4239: Stephen King's Garfield
| Stephen King's Garfield |
 Made by: Colin |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
This strip combines elements from several different Garfield strips to create an original horror story inspired by the works of acclaimed horror author Stephen King. This strip opens with a combination of 2 strips where Garfield stomps Odie flat, ending with Odie dying. When Jon catches wind of this and fears what Lyman (Odie's original owner) would think about what happened to Odie, Garfield convinces him that they should kill Lyman as well. They leave the house, and after Jon makes a quick stop to make out with Liz, he and Garfield go to Irma's diner to get information on where Lyman is, only to learn from Irma that Lyman (who was her lover like in 3742: Long Lost Lyman) died from a drug overdose, surprising the two.
What follows is a rehash of one of the infamous October 1989 strips (the fourth, to be more precise), where Garfield finally remembers that Lyman died ages ago, which brings up the question of who they saw yesterday. Then he sees someone run by, follows him, and discovers that it's Lyman, having been brought back from the dead (with the author's notes suggesting that Irma reanimated him in the Pet Semetary from King's 1983 novel of the same name). Lyman confronts Jon, accuses him of killing him to claim Odie for himself, and tries to murder him to avenge his and Odie's deaths. Garfield tries to save Jon by killing Lyman, but fails, with the final panel showing Garfield's grave to show that he died.
The final row of panels shows an epilogue that takes place 27 years after Garfield's death. It's a sendup of the opening of King's 1986 novel IT, with Nermal (riding a roller skate) taking the place of Georgie Denbrough, and Rotundo (Garfield's clown alter ego during his brief time joining the circus) taking the place of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Who the cat looking through the window in the first panel is, however, is unknown.
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
No one knew Lyman was on drugs. That's what made his unexpected fatal overdose so painful. Jon was delighted to inherit a dog — almost too happy, some people say. As the weeks passed, Irma was so distraught over her lover's death that her cooking became inedible. Finally, unable to cope with the loss, she exhumed his body and re-buried Lyman in the Pet Sematary.
Please note that this comic breaks the Lyman-Irma continuity I established in SRoMG #3742. Why? Because the comic adaptation is always worse than the book. To read the original version (with the uncut and awkward Jon and Liz sex scene), please tweet at Stephen King hourly until he is compelled to write this.
Screenshots from Garfield & Friends and Stephen King’s IT: Chapter One.
Original strips: 1978-08-14, 1978-08-15, 1978-10-03, 1978-11-03, 1979-07-21, 1979-09-17, 1980-03-15, 1980-10-06, 1980-11-03, 1981-01-02, 1981-06-13, 1981-07-06, 1981-12-19, 1982-10-27, 1982-10-28, 1986-09-18, 1989-10-26.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
{Garfield enters Jon's color-changing room. He kisses Pooky, before unleashing unspeakable horror upon Odie, stomping the hapless dog until Odie is a flattened, somehow-charred mess}
Garfield: Thanks, Odie
{Jon enters}
Jon: Garfield! You killed Odie! What am I going to tell Lyman?
Garfield: I guess we'll have to kill him, too
{Jon and Garfield get in the car and leave the house}
Jon: I'll park the car under this arc-sodium light. I have to take care of something first.
{Jon and Liz share a kiss}
Jon {elated}: So glad I wore my chambray work shirt!
Garfield: Let's hurry up and kill Lyman. I'm hungry.
{Jon and Garfield enter Irma's diner and take their usual seats}
Irma: Evenin', hon. What'll it be?
Jon: Information.
{Garfield grabs Irma by the neck}
Garfield: Where's Lyman?
Irma {crying}: Is this a joke? Lyman overdosed years ago! I loved him! You spoke at his funeral, Jon!
{Garfield and Jon are surprised to hear this}
{Jon and Garfield enter Lyman's old apartment. Garfield is holding an old photo of the four of them, during happier times}
Garfield: Lyman died in the eighties! How did we forget that?
Garfield: Who did we see yesterday?
Garfield {turning to the doorway}: What's that?!
{Garfield gasps as a figure - clad in Lyman's signature four-ply, steel-belted, radial retread tenny pumps - runs through a doorway}
{The next room. An undead Lyman is choking the life out of Jon}
Lyman: You killed me for my dog! Now, join him!
Garfield {clawing Lyman's undead leg}: I'm sorry, Jon!
{Garfield tries to kill Lyman, but Lyman wins the fight, and beats Garfield with a newspaper}
Lyman: No! No!
{Will Garfield survive? No. The final scene is Garfield's grave}
{Muncie, Indiana. 27 years later. From inside a house, an older cat is watching his younger brother play in the rain. Nermal rides inside a rollerskate, chasing a floating paper boat, until it comes to a stop near a sewer. Inside the sewer is a clown that looks suspiciously like the late Garfield}
Rotundo the Clown: Hey, kid. I've got frozen pudding pops down here.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
This strip's author's notes were hit by mojibake errors in two spots in a later site recoding effort; the original author's notes unaffected by mojibake are currently lost to the public due to this, although one of the two spots to have been hit has since been fixed.
