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No. 1848: Garfield Plus Mr. Potato Head

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Garfield Plus Mr. Potato Head

First | Previous | 2014-06-10 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=1848

Strip by: Edwin Chee

{Garfield tries to scratch his itch spot}
SFX: Scratch Scratch
{Garfield struggles to reach his itch spot with his feet}
SFX: Scratch Scratch Scratch Scratch Scratch Scratch Scratch Scratch
{Mr. Potato Head's back itches}
Mr. Potato Head: Oooh, my back itches!
{Mr. Potato Head removes his right arm with his left hand}
SFX: POP!
{Mr. Potato Head scratches his back with his right hand}
SFX: Scratch Scratch Scratch
Mr. Potato Head: Eat your heart out.
{Garfield screams in desperation, shocking Jon, who is reading a newspaper}
Garfield: AARRRGH!

The author writes:

When an artist's work is very popular, their other works would often go unnoticed or forgotten. The Smurfs, for example, is most well known, but Peyo's other works tend to be eclipsed, such as Johan and Peewit. Sometimes, other works by an artist known for their popular work are lucky to get noticed, such as Orson's Farm (or U.S. Acres in America). That comic is noticed enough to have a few appearances on this site.

Jim Davis is fortunate enough to have other works of his remembered, including the aforementioned Orson's Farm (thank Garfield and Friends for that) and Gnorm Gnat (at least, for being the leading reason for Garfield's existence). He had his run with Tumbleweeds, though that was before he became his own comic artist. Perhaps the strip that nobody thought Jim Davis did was Mr. Potato Head.

It was co-authored with Brett Koth, meaning the team not only worked on Orson's Farm, but this one as well. You can say that this mashup is to bring others to attention that there exists another work by Jim Davis.

The basic premise with Mr. Potato Head is that Mr. Potato Head has a family of four (himself, wife, daughter and son). He is a boss of a company. The main thing with Mr. Potato Head is the ability for the characters to detach their body parts. It's basic, and like Orson's Farm, it had a short run from 2000 to 2003.

I imagine that Toy Story's interpretation of Mr. Potato Head is so popular that other interpretations won't go so well.

Here's a sample of Mr. Potato Head strips (which is where I got this comic).

Original Garfield strip: 1978-07-05.

Original Mr. Potato Head strip: 2001-07-28.

Original strip: 1978-07-05.