My Laughable Life with Garfield: The Jon Arbuckle Chronicles

by Jim Davis

The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth Accordions rule, and so—finally—does Jon Arbuckle! It’s revenge of the nerds when Jon grabs Garfield’s traditional lead role and takes center stage with a delightfully dorky new book of his own. Through classic comics, blog entries, and a wealth of other wacky new material, experience Jon’s dating disasters, phone call faux pas, wardrobe malfunctions, and mirthful mishaps—and cheer the geek with a heart of gold as he finally finds true love with Liz, the veterinarian. (Who’d have thunk it?) So, rejoice, Jon fans, and enjoy the fun. The moment of goof has arrived!

Genres: Humor, Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 23, 2012

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:

For years, I have been reading comic books all about Garfield (well, he is the star of these comics)! But today is the first time I had ever read a “Garfield” comic book that does not center entirely on Garfield (although Garfield does appear in all of these strips) and that is “My Laughable Life with Garfield!” This comic book is basically all about Garfield’s unlucky and dorky owner, Jon Arbuckle and how he eventually become a popular character in his own right in the “Garfield” comic strips and I have enjoyed every single comic strip in this volume!

What is this story about?

This volume basically not only contains all of the comic strips of Jon Arbuckle’s adventures with Garfield, but also detailing his background stories about living on the farm with is family, his dating disasters (until Liz showed up anyway) and his constant wardrobe malfunctions!

What I loved about this story:

Jim Davis’ writing: Jim Davis’ writing continues to be hilarious and witty throughout each comic book made of Garfield and this volume is definitely no exception to the rule! I loved the fact that Jim Davis finally put together a volume that concentrated solely on Jon Arbuckle, since he is another popular character from the “Garfield” comics (well, Jon Arbuckle does appear in almost every “Garfield” comic strip, so that comes with a territory)! I loved the way that Jim Davis detailed Jon Arbuckle’s life from dealing with Garfield, his former life on the family farm and eventually dating Garfield’s veterinarian, Liz. The stories in this volume really gave Jon Arbuckle more depth to his character, especially when he originally started off as a guy who could not get a date because of his dorky personality to eventually getting a girlfriend in Liz, who was able to patiently deal with his dorky nature and I really loved that aspect of the series. All the comics in this volume were just as hilarious as they were in any “Garfield” comic I had read and it was a treat seeing all the comics from the 1970s through the 2010s come together in one volume! I also loved the little information tidbits on the side pages that describes about Jon Arbuckle’s life and his transition to the character he has become such as detailing his life on the farm and his several failed attempts at dating women.

Jim Davis’ artwork: Jim Davis’ artwork is as usual hilarious to look at, especially of Jon Arbuckle and Garfield having large and rounded eyes. It was also interesting in seeing how Garfield and Jon started out when they were introduced in the 1970s as their designs were much more different as they looked simpler and Garfield had a larger shape than he does recently.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “My Laughable Life with Garfield” is a brilliant volume for anyone who is a huge fan of Jon Arbuckle and would love to learn more about his life with Garfield and his dating life!



Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Garfield comics book!

Great collection of Garfield comic strips featuring Jon arbucle! A lot of them features Garfield the cat granted, just saying.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks Julie

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny. A nice trip down memory lane.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's about time that John was given a chance to shine. But, I think that John is still best enjoyed in small doses.

[Jennifer]

If you enjoy the Garfield comic strip you will enjoy this book. It was enjoyable and was a nice change, being more about Jon but still including Garfield's antics.

[Eric Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at Jon through the years, going all the way back to the beginning of the strip: his dating disasters, visits to the family farm, etc.