Garfield and Friends, which consists of Three Shorts, two of Garfield and one of US Acres (Orson's Farm outside the U.S., based on another Jim Davis strip about farm animals)
The Garfield Show, a new CGI series which is basically the previous series without the U.S. Acres shorts - but with Arlene from the comic strips instead of Penelope from Garfield and Friends),
Two live actionmovies (Garfield and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties), starring a computer-generated Garfield voiced by Bill Murray and remaining animals in live action. Breckin Meyer played Jon and Jennifer Love Hewitt played Liz.
Jim Davis has stated that he created Garfield with the sole intention of making money. He decided to create a strip that would be popular with the masses, in order to be commercially successful. The fact that he succeeded says one of two things, depending on how cynical one is. On the other hand, at least he was willing to admit it.Garfield's speech is completely internal, even in his animated version. Although it made animation much easier, fans wondered exactly how much Jon understood Garfield considering they couldn't actually hold a conversation. With that in mind, they started the trend of removing Garfield's dialogue— or even Garfield altogether— from the comics. What results is a surreal trip into the mind of a very disturbed and lonely man, which is often considered funnier than the original strip, even by Jim Davis himself. And going one step even further, Square Root of Minus Garfield proves that True Art Is Incomprehensible — and hilarious.Probably holds the distinction of being the comic strip that features the most tropes whilst notnaming any.The official website can be visited here, which also features a complete Garfieldcomic strip archive, as does GoComics.com.
Aborted Arc: Many storylines end like this, especially the ones where Garfield, Jon and Odie take a trip. They always go out of their way to make a strip or two preparing or heading to their destination, but by Sunday they're suddenly back home as if nothing happened. If the story spans more than one week, the Sunday strip will continue the storyline instead.
Acrofatic: For such a ball of lard, Garfield is surprisingly athletic when he wants to be, being able to run extremely fast and even beat up other animals and even people! Some readers have theorized that all those diets Garfield has endured over the years were partially successful.
Garfield: Aha! Could this be a telltale trail of teddy bear hair? Even if it isn't, that was a pretty nifty bit of alliteration.
Affectionate Parody: Jim Davis sometimes uses Jon's family to poke fun at his own Down On The Farm roots. Jon's father is depicted in one strip at being amazed by an indoor toilet, while in another he breaks Jon's sink after trying to pump the faucet.
Affectionate Pickpocket: Garfield has done this to steal food from people's pockets on at least two occasions.
Alien Animals: One strip suggests that cats are invaders attempting to subjugate humanity, and that they are responsible for certain seemingly-mindless actions of dogs and lower-class humans.
All Cloth Unravels: Garfield only pulls on a thread from Jon's pants, but the shirt somehow unravels, too, leaving Jon naked outside.
All Just a Dream: Word Of God is that the 1989 Halloween story arc is this, although some readers continue to have their own interpretations.
And Then What?: In one strip, Garfield is being chased by a dog and wonders what the dog would actually do if it catches him. So he turns around and surrenders to the dog, asking it what it's going to do now. The dog then starts a waltz with Garfield, with an irritated Garfield demanding that he gets to lead next time.
In another one, a mouse tells Garfield mice would rule the world some day. Garfield asked "Then what?" and the mouse said they'd then live in people's house and eat cheese. Garfield was unimpressed by the answer.
And This Is for...: Garfield clobbered Odie and said "That's for not being a cat." Later on, Garfield realized it was wrong on his part to Clobber Odie for not being a cat since it wasn't Odie's choice. Garfield then kicked Odie. "This is for being a dog."
Anthropomorphic Shift: Garfield originally started out looking more like a real-life housecat, but per Art Evolution, he became extremely humanoid in 1984.
Animal Jingoism: The traditional cats vs. dogs rivalry is played straight on many occasions between Garfield and Odie and all the other dogs he interacts with, but it's also repeatedly subverted. Garfield and Odie can get along perfectly well when they feel like it. One particular strip involves what looks like a large, angry barking dog chasing a terrified Garfield, but in the last panel they stop to catch their breath as a despondent Garfield tells the dog that they'll never catch the ice cream truck.
"What's new, Garfield?" "Well, King Kong is on the roof batting down airplanes. The entire planet is being ravaged by brain-eating aliens... but more important, my dish is empty."
"Birthdays bring you lots of things... Gray hair. Bad eyesight... Creaky joints. Ear hair, aches, pains, bad teeth... Sigh... And cake!"
Another one that occurs while Jon's watching a soap opera:
Jon: I have some bad news, Garfield. I ran out of your favorite cat food.
Garfield: I'll survive.
Jon: Odie chewed up your scratching post.
Garfield: Big deal.
Jon: And Frank left Marcia for Stephanie.
Garfield: (dramatic expression) HOW COULD HE?!
"Why do people expect us cats to eat mice? This mouse could be somebody's mother. This mouse could be a deacon in its little mouse church. And one of the fuzzy sucker's bones might get caught in my throat."
Art Evolution: A rather extreme example, as Garfield has gone from having a huge body and beady eyes, to having a huge head and a body that looks like a basketball with legs. Just look at his face alone.◊
2003 Garfield: So I was you, huh? 1978 Garfield: A long time ago. 2003 Garfield: How did I see out of those itty-bitty eyes? 1978 Garfield: First explain how you stand on those two spindly legs.
Further lampshaded in that year's birthday strip where we see not only 1978/2003 Garfield, but also 1978/2003 Jon and Odie.
Ass Shove: Implied in one strip where Jon says, "Ellen, I have a cold. I thought you might like to feed me some soup… that's not what spoons are for, Ellen."
Author Appeal: There is a definite point in the comic's long run when you will notice that most of the (human) females begin to be consistently drawn with huge breasts, butts, and lips. Some strips, such as this one, draw women in a Non-Standard Character Design.
Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: They may give each other a hard time, but Jon and Garfield really do care for one another. Jon even went so far as to throw out a potential girlfriend (literally) when she told him she was allergic to cats and forced him to choose between her or Garfield. Garfield and Odie also qualify.
Bad Date: Happens a lot to Jon until he and Liz become an official couple.
Bait and Switch: In this sunday story, a dog was approaching Garfield, giving the impression he'd maul the cat but then the dog instead invites Garfield for lunch. Garfield commented that "Things aren't always as they seem".
Beach Bury: Garfield once buried Odie◊ "up to his knees" (i.e., only his legs were sticking out of the sand).
Happens in another strip when Jon lets some kids bury Garfield. He actually finds it relaxing... at first.
Beach Episode: The cast frequently visit the beach. Bad things happen to Jon every time.
Beat Panel: Very often, which is surprising for a three-panel strip.
Be Careful What You Wish For: One strip has Garfield stranded up a tree. Garfield says to it "Stupid tree...May all your stupid branches fall off!" Needless to say, all the trees branches broke off and fell to the ground. Including the one he was on.
Berserk Button: don't ask Garfield to "beg" for something.
Best Before Decade: In one strip, Jon claims that he looked danger right in the face and laughed. Garfield then lets the readers know that Jon drank milk that was past the expiration date.
(Garfield leaves and returns with a potted plant. He drops it onto Odie with a crash.)
Garfield: Get well soon!
His repeated murder of spiders (which are sapient in this universe) also veers into this on occasion. After he kills one spider, its spouse comforts its child in a heartwrenching scene while Garfield looks on.
Garfield: I guess I should feel like a heel. But I don't. *STOMP*
"Blind Idiot" Translation: Generally averted, since Jim Davis has said that he tries to avoid US-centric references or puns, so that the strip can be easily translated. However:
He didn't always make the strip's humor so universal in the first few years, leading to dopey errors in the Spanish translation — among others, "I ate a Milk Dud and kissed a cat" becoming "I hate spoiled milk and kissing cats", or "I love it when the Good Humor man comes" had "Good Humor" translated literally, as if it were a friendly man.
Other translation errors in the Spanish version are just inexcusable. For instance, in this strip, Garfield's dialogue was translated to something like "Pero al menos no he roto una pata" ("But at least I haven't broken a limb/leg") even though he's clearly pointing to a branch — i.e., the "sturdy limb".
Another example: This one oddly changed "They say the pet alligators that are flushed into the sewers grow to huge proportions" to "They say there are huge crocodiles…" with no explanation as to how they would get down there.
The current Spanish translators are quite skilled, to the point that they sometimes slip in their own puns (for instance, this strip went with a pun on "sleeping bag" that still works when translated back into English) and even make sure to localize*
(in most Spanish cultures, cats are said to have seven lives instead of nine)
. But even then, they're not infallible: in the Spanish version of this strip, they forgot to invert the words for "beef stew", thus killing the joke. Considering how well the rest of the strips are translated, this one really stands out as a glaring error.
This one also got translated literally into Spanish, but to be fair, it was a very rare exception to Jim Davis' "no wordplay" rule.
Thesetwo strips accidentally ended up with each other's dialogue in the Spanish translation.
A couple of Hungarian bloopers: In this strip, the spider's line became "I can tell when I'm being fooled!". Which doesn't make the slightest of sense. In another strip, "my place" was translated litarally, as "én helyem" ("my spot"), when "nálam" ("at my place") would have been correct. Similarly, the expressions "Well, what do you know!" and "Okay, I'll bite" have also seen word-for-word translations ("Just what do you know!" and "Okay, I'll bite you"). Also, in one instance, the word "Egad" was left untranslated.
Bowdlerise: In one farm-based strip, Garfield says "wanna swap sheep jokes?" His editor, concerned over this being misconstrued for a bestiality reference, changed it to "dirt jokes".
Garfield: Jon thinks he can trap me into going to the vet using a grilled cheese sandwich as bait. What kind of gluttonous idiot does Jon take me for anyway?
[Gilligan Cut to the stick down and Garfield in the box, enjoying his sandwich]
Jon: (puts rosemary in it) And a sprig of rosemary!
Garfield: Glop with a sprig of rosemary.
Brick Joke: The "X DOOOOOG!" running gag reappeared almost a year after his original week of chaos, which itself counts as a Brick Joke considering it was not the dog's first appearance. And of course Clive; see Not So Imaginary Friend below.
Garfield "kicking Odie into next week". Odie is absent from the comic for the next 6 days, and, sure enough, he comes crashing back down (Onto Garfield.) on the seventh day.
In one Story Arc where Garfield and Odie run away from home, Garfield describes the feeling of being on his own as "so....out-on-my-own-ish."
An even earlier example had Garfield describe the sight of Odie begging for food as "bug-eyed and pant-y and slobbery."
Bullet Seed: Shows up in two strips, both times with watermelon seeds.
The Bus Came Back: Lyman appeared two more times after his last appearance as a regular (4/24/83)◊: once for the 10th Anniversary strip◊ (although only in the logo box and a photograph) five years later, and once on a newspaper in the 4/2/13◊ strip twenty-five years after that.
Cartoon Cheese: Shows up often when the mice are involved.
Canon Immigrant: Garfield's family first appeared in the specialGarfield on the Town. That special was later reworked into a 1984 storyline where they appeared in the comic.
Binky the Clown was first seen in Garfield's Halloween Adventure before appearing in a 1986 storyline about Garfield and Odie getting lost and joining the circus (although one earlier strip had Garfield wondering where the Binky the clown show was).
Cash Lure: This strip from 1979 featured Jon pulling this trick on Garfield. Jon used a blueberry muffin instead of money. Garfield retaliated by knocking down the table Jon was on.
Cats Are Mean: Could probably be the Trope Namer. Not that the trope is deployed consistently, but Garfield's Comedic Sociopathy is probably one of the series' most frequent recurring aspects (although at times he also demonstrates the capacity for great kindness).
Christmas Episode: In the 2000s, Davis has taken to devoting the entire month of December to Christmas-themed strips.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Lyman. once it became apparent that he was The Artifact (he was originally brought in to give Jon someone to talk to). Arguably one of the most iconic examples in the funny papers. Although he appeared◊ in a photograph in the newspaper Jon's reading three decades later.
Almost all of the supporting cast (particularly Arlene, Nermal and Jon's family) hardly appear nowadays.
Clip Show: June 19, 1988◊, the 10th anniversary strip. This strip is also the last personal appearance of Lyman (look at the logo box).
Cloudcuckoolander: Irma, the eponymous diner waitress of Irma's Diner. Jon sometimes wanders into this as well, making comments such as "I think my toes are jealous of my fingers because they get to point at things."
Clutching Hand Trap: Happened to Garfield with a cookie jar in a 2002 strip, but he subverts it by breaking the cookie jar on Jon's head, instead of just simply letting go of the cookie that he wanted.
Not a cookie jar, but Jon got both of his hands stuck in pickle jars (as did his date) in another strip.
Garfield gets his hand caught in an olive jar in an early strip.
Comedic Sociopathy: Especially in the earlier years, much of the humor comes from Garfield's abuse of almost everyone he meets, usually just for his own amusement. Jon, Odie, Nermal, spiders, dogs on chains and the mailman are frequent targets. Garfield is on the receiving end sometimes too.
Comic Book Adaptation: Garfield finally got a comic book in 2012 through BOOM Studio, written by Mark Evanier (who also wrote a lot of Garfield and Friends episodes). One of the covers was drawn by MAD stalwart Al Jaffee!
Comic Book Time: A weird zig-zagging. Garfield's birthday (and occasionally Jon's) is celebrated in every year, and he complains about getting old. However, none of the characters ever age physically.
One should also note that after the 25th anniversary, they stopped listing Garfield's age every year. Possibly because of the fact that a real cat typically only lives within half the time that Garfield's been around.
Jon: This morning I had a bowl of cereal with strawberries. When I turned my back, a mouse ate them. What do you say to that, Garfield?! Garfield: We have strawberries?
In another one, Jon mocked Garfield by commenting Garfield must be missing the time he could see his feet. Garfield then asked himself if he had feet.
Jon once commented that, according to a chart, Garfield should be eleven feet tall considering his weight. Garfield asked if Jon was calling him short.
Liz, with a dirty appearance, asked Jon if he noticed someone cleaned his kitchen. He then came to the conclusion "Elves do exist!!"
Liz, whose job for nearly three decades was to become exasperated by and/or snark at Jon's attempts to woo her.
Jon's father, too. He typically was a Grumpy Old Man who was there to complain about the antics of the other characters (though on certain occasions he did get to be silly).
Contrived Coincidence: Jon gets his head caught in a wastebasket and his hands caught in pickle jars right before his date, then worries what to do because his date is coming at any moment. Turns out she had the same thing happen to her.
Cool Old Lady: Jon's grandma, who rides a motorcycle, boogies down on the piano, and is just an out-and-out badass grandma. (Ironically, her daughter is much more old-fashioned.)
Covered in Kisses: Once on a date, Liz commented that Garfield must've been a cute kitten. Jon replies that he was and whips out his wallet to show her a picture. Liz, at first, appears to be surprised that he keeps a picture of his cat as a kitten in his wallet. When Jon returns home, his face is covered in lipstick as he tells Garfield, "I owe you one."
Crossover: Marmaduke appeared at the beginning of a sunday Garfield strip. As Garfield realized the fence he was painting his name on was Marmaduke's, he apologized stating "wrong strip".
The strip began using digital artwork in November 2011, and thus artwork is often reused and modified, pushing it into this trope.
Cut a Slice, Take the Rest: One logo box pictures Jon holding a single slice of pizza, and Garfield holding the entire rest of the unsliced pizza over his mouth.
A variant, one comic depicts Garfield trying to decide whether to leave one scoop of ice cream or two while he eats the rest.
Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much everyone at some point, though Garfield is the most prominent. Special mention must be given to the bathroom scale ("You know those two pounds you lost last week? They are back with reinforcements"; "Let me put it this way... Have you ever considered a career as a river barge?").
Deconstruction: Of Zipperiffic, bizarrely enough. Jon wears a suit with an absurd amount of zippered pockets, then forgets which pocket he put his keys in. Cue Garfield giving an Oh Crap face and exclaiming, "This could take months!"
Depending on the Artist: Ever since the strip went to being in color every day, there's been little to no consistency on the palette of Jon's house, wardrobe, etc. This also applies to the older strips, which were colored retroactively with just as little regard for consistency.
Desert Skull: In one sequence, Jon brings home one of these, which Garfield then puts on Odie, while Jon talks to his mother about it.
Diet Episode: There are numerous strips about Garfield being put on a diet by Jon (or occasionally Liz).
Jon got a huge pipe and asked Garfield if that made him "look more sophisticated". It was a bubble pipe and Garfield replied, "Sadly enough, I have to agree".
Do Not Call Me Paul: Jon Arbuckle's brother hates being called "Doc Boy". Unfortunately, their Dad likes to call them and their mother "Jon Boy", "Mom Boy" and "Doc Boy".
A Dog Named Dog: Discussed in an early strip, where Lyman said that he grew up with four cats all named Cat... because there's no point in naming an animal that won't come when you call it.
Doing It for the Art: Garfield's performances on the fence, which always have a hostile reception. The strip itself is an inversion of this trope.
Don't Answer That: Garfield says this to his mirror after asking it who's the cutest cat and then seeing Nermal walk in.
Don't Explain the Joke: In April 26,2012, a spider about to be swatted said it was okay as long as Garfield didn't sit on it and then explained he said it because Garfield was fat.
Doom It Yourself: This occurred in one strip when Jon and Doc tried setting up some Christmas lights when Jon visited the family farm for the holidays. They ended up both getting entangled in the lights:
Jon's Dad: What am I going to do with you two? Garfield: Why don't you plug them in?
The Door Slams You: Has occurred to Garfield at least once. Not surprisingly, on a Monday.
Double Entendre: Jon was about to eat a hot dog. However, when he took a bite, the sausage slipped from the bun to Garfield's mouth. Jon then angrily asked "who greased my wiener"?
Dripping Disturbance: Garfield faces this occasionally. First he turns the shower head upside down to stop the dripping, only for it to keep dripping even upside-down, then he notices it as one of the sounds commonly heard at night and then he stops the faucet from dripping by using Jon's toe.
Early Installment Weirdness: Where to start… radically different art style, the fact that Jon was a cartoonist, the presence of Lyman, the use of wordplay and topical humor…
Exposed Animal Bellybutton: Subverted in one strip. Garfield notices a black spot on his belly in the mirror and remarks "I didn't know I had a belly button". Said spot turns out to be a bug, which promptly flies away.
Though played straight with some animal characters who appeared in some strips of this comic, especially bigger ones.
Eye Poke: One strip features a televised face-slapping tournament that ends with one of these from one of the athletes.
Flanderization: While certain character and story elements were present in the strip almost from the very beginning (Garfield's love of lasagna, for example), the early strips might come as a surprise to readers born after 1980 or so. When the strip was starting out, many things were different: Jon wasn't overtly a nerd, although he did have trouble getting dates; Odie was stupid, but not to the extreme degree he was later portrayed; and Garfield himself was less a cool-as-ice Deadpan Snarker than a genuinely mean-spirited (and at times sadistic) misanthrope. (The mean streak remains, of course, although the outright sadism has now softened into Comedic Sociopathy.) Also, the stories were originally slightly more based in reality; the madcap surreality that the strip has become famous for didn't truly get under way until the mid-1980s.
Fluffy the Terrible: This strip featured Fluffy the Fierce. Sure, he was not much taller than any cat that'd fit the name Fluffy but he was described as a legendary ratter. Until he met Matt-the-Rat, that is.
Flushing Toilet, Screaming Shower: Garfield once turned on the hot water in the sink to show Odie that all the pipes were connected. Of course, Jon's shower went ice cold.
Follow the Leader: Jim Davis developed a book format for the first Garfield compilation, which featured very wide pages to accommodate the three-panel strip horizontally as it appeared in the paper, as opposed to being vertically stacked like most comic strip trade books of the day. This wide-page format came to be known as the "Garfield format". Many other comic strips soon followed suit with their own books, including The Far Side and Fox Trot. Ironically, since 2001, Garfield itself no longer uses the Garfield format for its compilations, and the earlier "Garfield format" compilations have been republished in a more standard style.
Odie crashes into a piece of furniture and the flowerpot on it falls off and crashes onto Odie's head.
One of Garfield's audience members throws a flowerpot at Garfield before he can get on the fence.
A flowerpot is thrown at Garfield, along with many other things, during his fence act.
A mouse drops a flowerpot on Garfield for taunting him.
Garfield drops a flowerpot on Odie after he kicks him off the table.
Funny Answering Machine: This trope is used several times by any woman Jon tries to call for a date.
Suzy: Hi, this is Suzy. I'm not at home, but please leave a message at the tone... Unless you're Jon Arbuckle, in which case the machine will automatically hung up. ...Beep!
Jon: This is, uh, Ed Smith. (machine hangs up)
Garfield: Just amazing.
A 2008 strip had Liz listening to Jon's answering machine message, commenting on it being 'funny'. Jon was being pounded by Garfield while he recorded the message.
Good Angel, Bad Angel: Until he ate them. Also a variant with them arguing over whether or not he should eat a pie. Garfield says he'd be thinner if the good angel were quicker witted to the bad one's retorts.
A Good, Old-Fashioned Paint Watching: Occasionally used to show how boring a life Jon's family has on the countryside, since the most mundane things excite them (watching the washing machine instead of the TV ("Here comes the red sock again!"), counting every brick in the wall of the house, taking a trip to see the new water tower, going to the airport to watch the planes take off etc.)
There's an actual in-universe TV show called Watching Paint Dry.
Graceful Loser: Liz's Date in the arc where she and Jon finally become an item.
Greasy Spoon: Irma's Diner. You have two kinds of coffee (regular and decaf), pickle brine as a choice of beverage, and a five-pound "he-man" burger. Jon has found dry-cleaning slips and false eyelashes in his food. Irma thinks that letting cheese age means keeping it in the back of her truck, and her idea of a "special treat" is a scoop of mashed potatoes in an ice cream cone. Garfield once found a hoof in a burger there.
Grounded Forever: In the book Garfield's Big Book Of Super School Excuses, one excuse for "Why I Can't Go Out With You" is "I'm grounded until college".
Guilty Pleasures: In-universe, everything Garfield catches on TV.
Gypsy Curse: Back when he was in school, Jon annoyed a gypsy woman who cursed him, saying he'd never get a date to the prom. Garfield considered it "a waste of a perfectly good curse".
Also this comic strip, in which Jon unwisely angers a gypsy fortune teller and she makes his head shrink as a punishment.
Hash House Lingo: Jon asks for a hamburger with extra onions. Irma then turns to the kitchen and yells "BURN A COW AND MAKE HER CRY!" which causes Jon and Garfield to lose their appetites.
Binky (on TV): Heeeey, kids! Wanna see Binky do a magic trick? Well, forget it! I'm not spending another minute in this stupid clown suit! I am an actor! But, noooo... Too short, they said!
Garfield: Third time this week. He's lost it.
Hating On Mondays: Garfield may just as well be the Trope Codifier. And it's little wonder he hates the day, because nothing good ever seems to happen to him on that day.
He also seems to hate certain months, too, such as Feburary.
Homage: Some of the barn animals in the April 22, 2001 may be familiar: among them are Booker, Orson and Roy from U.S. Acres.
Homemade Sweater From Hell: A Running Gag is that Jon's mom always sends Garfield one of these for Christmas, and they usually have a glaring defect (no neck hole, three arms, etc.). Subverted on the December 27, 2012 strip, where the sweater is actually well-made and looks good on him… which troubles both Jon and Garfield, as they feel something's wrong with Jon's mom.
Jon: Honest Ed seems nice enough, Garfield, but there's something about him I don't trust.
Garfield: Maybe it's the fact his office is in a pickup truck with the engine running.
Also appears in an early 1990s strip where Jon buys a Christmas tree from "Honest Frosty's."
Horrible Camping Trip: Garfield has been forced to go an a few of these (though from his perspective, a camping trip can only be horrible).
Humanlike Foot Anatomy: Strangely, Garfield's feet are still shown to be digitigrade when he's laying down, but turn into humanlike feet when he stands up. They've also gotten progressively bigger over time, as demonstrated in Square Root of Minus Garfield.
I Am Big Boned: Garfield does it sometimes, a few with the trope name (the page image is the response of his sarcastic bathroom scale).
In January 29th, 1979, Garfield literally claimed to be big boned. Jon called Garfield "disgustingly, slovenly, sloppy fat" and Garfield said Jon obviously had "disgustingly, slovenly, sloppy fat" confused with "big boned".
In September 21st, 1979, Garfield stated people under 6'4" aren't overweight. They're "undertall".
Idea Bulb: Sometimes played straight; parodied in one strip where Garfield's Idea Bulb burns out, and in another where Odie (being none too bright) gets a candle over his head instead.
I Have to Go Iron My Dog: After Jon heard some noise, Garfield claimed Odie tripped and then he presented a piece of paper with some animal paw prints he claimed to be a sworn testimony claiming he was in Bolivia at the time.
Inflationary Dialogue: Garfield didn't believe when his grandfather stated "You kids have it good these days. I remember when I had to walk six miles every day just to chase rats." When Garfield said he didn't buy that, his grandfather asked "Would you believe across the street to spook a chicken?"
I Was Quite a Looker: Jon's aunt Gussie. Also Garfield's grandmother, who had a "body that wouldn't quit." Until it did.
Jon's mother.
Jaw Drop: Lampshaded in one strip where Garfield lists off the ways he's seen Jon express surprise after Garfield claws the couch. "All right! 'Jaw dropping'!"
Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: In one strip, it was implied that the police were after Jon for trying to redeem expired coupons at the supermarket.
Laborious Laziness: Garfield is prone to this sort of thing. In the comic that provides the page quote, the lazy cat nails the TV to the ceiling above his cat bed so he can watch it without getting up. Think about how much effort it would've taken to hoist that television up there and then keep it in place while he nailed it there, and then think about how much effort it would've taken simply to get up and walk over to where the TV was.
Laxative Prank: Jon mentions this as one of the mean things that Garfield does to Mrs. Feeny.
Least Rhymable Word: In one strip, Jon is trying to write a love poem. After a Beat Panel, he asks Garfield, "What rhymes with 'wolverine'?" and Garfield suggests "loser".
In one early strip◊, Jon sets a hamburger and a glass of milk nearby the chimney, saying, "And here's something for jolly old Saint Nick." Garfield then rises from a present under the tree and begins eating it, saying, "Ho Ho Ho."
One strip◊ shows Jon about to have some milk and cookies lying out. He then gets caught in a net booby trap, and Garfield comes over and angrily comments, "Hey! You're not Santa!"
In another strip◊, Garfield leaves out a T-bone steak and a pot of coffee for Santa, because "A big fat guy who's driving all night doesn't want milk and cookies."
In the Christmas Day 2001 strip◊, Garfield says that Santa is even nicer then he thought, because he left Garfield a cookie.
The Christmas-themed book Seasons Eatings has a list of top 10 things Garfield would do if he replaced Santa. Among them is "Order kids to leave out a T-bone steak and curly fries for him instead of milk and cookies."
The 12-12-2012 strip had Garfield emailing his wish list to Santa and promising to leave out plenty of cookies for him. Jon claims "You can't bribe Santa!", but at the North Pole the big guy is revealed to be excited about the promise...
Limited Wardrobe: Jon almost always wore a "powder blue oxford shirt", as one strip put it. Averted nowadays both by the colorists being unable to make up their minds, and Jim and co. occasionally drawing Jon in a different style of shirt.
Garfield: Today's the day I do nothing. Unless I'm mistaken. Though being mistaken would be something, not nothing. So if today's the day I do nothing, I can't be mistaken. Unless I'm mistaken.◊
Jon once scolded Garfield for burying Odie in sand at the beach. Garfield defended himself by pointing out that "I only buried him up to his knees." Which would be fine....if he hadn't been buried upside-down.
"Ah, it says here carrots are on my diet. And his is a carrot cake. A loophole!"
Jon tried to teach Garfield self-control. He left a box of kitty treats in the room Garfield was in, telling him not to take the kitty treats. He left the room, then reentered a short while later. Garfield took everything except the box.
Even more audacious when Garfield was on another diet and Jon told him "You may have a salad." Garfield promptly helped himself to some pork chops, and when Jon called him out he claimed that no one had ever told him that pork chops were not a salad!
And once again: "This salad needs something. I think I'll garnish it. With a ham!" *wham*
General on TV: Holy bovines, Corporal! There's a giant monster invading the city! Soldier on TV: That's not a monster, sir. General: What are you talking about? Call out the artillery! Soldier: It's just a bad actor in a rubber suit. General: Oh, it is not! It's a monster! Soldier: Come on... I can see the zipper. General: Egad! A zipper monster! That's the worst kind! Soldier: And that's not a real city. General:Insolence! I'll have you court-martialed!! Soldier: These are just tiny little model buildings. Garfield: General Cordwood seems to have buried himself in the part. Soldier: See? General: PUT MY HOUSE DOWN!!
Masochist's Meal: Occurs in a strip where Jon and Liz are at a restaurant:
Jon: Is your chili spicy? Waiter: Not really. Guest:(offscreen) GAAAHH! MY THROAT! MILK! ICE WATER! ALOE VERA!!! Waiter: Unless you're a weenie... Jon: Bring it on!
Meaningful Name: In a very early strip, Odie had an "accident" inside the house and is punished by Lyman. Garfield snarks that they should have called him "Spot" instead.
Mythology Gag: That was going to be the name of Odie, but it was changed due to there being a dog called that in the comic strip Boner's Ark.
After being hit in the head with a shoe, the Written Sound Effect "SPLUT!" appears over Garfield's head. He looks off-panel and says, "Wait a minute! Shoes don't go 'splut'!◊"
Davis also has fun with the "Z" bubbles that he uses to indicate sleeping:
One time, Garfield said that he couldn't seem to wake up, until he realized that the large "Z" was still over his head. He popped the "Z"◊ and promptly woke up.
Meet Your Early Installment Weirdness: The page image comes from a 2003 arc in which (then-current) Garfield meets up with his 1978 self. Much lampshading ensued. The arc ends with Jon and Odie having similar experiences.
Megaton Punch: Garfield has done this to Odie and Nermal, socking - or, more often, kicking both (figuratively) to the moon.
"Boy, am I bored. I'm so bored I have nothing better to do than lie here flat as a pancake. A big fluffy pancake dripping with butter and maple syrup... Boy, am I hungry."
"Life is like a birdbath. It's made of concrete, filled with water, and uh... birds like to splash in it. Boy, that was dumb. Life isn't anything like a birdbath. Life... is like a sock monkey..."
A 1981 strip had nothing but Garfield sleeping for all three panels, no doubt leaving many readers outright baffled when it first appeared in papers. It makes much more sense when read in the books, where the next day's strip completes the gag.
Milestone Celebration: Every June 19 (the date the strip debuted) celebrates Garfield's 'birthday'. It's the only comic to celebrate its anniversary every year.
Moment Killer: Ever since Jon and Liz got together, Garfield and Odie would stop at nothing to do this.
Motionless Makeover: In the February 27, 1996 strip, Jon's back gives out and Garfield puts a cloth and potted plant on Jon.
Mushroom Samba: One censored comic which only appears as a rough sketch in the 25th anniversary book, features a half asleep Garfield as he watches a periscope emerge from his water dish, followed by a tentacle. Garfield then smiles and says, "Man, that was some gooooooood catnip!"
No Fourth Wall: The fourth wall came crashing down on the first day and never went back up:
Jon: Our only thought is to entertain you.
Garfield: Feed me.
One time (in the 1980s) Jon decided Garfield should go on a diet because his weight was causing the comic strip box to dip where he walked.
The fourth wall is sometimes AWOL in-universe as well:
Woman on TV: Come closer... closer... (Jon moves closer to the TV) Woman on TV: Uh... that's close enough, dork boy. Garfield: Et tu, TV?
Another time, a television host yelled at a sleeping Garfield to turn the set off after signing off for the night.
Noir Episode: Babes and Bullets, one of the segments in Garfield: His 9 Lives. Wasn't included in the animated version but was adapted into a stand-alone TV special the following year.
Parodied in a Sunday Strip — the atmosphere is quickly ruined when Odie appears in a clown suit, and Garfield says "I was this close to making my big dramatic debut."
No Mouth: Garfield's teddy bear Pooky had one, but as per Art Evolution he lost it (10-6-1981◊ and 2-7-1982◊ being the last strips to depict him with a mouth). Since then, at least two◊ strips◊ relied on the fact that Pooky had no mouth.
Not Allowed to Grow Up: Nermal has been around since the strip's second year, but is still referred to as the "World's Cutest Kitten." Garfield sometimes inquires how he stays the same, and at various points we've learned that he's a midget who's had anti-aging therapy and had extensive plastic surgeries◊. The coffee and cigarettes help too.
Nothing Is the Same Anymore: In July 2006, after 27 years of constant failures, Jon finally managed to get together with Liz. They're in a relationship since then.
Pie in the Face: The "Splut!" pies, which make that noise when they hit Garfield.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Those who have been around long enough will know that Jon is supposedly a cartoonist. It was mentioned in the first strip, and his drawing board was seen in some early strips. The only times it's been mentioned after that is the storyline in 1984, where Jon goes to a cartoonists' convention and Liz describing Jon to her parents in the May 2, 2010 strip. That's right; his job went unmentioned in the strip for twenty-six years.
In the TV series his job is a focus of several episodes. And one of the comic book stories involve him trying to come up with a new comic book idea.
Political Correctness Gone Mad: A 2010 strip both parodied and ridiculed this trend, with a TV show featuring cowboys solving their disagreements by playing tag.
Pop the Tires: Garfield, in one strip, slashed the tires on a donut truck in order to eat its contents.
Pounds Are Animal Prisons: A 1981 story arc had Garfield being sent to the city pound, which was portrayed this way. (He escapes when Fluffy, another cat there, smashes him through the wall) It was even parodied in one of the strips:
(the gate slams)
Garfield: How did I get into this fix? One minute I'm free as a bird, then I'm in the city pound. Where did I go wrong? I'm just a number here, I've almost forgotten what it's like on the outside. It's not right to cage a wild animal!These four walls are closing in on me! I can't take it anymore!
Cat: You've only been here two minutes.
Garfield: I know, but this is my first shot at a prison scene.
Precision F-Strike: Davis got a lot of letters for having Garfield say "sucked" in a 1990 strip; this was the only time that word ever appeared in it.
Produce Pelting: Happens frequently to Garfield when he's singing on the fence. He once had a watermelon thrown at him.
A watermelon? Psh. Remember Booga-Booga's wonderful scout troop? Only bloody currency is GIANT STONE WHEELS.
November 19, 1982, as the result of Garfield hating the toaster.
August 21, 1994, as the result of Jon "fixing" the toaster...
October 28, 2003 gives us a toaster that hates Jon. And it turns out to be possessed by an evil spirit.
Inverted on August 10, 1986, where Jon turns the toaster upside-down to prevent Garfield from stealing the toast. The toaster becomes projectile and smacks Garfield in the head.
Prophecy Twist: This strip: Garfield read this from a fortune cookie fortune: "Today you will be whisked away to a large white building where all you have to do is lie in bed all day as lots of people pay attention to you and bring you food". As Garfield said it sounded "too good to be true", he failed to notice he was about to fall from the table.
Raised by Wolves: In a week long Garfield storyline Jon fell in love with a woman in a rec center who had been raised by wolves, as it turns out she had only been in civilization for a week and she had tendencies like scratching her head with her foot, messily devouring her food, trying to bite off her foot when her shoe was too tight, and howling at the moon.
Garfield once met a cat (Ed) who was raised by squirrels. Before they met, Ed didn't know the meaning of "ground". And neither his "mother" did. Ed has the habit of storing birds for winter. When the tree branch where Ed and Garfield were stiing on fell, Ed had the first chance to walk "sideways". Odie was the first dog Ed ever met and Garfield explained to him cats were supposed to fear dogs albeit Garfield doesn't remember why.
Relationship Upgrade: Liz has gone from occasionally and begrudgingly dating Jon to his full-fledged (and willing) girlfriend.
Their kiss on the night they finally got together may be quite a shock for readers until you realize they've kissed before,around 24 years ago.
Remember the New Guy: Jon's aunt Gussie. Also most of Garfield's family, who appeared only in one week of strips and Here Comes Garfield without ever being mentioned again (except for his mom, who showed up in one other strip).
Repeat After Me: Garfield uses Odie as a ventriloquist's dummy to make this exchange: "Say hello to the people, dummy." "Hello to the people, dummy."
Retcon: Two big ones. Odie was originally Lyman's dog, and Nermal was originally Jon's parents' kitten. Now the former is treated as if he were Jon's all along, and the latter is just a neighborhood cat who wanders in to torment Garfield.
Running Gag: Kicking Odie, Mondays, spiders, Spluts. Although the Spluts haven't appeared since the mid-1990s. Later years have 'beware of dog' signs.
At least in the 1980s, Garfield would hide in a fern and the first two panels would appear the same, delivering a different punchline every time.
Jon: Garfield, I know you're in my fern. I can see your tail. What do you have to say for yourself?
Also, a number of 1980s strips had Jon saying some variation of "I wouldn't say you're fat Garfield, but...", followed by an extremely insulting joke about Garfield's fatness. Garfield usually attacked Jon in some way after that.
In the final strip that had the gag, it was Subverted. Jon says the line, but Garfield stuffs his food bowl in Jon's mouth before Jon can finish the insult and Garfield says "Then don't."
Garfield's uncles and aunts.
Rule of Three: After finding the Italian restaurant where he was born: "It's all gone! Where's the pasta? The people? The pasta? The excitement? The pasta?"
Also: "Decorations, presents, caroling, presents, mistletoe and presents. Six things I love about Christmas."
Sadist Show: Almost all of the humor in the strip comes from inflicted pain on the characters (usually Jon):
Garfield: Life is funny.
(Garfield laughs at Jon, who has fallen down the stairs and is lying in a heap.)
The Speechless: Odie, most of the time. Once, he said "I'm hungry" through Thought Bubble Speech like Garfield, and in Garfield and Friends, he sometimes "barked" short words.
Stealth Pun: This strip's splash panel has Garfield sleeping on a music staff. In a measure that has a rest in it.
Stout Strength: Subverted by Garfield. In one strip, while Jon is flexing in front of the mirror and complementing himself on his muscles, Garfield immediately flexes what looks like his own immensely powerful muscles. Jon stares at him in shock as Garfield walks away, explaining that he simply "flexed his fat".
Garfield did it again in another strip when he ran into Arlene. She continued to stand and watch in amusement, as Garfield struggled to keep up his flexing:
Garfield: Uh...don't you have somewhere you gotta be?
Arlene: And miss seeing how long you can hold that pose?
Played straight in another strip where Jon and Garfield begin poking each other with sticks and ordering each other to do things. The sticks keep getting bigger until Garfield finally uproots an entire tree and brings it into the kitchen to try and poke Jon with, until he finally tires out and the tree squishes him.
Strip Archive: Every single strip ever is available to read for free on their website.
Jon: Be careful there, Garfield. Hanging on the drapes can be very painful. 'CAUSE I'M GONNA BREAK YOUR LEGS IF YOU DON'T GET OFF THEM THIS INSTANT!
He also does it again in this one:
Jon: Some dirty, rotten, low-down, slimy, filthy, disgusting, gluttonous, hog STOLE MY SUPPER!
Surprise Jump: This happens to Jon several times, usually when Garfield scares him.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Fib alert! You can't believe Odie! No matter what he says, I did not paint him green! And it wasn't with a two inch horsehair brush!"
Symbol Swearing: One strip had Garfield watching an Uncle Roy episode where he goes to a factory. When Uncle Roy gets too close to a machine, he says "Turn this #%^$ thing off!".
This occured two other times: This comic◊ where Garfield angrily cusses after a leg cramp forces him to get out of bed, and this one◊ where a woman on a knitting TV show cusses after dropping a stitch. Garfield lampshades it in the latter instance by commenting "Grandma's a colorful old gal".
Temporal Paradox: To celebrate the strip's 25th anniversary, they ran an arc where 1978!Garfield meets 2003!Garfield. 1978!Jon and 1978!Odie also show up alongside their 2003 counterparts at the end.
Garfield once found one that resembled Odie: the same ears, the same stupid expression. When it started to rain, he commented that it also had "the same slobber."
There Was A Door: Tired of the mess Garfield and Odie were making, Jon opened the door and told them to go outside. They jumped through the window. Berating his pets, Jon told them to use the door next time. Unfortunately, since it was closed then, they broke it while reentering.
There's one strip in which Jon calls Garfield to dinner. Garfield comes bounding up to Jon from off panel. Jon says, "I appreciate your promptness, Garfield...." and finishes in the last panel, "... but next time, OPEN THE DOOR!", revealing that Garfield broke through the (closed) door. Could be justified in that Garfield is a cat and can't work a doorknob, but....
There's also one where he comes through the pet door, but gets stuck inside because he's too fat and thus rips the normal door from its hinges anyway. Also, he repeatedly kicked Nermal out the front door without opening it first.
And there's another wherein he smashes the front door down and says, "When I want in, I want in NOW!"
Happens in yet another strip◊ when Jon yells "FIRE!" to test his pets' fire drill knowledge. Both run straight through the wall — or, rather, we assume they did, thanks to the hole.
This Is My Human: Garfield refers to Jon as "his cartoonist" in the very first strip and considers himself to be superior to Jon in every way imaginable (and thus treats Jon accordingly).
This Is No Time to Panic: This comic strip. Jon Arbuckle was desperate about his age because he found a gray hair. Garfield told him not to panic. When Jon said it was in his ear, Garfield replied "Okay, panic".
This Loser Is You: Jon, although this wasn't a big part of the comic until the nineties.
Trademark Favorite Food: Garfield eats everything except raisins and spinach, but he prefers lasagna. He's also very fond of pizza, to the point that he considers the pizza delivery boy his best friend.
Uncatty Resemblance: Jon and Garfield commented on this trope, with pets who look increasingly (and more absurdly) like their owners. This culminated with some guy who looked like a man in a bird suit and his pet canary. Another strip had Jon sitting down to eat dinner with Garfield, which they both began gobbling up in perfect sync. The strip ends with Jon realizing he has to get away from Garfield when they eat.
Unnamed Parent: Jon's parents. Also, Garfield's mother, who appeared in a series of strips in 1984.
Unsound Effect: For a rather unconventional example, whenever a hammer is being used, the sound effect is usually "hammer" instead of "bang." Others include "unscrew" for the top of a saltshaker being unscrewed, and "plug" for Christmas lights being plugged in.
These◊ two◊ early strips use "Leap!" to indicate Garfield jumping off a table.
And there's plenty more where that came from, such as Hook!◊ for Garfield being Vaudeville Hooked offscreen.
Visual Pun: This strip featured Frank, a friend of Jon's, meeting Garfield for the first time and rubbing him. Garfield reacted violently and stated "Some people rub me the wrong way".
Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Garfield's reaction to finding out that he had eaten octopus was to spit it all back out (on Jon, no less) and then remark that it wasn't half bad.
Went to the Great X in the Sky: A spider wants to take revenge for his grandfather whom, as he says, Garfield sent to "that big web in the sky".
What Happened to the Mouse?: One strip has a blind date of Jon's named Gwen, who dresses as absurdly as he does on dates and finds him cute. Garfield even says "God made two of them!" Although she would have been a good recurring character, perhaps as a Distaff Counterpart of Jon, she was never mentioned again.
Garfield: What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?
Arlene: But this is a nice place.
Garfield: Like I said... What's a girl like YOU doing in a place like THIS?
When I Was Your Age: When he was Jon's age, Jon's Dad was already married and had a kid. Jon's reply ("Yeh, me") prompted him to state it was a good argument but he still thought Jon should get married.
Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Garfield's town is never specified, except on animated special Garfield Goes Hollywood it's Muncie, Indiana (Jim Davis' residence since 1963 and Paws, Inc.'s HQ).
William Telling: The protagonist being the glutton that he is misses intentionally so that he can eat the apple afterwards.
Written Sound Effect: "SPLUT!" is the sound that a pie makes when it hits Garfield's face, although some other foods go "SPLOT!" instead. "Dingle" is also used for Odie's toy balls with bells in them. Also, "GOOSH!" is quite commonly used for wet splats.
Yawn and Reach: Jon tries doing this with Liz at the movies, only for her to "ahem" him away. He then leans on Garfield, who also gives him an "ahem."
You All Look Familiar: Non-video-game example; the Recurring Character Squeak looks just like any other mouse in the strip, and it's not often that he's explicitly named as such. Currently, the last strip in which he is named is on June 16, 1997◊.
Your Brain Won't Be Much of a Meal: In one strip, Garfield pretends to be The Igor, wandering around saying "A brain! I need a brain for my master!" He pauses to take a look at Odie, and then moves on, repeating "A brain! I need a brain for my master!"
Scale: Let me put it this way... Have you ever considered a career as a river barge? Garfield: Your mother was a blender! Scale: That hurt.
In another strip, when he does his act on the fence, he tells his audience: "All your mothers wear army boots!"
Yet another strip, Jon tries to train Garfield to be an "attack cat", and makes a dummy from him to practice. When he orders "Attack!", Garfield tells the dummy: "Your mother wears combat boots!"
In another strip, when Garfield is a bad mood, he shouts to a bunch of dogs: "All your mothers wear flea collars!" which gets him beaten up.
Odie was chasing cars and Garfield tried to caution him against it because he could get clobbered. Realizing he said "clobbered", Garfield then told Odie a Buick said "unkind things" about Odie's mother.
— or even Garfield altogether— from the comics. What results is a surreal trip into the mind of a very disturbed and lonely man, which is often considered funnier than the original strip, even by Jim Davis himself. And going one step even further, Square Root of Minus Garfield proves that True Art Is Incomprehensible — and hilarious.Probably holds the distinction of being the comic strip that features the most tropes whilst not naming any.The official website can be visited here
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