In the Garfield comic strip, there is a disturbing disappearance of a mostly-forgotten main character hidden in the subtext of the comics and the expanded Garfield universe. Why would I lie, man?
By: Duronto
There are 3 characters that come to mind when you think of Garfield: Garfield, Jon Arbuckle, and Odie. It’s the way it’s always been! The grumpy and snarky cat, the cartoonist victim/owner, and the lovable dog. D̴̰͊͝ó̷̡̥̱̘͍͔͍͜n̴̮͍͓̹͋̉́̏͐͋̕͜͝’̷͍̼̭͉̏̂̃͠͠͝t̴̡̬̬̑̎̏ͅ ̵͎͕̹̦̗͖̏̄̓͘͘͝ͅc̷̢̙͓̋͌h̷̡̰̲̺͓͎̄͋̿̽͝͝͝ë̸͍̹́̀̀̇̾̔͋̕c̷̨̪͎̼̙̆̇ķ̸̱͚̲̒͒̓̀́͝ ̶̢͍̹̖̺͚̍̏̈J̵̳̣̱̪̅̀ò̷̗͉͌̃̐̃͑͋̚n̸̺͇̎̚͘’̶̨̱̺͕̣̈͆s̸͓͒̒͂̏̈͝ ̸̬̣̩̘͑̐͑̎͋̐̔͘ḇ̷͍͔̭͕̅͜a̶̧̼͙̠̾̀̿̌s̵̲͇̲̗̹̻̫͒͆̎̂̓̈̄͌e̵͍͉̺̲͌̈́̇͌̄ḿ̴̼̣̫̣̐̈̊̉͜͠e̸̛̬̙͙͒̊̿͝n̷̪̤̯̏́̌͝͝ṭ̶̨̜̈͋̀̊.̶͓̀̂̌̂͝
But there was a 4th person, introduced only about a month after the strip first started running in June of 1978. His first words: “Jon. I’m cold. I’m hungry. I’m weak. Take me in!” (1978/08/07)
And his last: “Hey, Jon. What happened to you guys?” (1983/04/24)
He was a regular in the strip after his debut in 1978, but only appeared sporadically after 1980. After his final regular appearance in 1983, he was removed from the strip—with no elaboration from Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield, for years on end. Since 1983, he’s only made 2 appearances in the rest of Garfield’s run. His name is Lyman, and he was the original owner of Odie.
The comic strip never gives an explicit explanation for Lyman’s disappearance. There isn’t a farewell comic or even any tone of finality in Lyman’s last regular appearance. He appears twice afterwards, but only in reference (June 19, 1988 and April 2, 2013). It only adds more to the in-world mystery. Perhaps most intriguing of it all is that Lyman’s final-final appearance in 2013 has his picture on the front of a newspaper that Jon is reading. Why would he be on the front page of a newspaper?
In terms of in-universe explanations, there’s a spiral of conspiracy theories surrounding what exactly happened to Lyman, which has only been fueled by Jim Davis himself. In 20 Years & Still Kicking!: Garfield’s Twentieth Anniversary Collection, a commemorative book written by Jim Davis, there’s a jokingly written list—“Top Ten Explanations for Lyman’s Disappearance”. What’s the #1 reason, as presumably ranked by Davis himself?
“Don’t look in Jon’s basement!”
But of course, Jim Davis says this was only a jest. In an interview/Q&A conducted by the Washington Post in 2005, Davis said: “I joke about the basement thing. Actually he joined the Peace Corps and was never heard from again.” There’s an interesting thing about this interview however—Lyman comes up twice. 2 different people asked about his disappearance from the strip, and only one of them got the response above. The other response?
“Glad you asked about Lyman. He went to an Amway convention and was never heard from again.”
Davis gives two separate answers to essentially the same question. In the same interview.
This means that Davis’s responses, deliberately or otherwise, are not reliable. This leaves us with the notion that any of these are a possibility, but of course, the most interesting one to entertain is the one where Jon Arbuckle is either a kidnapper or a murderer.
The basement notion of Lyman’s disappearance is also the notion most entertained by official Garfield media. In Garfield’s Scary Scavenger Hunt, an interactive search-and-find Garfield web game, there’s a sighting in the basement of the haunted mansion.
(screenshot from Garfield’s Scary Scavenger Hunt)
It’s possible that Lyman had been in this basement for a very, very long time. By the clean plate on the ground, it’s clear he’s being fed—possibly by Jon.
A more harrowing discovery, though, comes in the sequel of the game, appropriately titled Garfield’s Scary Scavenger Hunt II: Donuts of Doom.
(screenshot from Garfield’s Scary Scavenger Hunt II: Donuts of Doom)
Lyman is dead! The original owner of Odie was decapitated and put in a stove!
Woah.
Even more than that, the theory links back to Lyman’s final-final appearance in the newspaper. A townsman, fairly average, that went completely missing some years ago with no traces and no body. It remains a mystery in the small town of Muncie, Indiana.
But whodunnit? In all fairness, there’s no real way to know. There are several theories on the matter, and the consensus is that Jon did it. One conspiracy postulates that some murderers take after their victims. After Lyman’s disappearance, there is a mild shift in Jon’s attitude in later strips. He becomes more cheerful and optimistic. Like Lyman.
— — —
Jim Davis, in speaking practically about why he removed Lyman, has said that Lyman was originally a character that Jon could talk to about non-cat-related ideas, and have non-one-sided conversations with. Over time, as Garfield developed to fit this role (becoming more humanesque), Lyman became sort of an arbitrary character. In the alternate universe of The Garfield Show (2009-2016), there’s a 4 episode arc that addresses Lyman’s disappearance working as a wildlife photographer. (It’s peak, but isn’t relevant to the comics. Link to watch at the bottom.)
BUT REMEMBER! Davis cannot be trusted. The evident truth is that the 4th main character of Garfield, very early into the strip’s life, was kidnapped and murdered. Probably on a Monday, too.
You can watch the 4-part Garfield Show special on YouTube (emotional): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEHhwBymh6qcKAdDdJZ_1ZZEuk4iwk2I2
You can read Garfield, and many other comic strips, at GoComics: https://www.gocomics.com
Citations
Davis, Jim (1998). 20 Years & Still Kicking!: Garfield’s Twentieth Anniversary Collection. Random House Worlds.
Davis, Jim (2005, January 28). Comics: Meet the Artist [Interview]. The Washington Post; The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27002-2005Jan21.html
