Observer » Jim Davis

Garfield Minus Garfield Is Being Made Into a Book

Leon Neyfakh — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:56:12 -0400

Stop us if you've heard this one: A popular humorous Web log is being turned into a paper book! This time it's Garfield Minus Garfield, the very funny—some might say Kafkaesque—tumblr by Irish musician Dan Walsh that features old Garfield strips from which Garfield himself has been surgically removed so that it looks like Jon Arbuckle is just talking to himself like a crazy person.

Ballantine, which has been publishing Garfield since 1980, will rush the book as a trade paperback for release in October, according to an announcement posted on Mr. Walsh's personal tumblr. Jim Davis, who created Garfield and owns all the copyrights, has given the project his blessing. “I think it’s an inspired thing to do,” Davis is quoted as saying in the release. “I want to thank Dan for enabling me to see another side of Garfield."

Garfield Minus Garfield is, of course, only the latest blog of this sort to get a book contract from a trade publisher. In recent months, we've seen deals for Stuff White People Like, Cassette From My Ex, Things Younger Than McCain, and Postcards From Yo Momma (which was, full disclosure, started by an editor at The Observer).

Report: 'Garfield' Creator Loves Online Remix

Matt Haber — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:20:25 -0400

Not all copyright holders dislike their online détournment. In an article in today's New York Times about the website Garfield Minus Garfield, 'Garfield' creator Jim Davis says he's favorably impressed by creator Dan Walsh's alterations to his long-running syndicated comic strip about a lasagna-loving cat and his dimwitted human and canine companions. On Garfield Minus Garfield, the strips are purged of their eponymous feline, leaving just heavy-lidded human John Arbuckle, who now appears to be talking to himself instead of carrying on a normal conversation with his cat.

"Some of them really work, and some of them work better," Mr. Davis told the Times' Cate Doty. According to the paper, Mr. Davis finds the site "fascinating" and it "has actually prompted him to take a different look at his own work."

One wonders what he'll make of another, slightly weirder online tribute.

Bloomberg for President, Staten Island Chapter

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 10:30:00 -0400

In a few minutes, Mike Bloomberg will testify to Congress, from City Hall, about financial issues.

On marginally related note -- Bloomberg as national figure? -- here's a guy who was yelling about "Bloomberg for President" at this weekend's St. Patrick's Day parade on Staten Island, and who was kind enough to elaborate on the theme when I asked.

His name is Jim Davis and he's an NYPD detective.

-- Azi Paybarah