The most intriguing aspect of Garfield Minus Garfield, however, is that the book is actually split into two parts. The first part features the strips modified by Dan Walsh, the site's creator. The modified strips are presented as they were on the site. Little mistakes in photoshopping, such as leaving Garfield's pinch marks on Jon's cheek or being able to see Garfield's outline on a guitar Jon holds, are left intact. In addition, Walsh's strips sometimes go beyond simply removing Garfield. There are strips where Jon's dialogue is edited or even removed for effect.
The second part of the book features strips modified by Garfield creator Jim Davis. The strips Davis picks aren't quite as appropriate for the treatment as the ones Walsh picks. Many of these strips don't really gain anything by not having Garfield. The originals are actually pretty decent and work just as well with Garfield as without him.
Garfield Minus Garfield is a fun book and a great alternate take on the popular comic strip. It gives the long-running strip a new lease on life and undoubtedly will inspire a generation of fans who may have written it off a long time ago. Creators could learn a thing or two from the way Jim Davis handled all of this. Instead of lawyering it out of existence, he embraced it and will now profit from it. Here's hoping we get another collection sometime in the future because there are a lot of great strips on the site that aren't in this book.
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