2012-06-16
Explanation
This comic reimagines Garfield -- the famously lazy, lasagna-loving cat -- as a deeply existential, cosmically tortured being. Instead of his usual simple complaints, Garfield delivers an extended philosophical monologue about regret as an invisible, permanent, inoperable force. He declares that he loves lasagna not for taste or satiation but only out of shame, and that he plans to grow to the size of the universe so he can reach across time and apologize for some unspecified past failure. His catchphrase "I hate Mondays" is recontextualized with devastating weight: "Monday is the day I could have saved him."
The comic parodies the genre of "dark reimaginings" of beloved children's properties, taking the most complacently domestic newspaper comic strip character imaginable and injecting him with Lovecraftian cosmic horror and genuine emotional devastation. The humor works on multiple levels: the absurd contrast between Garfield's familiar visual design and the existential weight of his monologue, the specific way each Garfield trope (lasagna, hating Mondays) is reinterpreted to carry unbearable sadness, and the broader commentary on how any simple narrative can be made to seem deep if you load it with enough philosophical dread. It also plays on the internet tradition of creating unsettling alternate versions of Garfield, most notably the webcomic "Garfield Minus Garfield" and various horror-themed Garfield fan works.