Friday, February 22, 2008 | by nathan

Less About Lasagna and Mondays, More About Unadulterated Existential Dread

I hope that I’ve passed on to you, my dozen or so regular readers, my overzealous love for The Comics Curmudgeon and Marmaduke Explained. They’re both wonderful blogs that expose the comics pages for what they really are, most of the time: lazy cash cows taking up space on a page that, at its best, is capable of so, so, so much more. Comics writers, with a few notable - and mostly retired - exceptions, have become lazy hacks who only write their strips in the hope of cashing in on much-larger marketing deals.

The worst offender, of course, is Garfield, not least because you can see his smarmy cat-face on everything in sight, but because when Jim Davis is on his game - I dunno if he takes the occasional hit of crack or what - he actually can be funny. Most the time, however, like most of the artists on the funny pages, he’s just phoning it in, and I have no doubt that when he’s ready to hang it up he’ll just hand it off to some committee so his work can continue for decades to come instead of clearing out and letting someone with a newer, fresher idea take up residence.

So, I’ve found a new favorite comics blog: Garfield Minus Garfield. As you can see, without the annoying orange cat, the strip is just Jon Arbuckle showing himself for the manic-depressive, existentially terrified little man that he is. Here’s what the blog’s author has to say:

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

Everything about it is rewarding. Read on!

UPDATE: Check it out! I made one!