Garfield's Judgement Day is a Garfield book written by Jim Davis in 1990. Unlike other Garfield works, this one is in a picture-book format and not a comic-book format, and is based on an unfinished animated film of the same title and plot.
The story begins as normal, with Garfield dreaming about junkfood, and he and Odie getting Jon to make them breakfast. However, it becomes apparent that all around the neighborhood, pets are waking up and annoying their neighbors, and Garfield and Odie soon feel a sense of dread that something bad is coming... That's right, a monster tornado is coming, and the story follows with the drama of Garfield, Odie, Jon, and the neighborhood pets dealing with the disaster and chaos surrounding them.
Due to its Darker and Edgier storyline, the film was never picked up by any studio, forcing the plot to be put in the book format, instead.
Compare this to Garfield: His 9 Lives, another darker take on the fat orange cat's life.
Contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: The story adds a lot more characters to Garfield's neighborhood, and tells us more about the world and characters we already know- such as that Arlene is actually a stray.
- Bilingual Animal: This book reveals that all of the neighborhood animals can speak human, but have always chosen not to due to a "rule". They consider breaking the rule to warn their owners about the impending disaster.
- Big Eater: Par for the course; Garfield's breakfast includes eggs, bacon, croissants, hash browns, pancakes...
- Bittersweet Ending: Most of the town (and Jon's house) is wrecked by the storm, but everyone survives and Arlene gets adopted.
- Cardboard Box Home: With Arlene being revealed as a stray, we also learn her "home" is just a box in an alleyway.
- Darker and Edgier: It's the Garfield characters we all know and love... surviving a devastating mile wide tornado. It was such a dark concept for the usual tone of the franchise that no movie studio would pick it up.
- Dark Secret: Arlene hides the fact that she's a stray from everyone, thinking they'd be prejudiced against her if they knew the truth.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: All the neighborhood animals sense that something is going to happen; it terrifies them, and they all try to warn their owners about what's to come.
