The Ephemerist

It would seem there’s no end to the ways Jim Davis’s Garfield can be put to creative use.

Josh Millard recently launced Garkov which applies the Markov model (which is completely beyond me) to Garfield strips. I’m not sure about the theoretical backgrournd, but it seems that this generates new strips based on existing ones, which at least look and feel like genuine strips, but on closer look lack all coherence and plot typical for a human narrative.

Needless to say, this kind of thing tickles our interest. Josh also was so kind as to provide a full list of other Garfield experiments.

It would seem that Jim Davis’ Garfield is a real cornucopia for literary experimentation. Much more than any other popular comic, be it Peanuts or Calvin And Hobbes, Davis’ universe clos and iconic characters seem to lend themselves to postmodern repurposing and extistentialist critique.

Earlier we had Forever Garfield and Nothing Garfield, and now Garfield Minus Garfield presents Jon’s little world without his cat’s overwhelming presence. It’s as if Samuel Beckett is doing the funnies. And it even made USA Today’s Pop Candy blog.

Oucopo: Comic Jams For The Growing Cartoonist is a new outfit about comics challenges featuring certain thematic or formal constraints. As Derek Badman says in his recent, and quite good, overview of constraint comics :

Started by Jon Morris, it’s basically a site to set out monthly constraints and publish the results as submitted by whoever wants to participate. This month’s theme is Tom Waits.

It seems to be the logical sequel to some very good thematic challenges, like Boo 06 or Calamity, which were also brainchildren of that wonderful mind that is John Morris (whom I seem to remember of a web comic called Jeremy)

(from The Hurting)

Cartoon Symbolia is a very intertaining and enlightening comic by Dash Shaw about all those loose lines that are scattered through comics and strips, having all kinds of meanings. The lighter side of semiotics, as it were. Highly recommendable

Here’s a nice mashup with “stock” Garfield images that I received from a cartoonist who requested to remain anonymous. Somehow this luminary succeeded in transforming this daily comical cartoon into an existential drama of Beckett-like proportions.

As another luminary (this time less anonymous, for it was Matt “99 Ways To Tell A Story” Madden) said, “Garfield is the new Nancy“…

(Garfield is © Paws, inc. All Rights Reserved)

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On the Oubapo America mailing list, Derik “Madinkbeard” Badman announces a new constraint : the Stolen Birthday Present, a collage of panels from strips that were published on his birthday (see the original post for the complete strip).

The story may need some more work, but the idea is a good one, in my opinion. However, newspaper strips from an exact date might not be easy to find. I think I’ll settle for panels from comics from may, 1967 for my collage. To be continued, as they say…

Inspired by Lars “Dogma” Von Trier (about whom I would very much like to read a freudian psychological analysis, mind you), Tom Hart challenged his friend and co-oubapo-ist Matt Madden to challenge him with five obstructions in a comic strip. The results had to be printed in the Metro newspaper.

The results are quite interesting, and I was quite amazed to see how Tom managed to follow each and every one of Matt’s devious devices, and still keep true to the soul of his strip. It’s a bit sad that paper wouldn’t print the words-only strip. For that reason, I’ve included it here.

Peter Venables takes Wally Wood’s “22 Panels That Always Work” one step further in the 22 Little Panels Project.

This Oubapo-like project challenges cartoonists to draw their own comic, using only Wood’s panels in sequence. Venables own comic is quite a good example of what this can lead to…

(Thanks, Oubapo America)