#he got flown away to a kitchen utensil factory and how he's here

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The Jonicles - Entry 14

Note: This is the fourteenth entry of The Jonicles, hence why the date does not match when this is being posted. This was written back in June of this year before I started this blog, and there will be errors or developments in how this series was being written. Please enjoy (or don't enjoy) the fourteenth entry of The Jonicles!

It is currently the 19th of June, 2022 on a Sunday at 5:26 pm, a very special day for Garfield fans and the fat cat himself! It's also day #32 of my Jon Arbuckle hyperfixation, and behind me is a stack of multiple of my dad's Garfield comic books (and one Peanuts book for shits and giggles), and I'm currently reading "Garfield: A Weekend Away" which was published in 1986.

Oh boy, it's here! It's Garfield's birthday today! Now, it may be strange for me to celebrate the birthday of a fictional character and be so excited about it, but before you call someone up for a welfare check on me, just listen for a tick.

Garfield, as silly as a it sounds, is quite important to me. He never dominated my childhood but he was definitely an important part of it. I distinctly remember often watching two specials from Garfield And Friends as a kid, which were the Halloween special and Garfield In The Rough, and I really enjoyed those. I remember watching Garfield Gets Real, and as terrifying as it is to watch now, I also enjoyed watching that movie as well. Heck, I even remember having this Garfield plush and he was in a little pirate outfit (it wasn't the same outfit he wore in the special, he had this little black eyepatch and a red and white striped shirt instead), and thinking about him makes me feel so nostalgic. And that stack of Garfield comics? I read all of those too, baby. And although it's more faint now as they've collected so much dust on the shelf downstairs, I still recall that oh-so familiar smell of 80s paper, and I feel a little calmer every time i get a whiff of it... It's not a high, I swear, you don't need to get a welfare check for me..!

Anyway, the point is, Garfield is special to me because he's not only a charming and adorable cat (although that's definitely a big factor in it, haha), but he reminds me of childhood. He makes me feel good because he reminds me of simpler, happier and more surreal times. In fact, reading some of these comics now feels so surreal because I was so young, a part of me thought I'd never see them again and I've forgotten some of them. But even reading the ones I don't remember so well or the ones I only partly remember means a lot to me because of that same feeling of nostalgia and comfort. The comic may be pretty mundane and admittedly not as funny or charming nowadays as it was back in the 80s or even early 90s, but I still feel happy checking in to read the most recent Garfield comic and feeling a bit of that same excitement I had as a kid when I sat down and read the comics and watched the TV specials we had. It's such a small thing, but just seeing my favourite cartoon cat, my favourite cartoon dog and my favourite cartoon cat owner/cartoonist onscreen or on a page fills me with so much joy. I may laugh and make fun of the more recent Garfield media (especially Garfield Gets Real, ESPECIALLY that), but I really do enjoy their prescence, and it means a lot to have been able to experience something so wholesome and fun as Garfield And Friends as a kid, and it feels great to have the little cat be a part of my childhood, no matter how big or small. Happy birthday, Garfield. I hope that whatever cheesy gag they use for your special day this year, it's a good one. You deserve it, buddy. Thank you for enhancing my childhood, along with Jon (love ya Jon <3), Odie, Lyman, Liz, Nermal, Arlene and all the others. It truly does mean the world.

Last edited at 6:28 pm, and i need to mention the fact that while i was looking through my dad's Garfield comics, i cam across a couple of pages where i apparently had drawn a little egg person holding onto a bird that was carrying Garfield away, but i also had apparently scribbled out bits of Jon's face??? and on one panel he is completely censored???? like it's just the silhouette of him??????? i have no memory of doing this help!?!?!?!? (something tells me ihatejonarbuckle would like the censored Jon panel...)

Don't have much to say here without repeating what i wrote in this entry... Garfield as a whole is just so special to me, as many things from my childhood are. The Garfield Halloween special and Garfield In The Rough still hold up as my favourites today, and my dad probably enjoyed those a lot too when they were first made, and he probably wanted to spread that joy onto me. And well, it worked! I'm a crazy Garfield fan now, haha!

Happy late birthday Garf. Hope you had a good one.

P.S. Here're the panels I scribbled on as a kid!

As you can see, poor Jon is not completely censored, but four year old me definitely made an effort. And is it just me, or is that egg person a little... creepy? I drew a lot of little egg people getting brutally killed and maimed and generally in a lot of distress as a kid, but I think it's the eyes that unease me. Also, the fact that this is probably the oldest drawing I still have that I did is hilarious, it's just me unknowingly vandalising a Garfield book. There's also one where I've taken a panel of Pooky without his eyes and drew them back on, I might post that one by itself as a bonus post or something, it's great. These strips are from the "I Hate Mondays" book, by the way. It's the second one in the series my dad collected.

Cheers,

Your Local Jonnoisseur

Posted on the 22nd of July, 2022 at 8:30 pm.