Garfield (Comic Strip)/YMMV

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• Accidental Aesop: This comic gives a valid viewpoint on the issue of obesity.
• Base Breaker: Garfield himself.
• Better on DVD: A rare printed comic example: This strip made a lot more sense in the book collections, as the next day's strip completed the gag.
• Broken Base: There are many fans who think the comic's still pretty funny, and many fans who believe the strip ran out of jokes in the mid-90's and jumped the shark when Jon and Liz got hooked up.
• Non Sequitur Scene: The Halloween 1989 arc; see Nightmare Fuel below.
  • October 2001 had a week-long arc of Garfield getting crushed by a giant dog repeatedly. The dog made two further appearances.
• Can't Unhear It: Who can read Garfield and not think of the late, great Lorenzo Music?
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • "As a joke, I have tied Jon's shoelaces together. And as a bonus joke, I have attached this rope to an airliner about to leave for Italy."
  • A spider trips and his contact falls out. Garfield squishes the spider with a newspaper... then after a Beat Panel, crushes the contact lens too.
• Dude, Not Funny: For the comic's resident Butt Monkey, Jon can be surprisingly mean when he wants to be. To wit:
  • Jon almost constantly calls Garfield fat in some of the most degrading ways possible, and it's played for laughs. Now realize that Garfield is fully sentient and can communicate in-universe.
  • In another strip, Jon intentionally doesn't buy Garfield kitty treats "because life's not fair." Even though it only happened in that one strip, it can still come across as a harsh thing to do to one's pet. Jim Davis must have been in a bad mood when he wrote that one.
    • Garfield proceeded to pull out one of Jon's neck hairs after that.
    • Considering all the unprovoked attacks Garfield has done to Jon in comparison, it seems only fair that Jon gets his kicks in every once in a while.
  • Though Garfield has undoubtedly earned all the verbal shots, the punchline of this strip was Jon throwing Garfield through a glass window for making fun of his terrible suit. He probably got off easy thanks to Cartoon Physics, but still...
  • As pointed out in some of the comments, Garfield's reaction to Jon's statement here was rather mean.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Odie.
• Funny Aneurysm Moment: This strip, where Garfield says "We cats nap anywhere, anytime. Everyone should be so lucky. With the possible exception of airline pilots.". In 2011, there were many cases of airline pilots sleeping on the job and tragic accidents ensuing as a result.
  • This 7July 27, 2104 comic strip has Odie, Garfield, and Jon go out for a walk when a series of disasters happens just as Jon mentions that, prompting Garfield to yell "How About Stopping There, Jinx-Boy!", just as a volcano appears behind them. The event happens next to their house. Forward to Nov. 10, 2014, when a home in in the village of Pahoa is destroyed as lava flowed into the area.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The strip, being the Long Runner that it is, has many of these moments:
  • This strip was made even funnier after Burger King released their "Angry Burgers."
  • Also, in a 1981 story arc, Garfield auditions for a cat food commercial. 9 years later, he actually was in one.
    • Plus in the third strip, he said that after the commercial, there will be movie deals. In 2004, 20th Century Fox released Garfield: The Movie.
  • This strip, considering that Garfield looks like the "Stuck on You" Garfield toys when he's hanging on the screen door.
  • Any pre-2006 strip involving Liz is especially funny to read nowadays, considering Jon and Liz are a couple now.
  • This strip became one. As of November 28, 2011, Garfield comics are now created on computers rather than hand-drawn.
  • Monday moves in a mysterious way.
  • Jon's line in this strip is now funnier because of Pinkie Pie's "PICKLE BARREL, KUMQUAT! PICKLE BARREL, KUMQUAT!" gag in the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic episode The Last Roundup.
• Memetic Mutation: The Garfield Randomizer, Silent Garfield, and Garfield Minus Garfield.
  • And then it went meta, with Square Root of Minus Garfield.
• Nausea Fuel: After commenting on his coffee being too weak, he dumps it into Jon's shoes. Jon then wrings it out of his socks and into Odie's dish. Odie begins lapping it up, finds that it tastes horrible, and subsequently dumps it back into the coffeepot. Garfield takes a drink and says, "Much better." Watch it adapted into Garfield and Friends in its entirety.
  • Irma's Greasy Spoon diner is full of Nausea Fuel:

(Jon and Garfield are eating cheeseburgers) Jon: This cheeseburger is delicious, Irma! What's your secret? Irma: We let our cheese age, hon. Been sitting in my pickup for almost six months now. Garfield: Spit Take on three...

• Never Live It Down: They only did the "we're bachelors, baby" punchline 8 times in all, but the way fans react to it, you'd think it were every other punchline in the past 5 years.
• Seinfeld Is Unfunny: Garfield is one of the most popular comic strips ever and is easily quotable. And then you come to a comic and go "Oh, I know this one," and it's ruined.
• Snark Bait: Due to the strip having run out of jokes in the mid 90's, the strip's fallen prey to many amusing fan edits. Garfield Minus Garfield, Silent Garfield, Square Root of Minus Garfield, the list goes on, it never ends.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Nermal, made only more confusing by his female voice actor on Garfield and Friends. The Spanish dub Did Not Do the Research and referred to Nermal as gatita (female kitten) before finally correcting it in the later seasons.
• We're Still Relevant, Dammit!: In the May 7, 2006 strip, Garfield listens to the sound of bacon frying on an iPod. This manages to be both a parody of this trope and a straight example at once; it could've worked in the 1980s with a Walkman, or in the 1990s with a portable CD player.
  • Also, a week-long "story arc" where Jon tries to solve a sudoku puzzle.
  • Amazing how well entertaiment systems have evolved over the years...
  • This strip is loaded with 21st century street slang, which in no way existed in the late 70's.
• The Woobie: Jon, at times. Odie as well.