Garfield Gains Weight

(His 2nd Book)
by
Jim Davis

Ballantine, March 1981, 126 pp.
ISBN: 0-345-28844-0

Genre: Comics
Subgenre: Comic Strip / Humor
Reviewed: 3/17/2010

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Comic Strip

Synopsis

Garfield Gains Weight is the second collection of Garfield comic strips. All of the comic strips appear in black and white. The 126 pages consist of either two daily comics per page or one Sunday comic. The last page is entitled "A Talk with Jim Davis" where he answers fifteen questions from fans. Most of the strips are single shots, but a few storylines appears.

This collection contains the following storylines: Garfield's Stomach Outgrows his Legs, Garfield Goes Camping, Garfield Meets Liz the Vet, Garfield Climbs a Tree, and Garfield's History of Cats.

This book contains comic strips from 1/23/1979 through 8/26/1979.

Garfield Gains Weight by Jim Davis is a collection of Garfield comic strips. Garfield became very popular in the late-1970s and continues on today, although the character now looks a little different. It is seen daily in thousands of newspapers and enjoyed by millions worldwide. Garfield is a quirky cat that is quite fat, lazy and loves his lasagna. He loves to pick on Odie, the dog, and give Jon, his owner, a hard time. He hates diets and loves food . . . any type of food, especially lasagna.

Review

Garfield Gains Weight is only the second book of Garfield comics. Garfield looks more like a cat than he does in today's comics. Lyman isn't in as many of the strips as he was in Garfield at Large, but his dog Odie is always around. This book introduces Liz the Veterinarian and Garfield takes an instant dislike to her . . . as he probably would with any vet. Jon immediately falls for Liz and asks her out many times, only to be shot down miserably each time. Poor Jon.

As with a most of Garfield comics strips, some make me laugh and some do not. Maybe you have to be a cat person to really appreciate Garfield. I am a dog person, but I still enjoy this comic strip and have always liked Garfield. I enjoyed the addition of Liz tot he character lineup, as Jon needed a female to play off of. As for Jon, he sure lets his cat boss him around and beat up on him. I know cats think they rule the house, and Jim Davis does a good job of portraying this in Garfield Gains Weight.

Overall, Garfield Gains Weight is another fun-filled book that will keep you entertained for hours. After all, we all know who Garfield is. He has been in the newspapers for over 30 years, had a television show in the early 1980's, and even had a movie or two. It is nice to see Garfield in his early stage of development and notice how different he is from the character he is today.