It's Friday, friends! :) In honor of Friday (and one week down for Blogust), I'm posting something fun.
image from Garfield Minus Garfield
Have you seen Garfield Minus Garfield? This is really something. As the site describes it, Garfield Minus Garfield is "a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb." It's the story of Jon, with Garfield removed from each panel. Now, why didn't you and I think of this? (Of course, there's also Arbuckle, where Garfield strips are redrawn entirely. Comics fans are an often critical and highly industrious lot.)
Perhaps the best part (aside from the truly bizarre and really funny strips that result from this experiment) is that Jim Davis is completely on board with it. So much so that (as this post from ReadWriteWeb explains), Ballantine Books is publishing a collection of 'Garfield Minus Garfield', with Davis's blessing, and timed to coincide with the publication of a Garfield 30th anniversary book. It's sort of like the Grey Album with a much more positive outcome.
As the RWW post points out, this is a great example of open content creation. By allowing 'Garfield Minus Garfield' to exist and even continue, Jim Davis allowed an entirely new cartoon creation to coexist with his strip. This is rare. And wonderful. And, quite possibly, the only collection of Garfield strips that I've ever completely enjoyed.
Happy Friday!
image from Garfield Minus Garfield
Have you seen Garfield Minus Garfield? This is really something. As the site describes it, Garfield Minus Garfield is "a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb." It's the story of Jon, with Garfield removed from each panel. Now, why didn't you and I think of this? (Of course, there's also Arbuckle, where Garfield strips are redrawn entirely. Comics fans are an often critical and highly industrious lot.)
Perhaps the best part (aside from the truly bizarre and really funny strips that result from this experiment) is that Jim Davis is completely on board with it. So much so that (as this post from ReadWriteWeb explains), Ballantine Books is publishing a collection of 'Garfield Minus Garfield', with Davis's blessing, and timed to coincide with the publication of a Garfield 30th anniversary book. It's sort of like the Grey Album with a much more positive outcome.
As the RWW post points out, this is a great example of open content creation. By allowing 'Garfield Minus Garfield' to exist and even continue, Jim Davis allowed an entirely new cartoon creation to coexist with his strip. This is rare. And wonderful. And, quite possibly, the only collection of Garfield strips that I've ever completely enjoyed.
Happy Friday!
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