Friday Funnies: Garfield


The humour in the Garfield comics has always been a bit uneven--some days are definitely funnier than others in the Garfield universe--and this comic is certainly one of the moments that feels more twisted than funny. I think my reaction was about the same as that of Garfield in the final pane. It's more startling than funny. And it also reveals something odd about the comic--none of the male human characters are portrayed as being well-adjusted adults. Jon Arbuckle, for example, is extremely childish and would appear to have a relatively low IQ, and his brother Doc Boy is more or less tarred with the same brush. The women, however, are usually portrayed as fairly capable--Liz the Vet for example, or Jon's mother. The only possible exception to this rule is Lyman, and even he has not been seen in the strip since 1984, which is the same year that Jon went from being a cartoonist with an average IQ to an unemployed idiot whose only role was to look after Garfield and Odie.  



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