This is a post that was originally a journal entry on my DeviantArt page. I will post this now, because Iâm quite busy and doubt Iâll have time to write a proper one.
To my faithful friends and watchers,
As most of you know, I am a very big garfield fan.
Since a very young age I have enjoyed the zany antics of the orange fat cat. And even now I still enjoy reading his strip daily. Over time, I have aquired quite a lot of Garfield items and collectables, including an original sketch done by Jim Davis himself.
But thinking recently, has Garfield lost some of his touch? Is the strip starting to become a way of money? I am starting to think so. Donât get me wrong, I still love Garfield and always will, but I think Garfield isnât what he used to be.
Garfield has now really becomean income of money for Jim and the Paws group.
Jim himself, because of his age only does a sketch of the strip, but everything else, isnât. The strip to me, is less funny now than what it was. Itâs still pretty funny but not like itâs predesessors. I think it would have been better if they didnât add lots of extra characters for one thing.
Now thereâs also Liz, and the characters seem to go out âin the townâ much more. Jon was always meant to be a âhopelessâ man, one âwithout loveâ a bachelor and one to stay.
But now they bring the characters out of their natural aurroundings and into the open. Just like with Frasier, when they added more characters when Nileâs and Daphne were going out, it was never as good.
I can imagine many of you not agreeing with me but, I always see Garfield as a âclosed stripâ one that stays to itâs natural ways. And although I can understand that the writers find it hard and run out of ideas for a strip, and so they think that adding more characters would be the next logical step, i think maybe, just maybe not.
Last year, A Garfield CGI(computer Genereated Images) movie was released.
âGarfield Gets Realâ
It was horrible. The plot was pretty bad, and although the concept was a good one, it just didnât work. It was badly written.
So, Jim Davis has written the two Garfield movies, which were okay, but not great and a bad CGI movie. I would have thought heâd maybe see that heâs a good comic writer, or a good short animation writer, but not a movie writer.
But Oooh No!
He has to go and start another CGI movie, which doesnât look very good.
It seems like heâs really doing to get money from it now, not from the love of the actual cartoon. Thatâs another reason why I suport âcult comicsâ so highly. The creator enters into the dark realm of comics, probabaly already knowing that their âcult comicâ wonât do to well. Some people may like it and he may have quite a few fans, but no where near to the extent of Garfield, or Peanuts. They do it purely for the love of making the comics. Not for the money.
Itâs a shame to see such a good comic like Garfield to go on that path.
In 3 days from today, Garfield will be 30. Yep, heâs been around for 30 years.
Every year I celebrate Garfieldâs birthday and do âGarfield related things.
And Iâll continue to for my whole life, unless of course my future wife demands me to stop playing with my old Garfield figurines.
As I said earlier, I am a big Garfield fan. I love him and will continue to.
I just think that Jim Davis and associates have made Garfield an item, not a cartoon.