1323: The Mailman's Dog

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The Mailman's Dog

Made by: DanielBT

Explanation

This strip is a remix of a number of original strips where Garfield takes on mailmen, to where a mailman sics a dog onto Garfield. It is unknown whether it is supposed to be the same mailman in the 1984 and 1992 strips in use; if it is indeed supposed to be the same mailman, said mailman is presumed to be the established mailman character Herman Post, and one can see an evolution in the strip's character design over the eight-year span (if it is indeed supposed to be two different mailmen, the 1984 mailman is the one that is presumed to be Mr. Post; the different mailmen presumption is indeed possible, as the Herman Post character is presumed to have debuted roughly two months before the 1984 original strip used in this remix, with Garfield presumably having faced at least one different mailman before that point, and confirmed to have interacted with at least one different mailman after Herman Post's introduction with Stan appearing on 2024-02-11). As the strip is presented, 1992!Mailman is the one bragging about and siccing the dog, Garfield launches his attack against 1984!Mailman, the dog is first depicted as a 1984 design but then changes to a 1989 design (note the zipper; the mailman in the 1989 original strip actually wore this "dog" as a costume), and Garfield taking refuge is circa 1992.

The author's note also makes note of an effective comic predator character from another strip.

The author writes:

A one-sided assault can get boring quickly if the comedic victim doesn't allow themselves to defend against these constant attacks. And the mailman counters as best as he can.

Of all the comic predators, I think the Anteater (Eatanter) from B.C. is the most successful. He has as much chance of devouring his prey as he does of not eating the ants due to his tongue getting tangled or something. And he routinely displays dislike for only eating ants.

Original strips: 1984-03-24, 1989-03-22, 1992-01-03, 1992-08-13.

Transcript

Mailman: Watch it, cat! I have Fido with me today!
Garfield: {making martial arts moves} Well, bring on this Fido.
Mailman: {whistles} Here, Fido!
Garfield: REARRR!
Garfield: {wrestling with the dog} It's the old "bring in the reinforcements" trick.
{Garfield hides from a man in a big dog suit}
Garfield: {running into the house, all scratched and scraped up} The mailman and his big dog are here!