343: Garfield Undergoes Chickification
| Garfield Undergoes Chickification |
 Made by: Manyhills |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
The late -- but still alive when this Square Root of Minus Garfield strip was published -- Jack Chick was an author of Christian tracts. He founded Chick Publications, which continues making said tracts.
"Rock Me Amadeus" is a song recorded by the Austrian musician Falco, who also wrote it with Dutch music producers Bolland & Bolland.
The author believes that such an image of Garfield would contrast with the image he presents of himself; the Jon in this strip seems to agree.
The original context of the first panel is of Jon asking Garfield why he doesn't catch mice; the panel contains one of Garfield's answers, sarcastic or not.
The original context of the second panel is the boy showing examples of what his teacher told him are great for a Halloween sacrifice. It takes place during a time in which the World Court has basically outlawed certain Christian beliefs.
The original context of the last panel is Jon being surprised at Garfield's pantomime of why he wants to go to the North Pole. (As it turns out, it's for the penguins, which don't even live there.)
The disclaimer ends with a remark indicating that any parody regarding Chick tracts would be redundant, due to several controversial positions that these tracts present as truth.
The title makes a pun with the trope Chickification, in which an Action Girl gradually sees less action in the field, to appeal to a demographic that executives think find Action Girls to be a point against buying their comics or watching their shows. It has nothing to do with Chick tracts, as said on the trope page.
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
I was browsing some Jack Chick tracts (whilst listening to "Rock Me Amadeus", natch) and, coming across the middle panel, I realised that a picture of a fuzzy kitten playing with a ball of yarn is possibly the most incriminating a photo of Garfield could be.
This utilises elements from Garfields 2002-09-05 and 1998-08-23 and the Jack Chick tract "The Last Generation".
The use of the Garfield strip in the first panel has a veritable pedigree of two strips thus far (Gracefield and Minus Garfield).
(The middle panel is copyright Jack Chick, and is used here only as a vehicle for parody. Like we need to.)
Transcript[edit | edit source]
Jon: What power does he have over you?
Garfield: Tiny little incriminating photographs.
Kid: {holding up a photo of a cute kitten playing with a ball of yarn, and a cute puppy} And of Odie too!
{Jon is gobsmacked}
