2863: Forgot I Could Walk

|< < Prev Comic #2863 (March 21, 2017)

Forgot I Could Walk

Made by: Nyperold

Explanation

This strip shows two original strips, almost a month apart, in which Garfield is shown walking on his hind feet, followed by Jon saying cats can't do that. The two strips are a study in contrasts: where the earlier one has Garfield just walking like that as though it's the most normal thing in the world, the later has him undertake it as though he were embarking on a new journey; where the earlier one has Jon matter-of-factly telling Garfield cats can't do that, the later one seems to have him yelling in alarm. Additionally, Garfield comes out of this "knowledge" much more gracefully in the first one by walking on his forelegs instead, whereas in the second strip, he flops on his face. The author employs sarcasm through his narration, possibly due to the fact that they are so close together, Jim Davis shouldn't have forgotten that he did this already.

The narration also makes a reference to the 1997 animated film Cats Don't Dance.

The title is a play on the trope name Forgot I Could Fly.

The author writes:

Original strip: 1981-04-18, 1981-05-17.

Transcript

Jon: (matter-of-factly) Garfield, cats can't walk on their hind feet.
{Despite the fact that he is, has, and will do so by default in the future.}
Garfield: I didn't know that.
{Garfield walks on his front feet.}
Caption: Nearly a month later...
Garfield: I wonder if I could stand on just two feet?
{...Yeah, I wonder. Anyway, he does, moving his forelegs for balance.}
Garfield: Hey, this is great! I'm standing!
{He dances, even though cats don't.}
Garfield: Now I can tap-dance.
SFX: TAP TAP TAP TAPPITY TAP TAP
{He reaches for a slider that's sitting in a saucer on the table.}
Garfield: And I can reach the tabletop.
{Bravo, he's certainly never done that before.}
Garfield: And drop-kick Odie.
{Then he drop-kicks Odie.}
SFX: DROP
SFX: KICK!
Jon: (pointing, alarmed for some reason) Garfield! Cats can't walk on their hind feet!
{Get used to it, pal. For the time being, however, Garfield trips.}
SFX: SMACK!
Jon: See?
Garfield: Thanks a lot.