History Garfield / TropesDToG

** Odie has a "thought bubble" (saying "I'm hungry!") in one of his first appearances. He would thereafter remain mute.

** The humor was often topical in nature. Early strips reference Weight Watchers, bachelor magazines, college football, the Mickey Mouse Club, Labor Day, Milk Duds candies, and other things that would largely be familiar only to American audiences. They also feature a [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece range]] of '70s and '80s slang and trends such as Lyman donning a white disco suit in an early strip. Some strips had wordplay and puns (such as Garfield calling a diet "'die' with a T" and Lyman quipping that his motivation to view a film where a boy places a tack on his teacher's chair lay in his liking for films where "the boy gets the girl in the end"). By the early 1980s, the topical references and wordplay were largely abandoned in order to make the strip more marketable in other countries.

* DropTheHammer: Jon does this [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2020/10/03 in this strip]]. It occurs off-screen, but the indicated sounds should leave little doubt about what -- or who -- gets hit.
-->*Smash*
-->'''Jon''': Owww!

** Jon was more of an everyman instead of a loser, and he was also a cartoonist who smoked a pipe.

** [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1992/ga920424.gif These things can be dangerous!]]

* DirtyOldWoman: ”HEY WORLD! I'M TAKING A BATH! COME ON IN AND WATCH!" "I'll be right back." "I'm sure the man's joking, Reba." [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1984/ga840916.gif (September 16, 1984)]]

** Another "I wouldn't say you're fat" joke leads Garfield to look for... [[http://www.listen-project.de/garfield/index.php?date=23.09.1980 Hit men? In a phone book?]]

* DistractedByTheSexy: Happens to Jon while riding his bicycle in [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1981/ga810620.gif this strip]].

** Just look at [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1990/ga900408.gif the second-to-last panel]].
** Another beach one, with Jon wearing a flotation device [[http://www.listen-project.de/garfield/index.php?date=02.09.1995 with a very Freudian placement of the head]]....which the woman he asked to "go boogieboarding" leaves in a much lower, more flaccid state when she turns him down....

** In [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2009/ga090818.gif this strip]] Garfield passes by a dog, who holds a sign saying: "Will eat homework for food".
** In [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1992/ga920910.gif another strip]], Jon goes to a class reunion, and meets his old English teacher, Mrs. Fronzak:

* EarWorm: [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1994/ga941204.gif This strip]] has Jon whistling a melody which Garfield then finds unable to get out of his head… until he whistles it into Odie's ear, causing it to get stuck in Odie's head.

* EmbarrassingNickname: Doc, Jon's farmhand brother, whom Jon always calls "Doc Boy". Still better than [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga890711.gif "Iguana Gums"]].

** [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2000/ga000421.gif "Hey, Garfield, I lost a button...Garfield?"]]

** Garfield passes out after Jon accidentally saws a button off his shirt in [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2000/ga000421.gif this comic]].
** In [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1992/ga920430.gif this comic]], Garfield is about to whack a spider with a newspaper, only for the spider to pass out before he can do so.
* FakeRabies: Garfield and Odie have had fun with [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1992/ga920916.gif Jon's shaving cream.]]

** Garfield's [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2002/ga020330.gif response to a reprimand]] (Garfield is off panel for the whole strip):

** Who can forget [[http://www.listen-project.de/garfield/index.php?date=27.03.1995 the time Jon got flipped off by someone off panel?]] Odie's face is priceless there.

** [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1978/ga780708.gif A]] [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1978/ga781216.gif few]] [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1981/ga810702.gif early]] [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1982/ga820225.gif strips]] [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1983/ga830425.gif had]] Garfield answering letters.
** They then [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2007/ga070220.gif revisited]] [[http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/351f20106c04012d63e600163e41dd5b the practice]] [[http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/7776e7504c1a012e126700163e41dd5b three times]] in later strips.

* FunnyPhoneMisunderstanding: In [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga890530.gif this strip]], Jon is talking to a woman named Debbie on the phone. Garfield sneaks off with a steak and Jon angrily calls him a "[[YouAreFat fat]] greedy pig". Debbie immediately hangs up, thinking he was talking to ''her''.

** [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1997/ga970130.gif Garfield throwing a snowball at Jon]]: "Oops, a little low..."
** [[http://www.listen-project.de/garfield/index.php?date=31.03.1995 What happens to Jon’s "traditional" leaf outfit.]]

** Durign an arc where Garfield and Odie goes missing, Jon puts out an advertisement for help looking for them, with a promise of a big cash reward. However, since he didn't specify anything about his pets, all kinds of people come to his house with different animals claiming they're Garfield and Odie, hoping to get the cash that was advertised.

* DoingItForTheArt [[invoked]]: Garfield's performances on the fence, which always have a hostile reception. The strip itself is an inversion of this trope.