Garfield Cleans His Plate: His 60th Book

Garfield #60

by Jim Davis

Easy as Pie.

When it comes to eating—and entertainment—Garfield is a natural. Every time he opens his pie hole, something fattening goes in, or something funny comes out. Fans of the portly puss can follow his latest antics in this fun-filled new collection of comics.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Animals, Comics Manga, Childrens

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2015

About the author

James Robert "Jim" Davis is an American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield. Other comics that he has worked on are Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, Slapstick, and a strip about Mr. Potato Head.

Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana, near Marion, where he grew up on a small farm with his father James William Davis, mother Anna Catherine (Carter) Davis, brother Dave, and 25 cats. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of his cartoon character Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon, too, is a cartoonist, and also celebrates his birthday on July 28. Davis attended Ball State University. While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi fraternity. He earned the dubious honor of earning one of the lowest cumulative grade point averages in the history of the university, an honor incidentally shared with Late Show host David Letterman.

Davis as of 2007 resides in Muncie, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his company, Paws, Inc., begun in 1981. He was married to Carolyn, a singer and elementary teacher whom he met while both were attending college, and has a son named James with her. However, the couple divorced, and Davis since 2000 has been married to Jill, Paws' senior vice president of licensing, who has worked there approximately 25 years.

Ironically, Davis did not own cats when he started Garfield because of Carolyn's allergies, but they owned a Labrador retriever named Molly. With Jill, the family has expanded to include children Ashley and Chris; three grandchildren, Chloe, Carly and Cody; cats, Spunky and Nermal; and a dog, Pooky.

Reviews

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introduction:

Uh oh! I had picked up another “Garfield” graphic novel called “Garfield Cleans His Plate.” I mean, I CANNOT HELP IT! I just keep picking up a “Garfield” comic because I love Jim Davis’ “Garfield” series so much and this volume is just as good as the previous “Garfield” comics that I had read!

What is this story about?

This volume continues the adventures of Garfield, Jon, Odie and Liz and how they spend the Christmas holidays together and how Liz is still trying to get used to Jon’s bizarre way of living like constantly wearing big polka dotted bow ties and dancing in the middle of his lawn while dressed as a daisy in the middle of spring! Meanwhile, Garfield continues being his snarky self by commenting on various situations that happen to Jon, Odie and Liz in an extremely humorous way!

What I loved about this story:

Jim Davis’ writing: Jim Davis’ writing continues to be witty and hilarious as we see more adventures of Garfield, Jon, Odie and Liz and Garfield continues making sarcastic snide remarks towards the silliness going on with Jon and Odie. I really loved the way that Jim Davis wrote Jon and Liz’s relationship as we see their relationship progressing at this point as Liz starts to get used to Jon’s eccentric nature and still stands by him no matter how embarrassing his antics can get. I also love the fact that Garfield still remains sarcastic throughout the series as the characters still have the same personalities despite all the changes happening in the series, with the biggest change being Jon finally getting a girlfriend in Liz. It helps keeps the series consistent with its humor and I can get on board with the changes happening in this series without worrying about my favorite characters becoming different characters towards the end. I also like the fact that Garfield is supportive of Jon and Liz’s relationship as it shows that he is experiencing a bit of a character development as he went from making Jon’s life miserable (although he still does that from time to time) to actually accepting Jon’s happiness in his relationship with Liz.

Jim Davis’ artwork: Jim Davis’ artwork is as usual goofy and hilarious to look at as all the characters have exaggerated features such as large rounded eyes and in the case of Garfield, a round pudgy stomach that shows off his massive appetite! I also loved the way that Jim Davis drew Liz’s eyes as they are large and round like most of the other characters, but the fact that they are almost always half way closed shows how sane she is compared to the other characters.



Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Garfield Cleans His Plate” is another fantastic installment in Jim Davis’ legendary “Garfield” series and I am sure that I will be checking out other “Garfield” works in the near future!

I would like to thank Abraham for recommending me this book!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice collection of Garfield comic strips!

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love Garfield. These comic strips were short like what you’d read in the comic section of the newspaper. Most were three comic squares while some were long enough that they filled the whole page. Pretty much all of them were funny though. There were a few I didn’t think were as funny as the others but in a book full of comics meant to be funny there’s bound to be a few that aren’t as comical. Overall I enjoyed this book though. Great for Garfield fans!

[Poodle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love garfield.

[eveltrain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garfield doesn’t disappoint.

[Liz Denson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Garfield

It is a very fun and entertaining book and I think it’s wonderful and the best of all the Garfield books

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I needed something cute and mindless and this fit the bill perfectly.

I will forever be an Odie fan, by the way.

[Phyllis M. Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe I shouldn’t read so much Garfield…WHAT AM I SAYING?

[Jessica]

Garfield's Christmas sweater from Jon's mom actually fits! plenty of humorous things happen with Jon and Liz. The spiders take Pookie hostage. Not as many weekly themes as usual, but still funny.

[Charlotte Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

In case you haven’t noticed, Garfield likes to eat. A lot. Garfield books are completely filled with humor. Read this hilarious book about Garfield, Odie, and Jon.

[Kelly Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Garfield's 60th book. Many of the cartoons are similar to his previous books; however, I still enjoy the humor.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The spider is probably my favorite character. Also enjoyed the strips that were more than 3 panels long.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice break from all other books that I read. Very funny. Garfield is up to his tricks again.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah Garfield, always great for a laugh! :O)

Although I was surprised to see no direction mention of lasagna! Shocking