Jim Davis, Garfield at Large
**
It turns out Garfield was never funny, but his obese origins make a bit more sense. Reading them back to back as unintended is a gruelling experience.
1984-85 (collected 1986) / Ebook / 123 pages / USA
***
I was aware of these origins even as a child, but loyalty to the zany Adventures comic and general lack of interest in gritty Frank Miller parodies meant I'd only ever checked it out briefly as a weird novelty. It's not good, but interesting to see just how much of it made it to other iterations intact. Not interesting enough to read a more substantial collection though.
1991-92 (collected 1996) / Ebook / 144 pages / USA
***
Pleasant if generic cartoon wanderings. Nice to visit if it pops up in your anthology comic, but not the most gripping saga.
1979-2003 (collected 2003) / Ebook / 1,278 pages / USA
****
They're not all winners, but I'd like to see anyone churn better. Gets a bit wearying after the first few years though.
2005-15 (collected 2016) / Ebook / 588 pages / USA
**
I felt I had what it takes to give each stick drawing the attention it deserves if they were simply printed in sequence on the same page, but the shockingly wasteful design at least makes it a functional if cumbersome short story flipbook.
Faves: 'Three Friends,' 'Knife Fork Spoon Love Triangle,' 'Mountain, Cloud, Tree, Flag, Man, Sun.'
