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First rule of Garfield: You can never have enough Garfield!

The post Alcon Plans A Series of Fully-CG ‘Garfield’ Features appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Poor Garfield. In his heyday, he was amongst the most beloved characters on the funny pages, his plush likenesses fastened to car windows and his sarcastic barbs adorning office walls around the globe. Then, somewhere along the line, he underwent a pop-cultural re-evaluation. Jim Davis’ strip is now something of a pariah: just look at how "The Simpsons" paired it with "Love Is" as the kind of strip that Milhouse reads. What a comedown for a character once hip enough to be quoted in “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. But yet, the orange cat has been saved from cultural oblivion by a peculiar trend: the remixed "Garfield" strip.

In an excited post from the just-concluded Frankfurt Book Fair, NBM publisher Terry Nantier runs down a lot of news:

• A new David B book.

• Larger sizes for their continuing line of books from the Louvre. “Basically, we’re seeing we don’t need to be married to the 6×9 format as much as we were so we’re going to open things up!” Nantier wrote. “Also, we’re seeing a need for our books to reflect what we publish: beautiful quality comics you want to have physically and keep proudly in your library.”

• Because not everyone will have the money for these editions, NBM will be ramping up their ebook program.

• Papercutz has signed up to do new Garfield comics based on the upcoming Cartoon Network show. Jim Davis’s Garfield comic strip collections have been perennial sellers in bookstores, but he has never been a star of original comic books before. He has, however, been the subject of viral spin-offs from Lasagna Cat to Garfield Minus Garfield.

In my previous post How To Write a Children’s Book,  I listed editing as the last (but not least) step.  I’ve recently been reminded of the genius that blooms when we prune our overgrown phrases to let the content breathe.  It came from an unlikely place, the Garfield comic strip.

Actually, it was Garfield minus Garfield by Dan Walsh.  He found a way to make the chronically unfunny Garfield strip hilarious and poignant… remove Garfield.

By removing the distraction of Garfield, Mr. Walsh is able to “reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle.”  It’s an obvious move in hindsight, one that makes you wonder how good Fred Basset might be… no, it’d still be terrible.

I thought I’d share an example of how I think editing gives me a chance to reassess my first drafts and communicate my intentions more clearly.

I thought I’d share Here is an example of how I think editing gives me a chance helps me to reassess my first drafts and communicate my intentions write more clearly.

Editing helps me write more clearly.

Editing = Clarity

E = C

OK, so you can go too far, but it’s a fun exercise to try, especially in Children’s writing when every word counts though you may be surprised how much improvement you’ll find when you apply it elsewhere.

OK, so you can go too far, but it’s a fun exercise to TRY , especially in Children’s writing when every word counts though you may be surprised how much improvement you’ll find when you apply IT! elsewhere.

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I love it! We've got a good discussion and new reviews on here! This is great! The first thing I do when I get to work is checkand see if you all have written anything. You've made my day!

Good to hear from you again, Lord Mikie--I mean, Vader. When He talks about his reading club log, he means the Catch theReading Bug program. If you take part in it, you can get prizes for reading! I hope a lot of you have signed up. If you live outside of Mecklenburg county, there's probably something similar at your local library.

Thanks for the great discussion! Keep those comments coming!

Carl

Today I'm playing fantasy Poetry Friday, imagining spring. Helping me out in my delusion is Lawrence Raab with his beautiful "Cold Spring."



"Cold Spring"