Monday, May 19, 2008

Comic Analysis Monday


If you haven't been following Garfield lately, John finally got himself a steady girlfriend. Yep. All those gags about being turned down for dates? They can't use 'em anymore. At least until these two break up. That event seems tragically close today.

Jon and Liz have been dating for several months now, and have reached the point in their relationship in which their pasts surface, and those expectations and disappointments begin to affect the romance. Cartoonist Jim Davis is introducing the theme of the characters' checkered pasts by having both of them using an item from their childhood.

She's wearing a sweater that belonged to her former boyfriend: Charlie Brown. See the trademark zigzag pattern? That's right. She's dyed her hair, but Liz is the little red-haired girl all grown up! (The zigzag sat lower on her young torso, then.) Charlie had been fun for awhile--and very loyal. However, his ability to commit to a growing, healthy relationship could only be described as "wishy-washy." And then, of course, there had been those dalliances with Peppermint Patty...

Jon holds up a golf club that hasn't been usable since he was eight. It is, for him, a symbol of past glories and victories which he expects to return to him today, and cement his deluded perception of himself as a great athlete--the sort that many women are attracted to. Back then, his skill at mini golf had garnered the approval of the most important woman in his life--his mother. Today, alas, his ability to conform to the Olympian ideal is likely to fall short--short as his child-sized golf club!

Will Davis continue this discussion of the couples' pasts in future panels, or will it remain--as is so often the case--barely-hidden subtext?

4 comments:

Catholic Bibliophagist said...

You are so weird! That said, perhaps you would enjoy this link to Garfield Minus Garfield:

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

Allen's Brain said...

You're new here, and already you get the essence of ICFAB! I am so weird! Feel free to browse around the lab and see what else tickles your fancy/stimulates your gag reflex.

The sad part is how little time it actually took to arrive at the conclusion I did. It was the zigzags on the shirt that started it!

There used to be a blog that did this sort of thing with Garfield, and I think it closed under pressure from Davis or his syndicate.

Sister Mary Martha said...

I think Lucy pressured Linus into marrying her only to have him leave her for a younger, prettier girl when Lucy was 56, even though she put him through Juliard.

Allen's Brain said...

I hope you meant Schroeder. Linus was Lucy's brother.
I've always imagined Linus became a member of the clergy.