| Title | : | Garfield Bigger Than Life (Garfield, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0345320077 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780345320070 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 128 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 1981 |
Garfield Bigger Than Life (Garfield, #3) Reviews
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This third compilation features the introduction of Nermal, as well as the Tubby Tabby's first trip to the farm, and Garfield entering a cat show. I had a blast with these strips growing up, and to revisit them again--now in full color--is still quite fun. It likely is a bit different than what you're used to seeing from the cartoon fat cat in the newspapers, but I've always preferred these early strips.
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3.5 stars. Book three in one of my favorite comic strips growing up as a kid. Garfield vs Odie, Nermal, Jim, exercise and scales. It didn't get better than this until The Farside came along.
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I just love Garfield and his antics... that's all there is to say... :)
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Here we are with volume three of Jim Davis's newspaper comic strip Garfield, spanning August 27, 1979 through March 30, 1980. The evolution of the characters continues, though not as noticeably as in the first two books. Garfield walks on all fours sometimes, though he stands up on his haunches more than in 1978. Lyman—Odie's owner and Jon Arbuckle's housemate—appears less, but he's still involved. Garfield generally one-ups Odie, but everyone gets their moment in the sun as the new decade begins. The 1980s was arguably Garfield at its very best.
Nermal the kitten is introduced September 3 (page seven) when his owners (Jon's parents) go on vacation. Garfield mocks Nermal's cuteness and the fact that he looks up to Odie, and he's happy to be rid of the kitten after six days. The week's best strip is September 6 (page eight), where Nermal has shed hair in Garfield's food. Garfield's grumpy observation that he only tolerates his own hair in his food is a subtle philosophical point. Sunday, September 16 (page twelve) is one of the funnier comics in the book, Garfield pretending to sleepwalk when he's caught stealing food at night. He can't resist pushing the charade beyond believability. "Fat Week" comes next, a tongue-in-cheek celebration of fat pride, and September 27 (page seventeen) features a good gag with Odie's tail "wagging the dog." A visit with veterinarian Liz is scheduled, and Jon tries as usual to ply his charms for a date. Liz typically comes out ahead, but Jon scores a few points this time. October 11 (page twenty-three) is another funny joke with Odie and his tail, about who's chasing whom. Odie is a great source of physical comedy. Jon battles to get Garfield in the bathtub (Garfield's teddy bear, Pooky, makes an appearance on October 16 [page twenty-five]), and then there are some funny lines with Irma the waitress. October 22 (page twenty-eight) is an effective sight gag as Garfield sneaks up to pounce on Odie, and then Garfield demonstrates for a few days how finicky he is with his food. We head back to the vet, though not long enough to see Liz. Jon takes Garfield on vacation to the beach, despite Garfield's discomfort riding in a car. November 18 (page thirty-nine) is one of this collection's funniest Sundays, Garfield inviting an attractive girl cat into the house. But she'd better watch out when she takes liberties with his food. No girl is worth that.
Jon and Garfield have a few humorous episodes driving in the car, followed by a hilarious Sunday (December 2, page forty-five) observing that people often resemble their pets. The punchline is laugh-out-loud. Nermal returns, and when Garfield can't successfully emulate his cuteness, he frames him for bad behavior. Nermal isn't defenseless as he seems, however. A storyline follows with Garfield getting stuck in a rollup window shade, beginning with a clever remark (December 17, page fifty-two) that misadventures like this tend to conveniently cover Monday through Saturday's comics. A low-key Christmas is followed by New Year's, and Garfield peeks out of bed into 1980 with his trademark apathy. Lyman features in a set of strips that find Garfield sniping food from the dinner table, the funniest of which (January 11, page sixty-two) has Garfield at his brazen best. Garfield suffers a head cold starting January 14 (page sixty-four); even his thought bubbles sound stuffed up. Lyman's name is used for the only time in this book (as far as I can tell) during the January 27 (page sixty-nine) Sunday comic. Jon and Garfield go back to Liz the vet, who rebuffs Jon again when he asks for a date. A mini Arbuckle reunion is on when Jon takes Garfield to his parents' farm for a week, and Garfield enjoys his new arena for daily mischief. Back at home, Jon restricts Garfield's diet when he gets overly plump, but Garfield figures a humorous way out of it after a week's deprivation. Nermal is back for the week of March 10, the funniest episode (March 14, page eighty-nine) coming when Garfield tries to teach him to gnaw a turkey drumstick instead of playing with a ball of yarn. Saturday's comic shows that Garfield doesn't mind Nermal so much anymore. The book ends with Garfield entering a cat show, but his weight has a comedic effect as he joins the other cats in the competition area.
Garfield isn't as consistently funny as Lincoln Peirce's Big Nate or as touching and insightful as Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes, but hanging out with Garfield and the gang is good, comfortable fun. Garfield isn't exclusively a children's comic, but the books function well as kid lit, always leaving the reader wanting more. I'll be back for volume four, Garfield Weighs In. I want to see how the rest of 1980 goes for "America's #1 cat." -
Reading the books with my third grade son. Love them!
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Bueno, los Garfields, uno de los compañeros de nuestra infancia. Recuerdo haberme encontrado el primero en casa de un amigo y habérmelo devorado de una sentada, con 5-6 años, sin entender varios de los chistes pero disfrutando mucho de los más obvios. Esta sensación de saber que siempre iba a encontrar unos cuantos graciosos la tuve durante las dos décadas posteriores en las que Garfield iba apareciendo periódicamente en mi vida. No es una obra culmen de la literatura, pero nos ha alegrado muchos momentos.
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I've been going through Garfield books lately. I need a little light heartedness in this ridiculous time in life/society, so I decided to pick these up. I remember loving him as a kid. My cousin and I, when we were younger, would actually make our own Garfield comics and stories to tell each other. I know. Lame. Lol.
The 3rd book is drastically better than the first too. You also get the introduction to Nermal. In my 34 years I remembered Nermal as a girl. Maybe it was from the high pitched girl voice they used in the TV show but to my surprise, he's a he! 😂
But this 3rd book made me remember why I loved him so much. The first 2 were just "meh". -
NOSTALGIC REREAD
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Needs more Pooky
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Ahhh, a throwback to my childhood, when Garfield walked on four legs and the comics weren't all static and boring and repetitive. THIS is why I fell in love with cats and Garfield in particular.
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I have forgotten that Jon was really bad with women, and he was kinda sexist in some of his pickuplines…But other than that it’s nostalgic and funny!😆
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I don't ever remember laughing at Garfield. Reading it was like re-watching an episode of a sitcom you've already seen ten times and know all the plot threads and punchlines. There's a bland comfort to it and, for a stretch in early Middle School, bland comfort was preferable to none.
I consumed all the Garfield books in the Middle School library, idly wondering when something new would happen to shake up the Groundhog Day-esque loop in which they lived their lives, for a character to maybe grow or change. As the library's stock dwindled, so to did my desire to wade through any more of Garfield's doldrums.
In some ways the world of Garfield seems to represent some primal desire to keep everything safe by maintaining the conformity of each new day to the mold fixed by the last, but such a life seems more like death by whimper. -
Garfield hates Mondays.
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I've been reading Garfield since I was a little boy in 1978 and I recently decided to re-read all my Garfield books, many of which I haven't looked at in years, and I am glad I did! In the third Garfield volume, Garfield, Jon, Odie and the other characters continue to be better drawn and come closer to their final forms. Jon's room-mate, Lyman, the progenitor of Odie, is still around, and Irma the waitress makes a lot of appearances. Jon continues his persistent flirtations with Liz, Garfield's veternarian. A few of the strips are dated, but in general the vast majority of them still read as original, witty, funny and succinct--the hallmarks that have kept Garfield going strong for over 40 years. This book is a must read for any student or fan of the strip and I am glad I re-read it so many years after first enjoying it!
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I bought an omnibus containing the first three Garfield collections, and my impression after finishing is that the quality picked up in this third volume.
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here's a Zen question, courtesy of John Hodgeman:
If cats could read, what would they think of Garfield comics? -
Funny as heck!
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Sum up a book in one sentence challenge: Garfield is fat and Odie is an idiot.
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Is so funny!!I love Garfield,i love Lasagna :))
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4.5 :)
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Come on kitty, sing your song....Doo dah, Doo dah. Classic stuff.
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A book from my childhood that I owned.
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I have loved Garfield since the zany cat appeared and these comics can always make me smile. Here are a few of my favorites.
Jon is wondering about this and asks Garfield, "Garfield, must you do everything I do?". Garfield walks away dejectedly, and says, " That wasn't very nice. After all, cats are just little people with fur and fangs."
Like Garfield, I have wondered, "Why are we placed on this earth? What is our purpose? What is our mission in life?". Then he sees a cooked turkey on the kitchen table. He looks to the heavens, and while smiling says, " Thank you so much for the prompt reply."
Like Garfield, I dislike having a head cold. Jon tells Garfield that "Your cough sounds better, Garfield." Garfield replies, "It should. I've been practicing all night."
And then this one is my favorite. Garfield wakes up and says, "Gee, I feel good. I feel like being nice to everybody today. I must be coming down with something." -
I used to really like Garfield when he first hit the newspapers as a comic strip. I thought that this cat and all the trouble he gets into was very funny a . . . and this book contains that humor.
Later, Jim Davis changed the looks of all the characters by changing their eyes from circles to ovals and then exaggerated that look and squished the eyes together. The humor seems to not be quite as funny when the eyes when oval, at least in my opinion.
Garfield: Bigger Than Life book contains comic strips with the round eyes, so these are the ones I really find enjoyable. If you are looking for an early version of the Garfield comic strip, this is a book that you should pick up. -
I was a very big fan of
Garfield when I was young, and I owned many of the first ten books that were published. I haven't followed the strip for years, but our girls have recently discovered him and are big fans. We have borrowed several of the books from our local library and it is very nostalgic to reread these pages. I love that this edition is bigger than my original book and in color, too!
