About

Garfield Minus Garfield is a webcomic strip created by Dan Walsh. The comic takes previously published Garfield comic strips and erases the character of Garfield, leaving Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, to interact with himself. Garfield's removal from the strip alters the tenor of the original comic, making Arbuckle appear paranoid, depressed and lonely.

History

Precursor

Prior to the debut of "Garfield Minus Garfield," there were several variations of Garfield, including "Garfield Minus Garfield's Thoughts" and "Realfield," in which Garfield is replaced with an anthropomorphic cat.

On June 11th, 2004, the website TedMills.com^[5] published "FarField." The comic replaced Garfield with a real cat (shown below).

On March 15th, 2006, BoingBoing ^[7] reported on a posted from the Inikal Hcilam's LiveJournal page of Garfield Minus Garfield's thought bubbles. The page is no longer available (shown blelow).

Garfield Minus Garfield Blog

On February 13th, 2008, creator Dan Walsh posted the first batch of comics on the Tumblr GarfieldMinusGarfield.com.^[1] The comic consists of three panels of Arbuckle sitting alone. The first panel, he says, "I've done things in my life that I regret." Arbuckle is silent in the following two panels.

While Garfield Minus Garfield was the first site dedicated and is believed to be responsible for the popularity of the strip. Creator Dan Walsh told the New Yorker:^[2]

C.L.: How did you get the idea for Garfield Minus Garfield?

D.W.: I didn’t! The idea had been floating around on message boards for a couple years before I started posting them. I wasn’t the first person to come up with the premise for Garfield Minus Garfield, but I think it’s fair to say I did champion and popularize it. As far I know, I was the first person to create a site devoted to it. It’s pretty much impossible to find who did it first--believe me, I’ve tried.

Book

On October 28th, 2008, Walsh released a collection of comics in a book.^[6]

Reception

According to the New York Times,^[4] at the start of the comic's popularity, the website received as many as 300,000 visits a day.

Jim Davis' Response

Garfield-creator Jim Davis praised Garfield Minus Garfield in numerous interviews. On April 6th, 2008, Davis told the Washington Post,^[3] "Some of the strips were slappers: 'Oh, I could have left that out.' It would have been funnier." Later that year, Davis called the comics "fascinating" in the New York Times.^[4]

Related Memes

Garfield Without Speech

Garfield Without Speech refers to edits of Garfield comics in which Garfield's speech and thought bubbles are removed.

Garfield as Garfield

Garfield as Garfield is a variation of Garfield comics, which replaces the character Garfield with President James Garfield (shown below).

Garfield Minus Everyone Plus Tony Orlando and Dawn

Garfield Minus Everyone Plus Tony Orlando and Dawn is a variation on the comics in whic all the characters are removed and replaced with entertainers Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Search Interest

External References