Interview: “Garfield Minus Garfield” Creator Dan Walsh

 

mojo-photo-gmgstrip.jpgAs we entered the second half of 2008, I thought I’d take a look at Riff page view statistics for the year, just to see what online Mother Jones readers have been clicking on around this fun little blog. And what, dear Riffers, do you think was the number one post of the first six months of 2008? A post mocking George W.’s misinterpretation of a painting? A cynical look at coverage of the Iowa primaries? Abstinence pants? No, no and no. Our most-viewed post was my meditation on the subtext of late-capitalist anxiety in the comic “remix” Garfield Minus Garfield. Riff readers are stoned!

It turns out I was onto something: in the months since the piece’s appearance on the Riff, “G-G” has been covered in The New York Times, Time Magazine, and The Washington Post; the latter tracked down original Garfield creator Jim Davis, who called the work “an inspired thing to do.” So, who’s behind this now-phenomenally-popular bit of inspired photoshoppery? Meet 32-year-old Irishman Dan Walsh, who turns out to be a really nice guy. He answered a few questions via e-mail about the strip.

So, was I onto something with my whole theory that Garfield Minus Garfield is about identification with the “product” in a fractured late capitalist society, or was I full of crap?

Yeah I think you were on to something. It’s Jon’s inability to “fit in.” It’s about being a sad, bored, lonely nerd on a Saturday night. I can’t imagine why it became so successful on the internet 😉

Part of G-G’s appeal is its “bootleg” nature, but interestingly, most mashups are about addition rather than subtraction. Do you identify with “remix culture” or art pranksters like Banksy, or is this just a laugh?

I would say I do identify with the remix culture. I think all artists bootleg to a point (not that I’m claiming to be an artist!). But everything is derivative: music, art, literature. Anyone who says they’re influenced by no-one is lying.

A commenter on my original post compared G-G to removing everyone but Kramer from an episode of Seinfeld, an idea which I thought was spectacular. Do you have any other ideas for subtraction art we should watch out for?

I’ve been wracking my brains for another subtraction premise since G-G took off and I’ve found nothing I’ve been happy with. There’s a particular dynamic between Jon and Garfield that lends itself to the “minus” approach perfectly. Having said that I’d love to see that Seinfeld premise in action.

Why the heck was my post about you so popular?

G-G was insanely popular for a while. I mean crazy popular. My stats company dropped the site because it was screwing up their server and they couldn’t keep up with the traffic. Since then it’s calmed down. But I guess your review appeared on the radar at just the right time.


Check out the Garfield Minus Garfield archive here. Walsh also dropped a hint about a “development” of some sort regarding the strip to be announced soon, so stay tuned! What could it be? Will the Garfield balloon in the Macy’s Parade be replaced by, er, the absence of a balloon?

 

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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