, readers would wonder what sort of mischief the lasagna-loving cat would be getting into. Instead, in the context of these edits, Jon’s thoughts become a bit more alarming, prompting readers to wonder whether Jon is slowly realizing that Garfield isn’t real, or desperately trying to cling to the fantasy that his cat is still around.
19 “Times Change,” Highlights Jon Arbuckle’s Melancholic Nature
He Wishes They Wouldn’t
Jon has often been portrayed as…someone whose enthusiasm for life is quickly dampened, and with the omission of Garfield, the absence of response to his call emphasizes his struggle against life.
There are, of course, two ways to approach the unyielding flow of time – go with it, and work to make the future better than the past, or swim against the timestream, and risk drowning in nostalgia and “remember whens.” Jon Arbuckle appears to choose the latter in this Garfield Minus Garfield strip. Jon has often been portrayed as a glass-half-empty kind of guy, or at least someone whose enthusiasm for life is quickly dampened, and with the omission of Garfield, the absence of response to his call emphasizes his struggle against life.
18 “Cat Hair” Captures Jon’s Fractured Psyche
Humanity Slipping Away With Every Meal
Garfield was known for always disrupting Jon’s own food time while making unbelievable demands for his own cuisine. But here, Jon’s meal isn’t interrupted by anything other than the thought a cat hair could be in his food. However, there is no Garfield, making Jon’s intense search not only pointless but quite disturbing. The fervor with which he scans his food makes it seems like he’s trying to find some evidence that Garfield is real.
17 “I Have Fleas!” is Unhinged, Absurd, and Perfect
But Do You Have A Pet, Jon?
In the original Garfield comic strips, Jon was always ready to get on Garfield’s case for his slovenliness. With the iconic feline removed, however, Jon has no one to get mad at over the state of his house other than himself. In this Garfield Minus Garfield recontextualization of a classic strip, somehow, in spite of having no visible pets in sight, Jon has managed to get fleas. It makes one wonder just what Jon has been doing to actually get such a perturbing infestation.
16 “Tape” Exhibits The True Brilliance Of “Garfield Minus Garfield”
Jon Arbuckle’s Psyche Comes Unraveled
While Garfield and Jon’s relationship could sometimes be contentious, the comic strip usually presented Jon as his own worst enemy. Nothing shows that better than this
Garfield Minus Garfield
strip
While Garfield and Jon’s relationship could sometimes be contentious, the comic strip usually presented Jon as his own worst enemy. Nothing shows that better than this Garfield Minus Garfield strip, which portrays Jon Arbuckle as somehow bound by scotch tape. Lacking Garfield, this strip suggests that Jon is out of his mind with boredom and trying to find something to occupy his time. However, based on whatever project he was attempting here, it’s clearly not going well.
15 “Then I Fail” Reveals Jon’s Worst Enemy
It Was Never Garfield
Without Garfield’s humorous commentary, many of these edited strips take on a much darker tone than the original. Here, Jon is talking to himself, self-assuring that he always tries his hardest at whatever he sets out to do, though he contends it usually ends with failure. Garfield is usually presented as a counter to Jon who eggs on his negative side. But here, that negativity comes from within, revealing how self-critical Jon is.
14 “What Do I Do It For?” Depicts An Existential Crisis
There Is No Answer
Many of Garfield Minus Garfield’s minor edits turn a silly little comic strip into a dark examination of Jon Arbuckle. In this strip, he is shown standing around, asking himself: “What do I do it for?”. Of course, fans know that the original Jon’s life revolves around his pets. Remove him from the context of pet ownership, and what drives Jon, what keeps him going, suddenly becomes unclear – and yet in a way, this makes him more relatable than ever, as he suddenly is thrust into the deepest waters of existential philosophizing.
13 “It’s a Shame” Confirms Jon is Completely Alone
He Doesn’t Want To Be Around Himself
While there’s a certain humor that can be found in removing Garfield, eliminating him completely reveals just how barren Jon’s life is. Here he contemplates how rough it is not having someone to spend time with, with the following panels simply showing empty space. Jon does have his girlfriend Liz, but more often than not, he’s only ever seen associating with his pets. Taking them away practically destroys the only things in Jon’s world.
12 “Loser” Shows Why Jon Arbuckle Is A Punchline
Not A Serious Person
Jon Arbuckle isn’t the most confident or self-assured character in comic strips. However, here, he doesn’t even need the empty, judgmental look of Garfield to erode his self-esteem. Jon’s affirmation that he isn’t a loser slowly begins to degrade into an admittance of how much of a loser he actually is. He can’t help but tear himself down, even when there’s no one there egging him on, a truly sad state of affairs.
11 “It’s Gone Forever” Is An Essay On Mortality
Jon Arbuckle Vs. Time Once Again
Without Garfield…all that’s left is a man slowly coming to terms with the cold bleakness of reality.
Jon and Garfield’s interactions are a cornerstone of the comic strip. Without Garfield, though, all that’s left is a man slowly coming to terms with the cold bleakness of reality. Here Jon thinks about the passage of time and notes that once a day is over, it’s gone for good. Normally, Garfield would be here with some manner of pithy rejoinder. But all that’s here is a man on the edge of a personal crisis.
10 “One Long Day” Builds On Jon’s Discontent
Jon Arbuckle Vs. Life
Garfield Minus Garfield,
not only extracts [
Garfield’s]
primary character, it positions the strip’s main supporting character as the focus, while taking away his sole purpose.
Where the last panel found Jon Arbuckle lamenting the passing of a day, here, he is portrayed as restless at the thought of them passing in a blur, to the point where he states that, “[his] life has been one long day,” and nothing more. Traditionally, Jon Arbuckle is depicted in Garfield as a man bristling at his lack of achievement and standing in the world, extracting meaning only from his interacts with his pets; Garfield Minus Garfield, therefore, not only extracts the strip’s primary character, it positions the strip’s main supporting character as the focus, while taking away his sole purpose.
9 “Any Better Than This” Shows Jon Needs To Get Out Of The House
Take A Trip, Jon
Continuing Jon’s ruminations on the nature of life, this strip features him asking a familiar question in a very different way than it is usually encountered. Often, when people ask, “does life get any better than this?” they are in the middle of a vacation, or a momentous positive life event. While it has certainly been uttered in sarcasm as well, Jon Arbuckle’s posing of this question feels like neither. Instead, it feels like Jon is genuinely imploring, wondering out loud to himself whether his current existence is all there is, or if he can improve himself and his day-to-day experience.
8 “Anything Worthwhile” Is Jon’s Harshest Interrogation Of Himself
Be Gentle, Jon
In its familiar context, this Garfield strip would feature Jon asking his cat if he’s every done anything worthwhile – still weird, perhaps, but not the aggressive interrogation of himself and his own achievements in life that Garfield Minus Garfield turns these panels into. In the first panel, Jon seems disgruntled as he asks, “have you ever accomplished anything worthwhile?” In panel two, his eyes widen, as if in realization of his own lack of achievements, or even goals, and finally, in panel three, he once more accepts his own limitations.
7 “Unfulfilled Dreams” Shows Jon’s Sadness Contains Multitudes
Sadly, He Doesn’t
Garfield Minus Garfield creator Dan Walsh once said he chose Garfield strips that made Jon seem the most “metaphysically tormented,” something few strips showcase more than this installment, which emphasizes the harshness of Jon’s life, where the man is seen asking no one at all if they have any unfulfilled dreams. Without Garfield, Jon is just asking himself that question, and the long silence that follows reveals an inner sadness not often seen in the original cartoon.
6 “Existentialism” Proves Even Jon Can Be Right Sometimes
He Wishes He Wasn’t
The more one takes in Garfield Minus Garfield strips, the more people see the hidden ennui of the original strip. Here, Jon discusses the world saying it existed before anyone and will be here long after everyone is gone. The familiar Jon of Garfield as it was originally published isn’t exactly known for being happy-go-lucky, but at the same time, he’s usually not the dour, downbeat existentialist that he becomes once Garfield is erased from his life.
5 “I’m Pathetic” Makes Jon Even More Pitiful Than Usual
Go Outside, Jon!
Even when things start out good for Jon, he can’t help but return to a dour state of being. Normally this would be because of a certain orange cat, but here he’s by his lonesome. Though Jon optimistically greets the new day, he almost instantly turns to a more self-deprecating mindset, calling himself pathetic. It seems that without Garfield around, Jon just can’t see the brighter side of life.
4 “Nobody Cares” Takes Garfield Into Meta-Comedy
He’s Right (They Care About Garfield)
Here, Jon, alone in an empty room, asks himself, ”
do you ever get the feeling nobody cares about you
?”, only to be met with silence in response. It’s one of those edits that somewhat manages to keep the punchline, but ultimately changes its meaning.
The more one reads Garfield Minus Garfield, the more it is possible to recognize Jon’s negative perspective growing and growing. Here, Jon, alone in an empty room, asks himself, “do you ever get the feeling nobody cares about you?”, only to be met with silence in response. It’s one of those edits that somewhat manages to keep the punchline, but ultimately changes its meaning, as it cements the idea that no one does care about Jon.
3 “Lose-Your-Will-To-Live Phase” Shows Jon Accepting Defeat
Keep Holding On, Jon
Presumably, Jon is responding to some prompt from Garfield here, in the original incarnation of the strip. Garfield Minus Garfield turns this into a brutal aside, as Jon narrates to himself the point he has reached in his life – and it is among the bleakest of the webcomic’s recontextualizations of the classic syndicated newspaper strip. That said, considering Jon’s most existential moments are arrived at by removing an element, rather than adding, it is clear this was always present in Jim Davis’ original work.
2 “Can’t Take It Anymore” Is As Sad As The Webcomic Gets
Let Jon Have A Good Day For Once
Reading enough of these strips really makes one feel for the protagonist, whose world has become deathly silent and devoid of any kind of contact. Absolutely nothing is happening in the first two panels, while the last one shows Jon weeping and declaring he can’t take it anymore. It’s one of those strips where the novelty has worn off and all that remains is a cruel joke on a suffering character.
1 “Cliffside” Is A Mystery Better Left Unsolved
Almost Too Dark
Garfield Minus Garfield reached its apex here with the dark ending it implies. Here Jon is on a cliff, smiling as he looks out onto the world. However his smile disappears as he looks below, leading to the eerily empty final panel. While there’s nothing that outright says that Jon jumped, seeing enough of these strips gives one insight into Jon’s darkest thoughts and hints that it isn’t outside the realm of possibility for him to answer the call of the void.