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Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=3742
Strip by: Colin
Jon: Irma, do you ever talk to Lyman anymore?
Irma: Nah, we broke up, he moved out, and that was the end
Jon: Then he took his stuff out of my guest bedroom and left town
Jon: He owes me for 36 years' worth of dog food
Garfield: And dingle balls
The author writes:
Lyman supposedly lived with Jon for four years, but we rarely saw him once he got settled in. If you will...
Lyman arrived in Muncie one summer's night, cold, hungry, weak, and single for the first time since the Nixon administration. Jon and Lyman recounted their days rooming together at Ball State University while Lyman took some time to get over his last relationship. One night, Garfield sat on Lyman's steak, so a famished Lyman went downtown looking for a meal. Muncie's late-night scene is nonexistent, but there was one kitchen still open, and that was Irma's Diner. Lyman sat down at the counter. Irma, still emotionally vulnerable from her first husband recently passing away from the tuna special, took his order. Lyman ordered the super deluxe burger with a plate, and though the meal did nothing but sate his hunger, what was lacking in the food was made up by a conversation with a waitress about to close the shop for the night. For Irma and Lyman, though, their encounter didn't end until coffee and an omelet with feathers the next morning. They had a wonderful four-year relationship, and even moved in together; unfortunately, Irma's landlord didn't allow dogs, but Odie was more than happy to stay at the Arbuckle house while Lyman and Irma were house-hunting.
Irma and Lyman broke up in 1983, and not long after, Lyman left town and has never been heard from again. Irma, distraught, threw herself into her work to forget about him, even keeping her diner open for entire days at a time. Jon visits her every so often, hoping to hear some news about his old college roommate, but Irma just doesn’t want to talk about her time with Lyman anymore.
Or maybe Jim Davis is right and Lyman is traveling the world as a wildlife photographer. I'm sure the truth is out there somewhere.
Original strips: 1992-03-17, 1992-03-20.