Booknote: Garfield: 30 Years of Laughs and Lasagna

Jim Davis, Garfield: 30 years of Laughs and Lasagna: the Life and Times of a Fat, Furry Legend. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008. ISBN: 9780345503794. 

Genre: comics and graphic novels
Subgenre: humor, cats
Format: trade paperback
Source: My local public library

I continue my reading splurge with Garfield. This one I really liked because it shows how the comic strip evolved over time. I always find interesting how an artist develops his art and his work evolves. Davis did put Garfield through quite a few changes. Yet Garfield's wit and personality remain strong and funny. The book contains a healthy selection of strips from 1978 to 2008.

In addition, the book includes a foreword by Dan Young, Blondie cartoonist, and a section of Jim Davis' 30 favorite Garfield strips. The book is divided into sections of strips for each decade. Each decade section has a brief introduction where Davis offers some commentary. Furthermore, the book offers some additional material like author photographs and some inserts with more cartoons, graphics, or trivia. It was a fun and light book to read that let us see how the comic evolved and why it remains so popular.

4 out of 5 stars.

This book qualifies for the following 2015 Reading Challenges: