Is Garfield Dead?

I used to read newspaper comic strips often. It was something of a daily ritual. Garfield was a favorite, as was Peanuts, The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, Dilbert and For Better or For Worse, to name a few. I'm not sure when I stopped or why. Maybe I lost interest. Some artists discontinued the strips I liked, while others that I liked became boring or repetitious. Between school, and subsequently work, my routines changed as did my hobbies.

These days, the only comic I follow with any regularity is a web comic. My mom will occasionally call my attention to Pickles, whose elderly couple and cat remind her of her, her cats, and my dad. She'll also put strips on the refrigerator from Zits, whose teenage son reminds her of her own full grown slacker. Other than those and the occasional visit to The Comics Curmudgeon, I guess I've been out of the loop in the world of syndicated funnies.

So, it took me by surprise when Sean posted a link to the death of Garfield. Apparently, back in the late 80s, a storyline ran in which Garfield awoke in a deserted house. The story got bleaker each day, as we saw a “for sale” sign on the overgrown lawn, and it seemed everyone's favorite lovable fat cat had been abandoned. He tries to imagine Jon and Odie are still with him, but he can't hold the illusion. The week concludes either with the whole thing being Garfield's fears brought to life by the strength of his imagination with everything okay, as Jim Davis maintains, or the happy home is the illusion, and the reality is that Garfield is hallucinating as he slowly starves to death, as some readers posit.

I definitely don't remember those strips, though I think I was still reading back in 1989. It's an interesting take on the normally light comics, another way of looking at things. I do like alternative visions, such as Arbuckle, in which the removal of Garfield's thought balloons shows how sad and lonely Jon's life is. But ultimately, I'd have to go with Davis' intent, that he was exploring how real our fears can seem, and that the happy life was not the fantasy. I like to remember the Garfield of Garfield and Friends, voiced by the late Lorenzo Music, or even the live action movie in which Bill Murray voiced the lead cat once voiced by the guy who voiced Murray's Peter Venkman in the cartoon version of Ghostbusters.

Reality is everywhere. It's invaded television, once a place to escape reality, and even dramas and sitcoms have more of an edge than they did in the ‘80s. I was surprised to read that the speculated death of Garfield isn't the only time death has come to the funnies, and I was especially sad to learn that Farley, the dog from For Better of For Worse, had been killed off, clearly taking a turn for the worse after saving a little girl from drowning. Entertainment has value when it reflects all facets of life, even those depressing times and experiences that unite all of us. Still, it's nice to forget all that and laugh at jokes about lasagna, stupid dogs, or Mondays. Is Garfield dead? Get Real.