1144: Lipogrammatic Pumpkin-and-Black Cat
| Lipogrammatic Pumpkin-and-Black Cat |
 Made by: Manyhills |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
This comic was rewritten in a more poetic fashion (presumably to fit with the literature references), and more importantly is now a lipogram -- a piece written without using a particular letter (usually "E", the most common letter in the English language). Because of this, Garfield is renamed "Pumpkin-and-Black Cat" (including in the title, which would normally be called "Lipogrammatic Garfield").
The author's notes reveal the inspiration -- a pair of famous lipogrammatic novels (Gadsby and A Void/La Disparition, neither of which use the letter "E"), which he mixed up in a pub quiz. (Incidentally, the Pac-Man ghosts' names are Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.)
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
In a pub quiz not too long ago, I got a wrong mark for mixing up Wright's Gadsby (1939) and Adair's A Void (1995, from a Gallic book of 1969, La Disparition). Thankfully, our group still won. In part thanks to my knowing all four Pac-Man ghosts.
Original strip: 1991-07-29.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
Jon: Look! Post from mom, kitty!
Jon: Naught so much as information from family to lift your spirits!
Jon: {looking at post} My son, our gallus is kaput.
Pumpkin-and-black Cat: Probably from lack of fun.
