345: The Garfield Conspiracy

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The Garfield Conspiracy

Made by: Quaternion

Explanation

This strip's author's note parodies many conspiracy theories by presenting cherry-picked evidence that the seeds of Square Root of Minus Garfield were planted by the Comic Irregulars themselves 20-30 years before Square Root of Minus Garfield came along. The strip singles out three panels:

1. One in which Odie, having been kicked by Garfield in the previous panel, falls on a banana, squirting the fruit out of its skin and into his mouth. The "sq" and "rt" have been circled in red by the author, and bolded in the transcript.
2. One in which a hot dog, having been greased by Garfield prior to the first panel, squirts out of the bun, and is caught by Garfield. Again, the "sq" and "rt" have been circled in red by the author, and bolded in the transcript.
3. One in which Garfield, having attempted to get up, finds he's taken root. Though not called out, the "root" part is clearly the focus here.

"sqrt" is a common function name in computer programming, which tells the computer to take the square root of the argument. As "square root", and by extension "root", are part of the name of the webcomic, this is presented as evidence for the purported conclusion.

The author writes:

Ladies and Gentlemen!

You probably believe that Square Root of Minus Garfield started as a mashup project by the Comic Irregulars in November 2008. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

New, disturbing evidence implies that by manipulating key events for more than 30 years, the Comic Irregulars' actions led to the creation of Garfield, setting up the stage for the webcomic you are reading now.

Although these individuals waited with the patience of a glacier for decades, even they have limits, and decided to slip a few hints of their nefarious plan along the way.

As you can see, with the right panels selected, and the right emphasis applied this conspiracy becomes crystal clear!

Originals: 1983-06-03, 1987-06-22, 1990-09-01.

Transcript

{Odie falls on a banana}
SFX: BLAT!
SFX: squirt!
{Jon bites a hot dog}
SFX: squirt
Garfield: Oh no! I've taken root!