In defense of Davis

[unixronin]

I had an epiphany this morning, and realized what a great unsung hero the world has in Jim Davis.

All these years, we've been thinking Jim Davis was a no-talent hack who's been recycling the same tired Garfield jokes for thirty years (did you know there's over 45 books of Garfield?  Can even Jim Davis tell them apart?) because his strategy for staying in newspaper syndication forever involved intentionally staying firmly settled in a niche of comfortable, safe, non-threatening mediocrity.  But I've realized this morning that this great humanitarian has a nobler purpose of which he does not speak.

He didn't just fall into that rut of stagnant irrelevancy.  No, this hero of our increasingly socially isolated times willingly leapt headlong into it with both eyes open.

... So that Cathy Guisewite wouldn't be lonely there.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

The girls have been bringing Garfield books home from the library. Right now they have, among others, the 11th and 46th book here. You can flip both open on the table to a random page without looking at the covers ... and you can't tell which is which.

35 books later. And nothing has changed. Nothing has developed. The jokes haven't changed. The drawing hasn't changed. The characters haven't changed. The situations haven't changed. They're just stuck in limbo forever, doomed to repeat the same eternal Now with different dialogue forever.

[rbos.livejournal.com]

Yikes.