A kind of interesting phenomenon. He comes in with his dog, cries that he doesn’t have a place to stay, Jon allows it for as long as needed and then… he just vanishes one day, leaving Odie with Jon, never to contact them again. Did something happen between the two? Was he ever real or a product of Jon’s mind? A wiki states:
According to Davis, Lyman’s original purpose was to be someone who Jon could actually talk to and express other ideas — a role gradually taken over by Garfield, himself.
It doesn’t reveal who gave Lyman that purpose; it could be that it was Jon himself who, over the years, got less attached to reality, so he got done with talking to and interacting with Garfield.
That or it’s just a lazy uninspired comic that only has a minimum level of continuity and doesn’t care to explain why a former choir character suddenly vanishes.
I’m a huge long-term fan of the Garfield comics. Lyman basically ditches Jon with Odie. It’s never explained in detail because it’s a 3 frame comic. More optimistically, and “cannon” Jon was enthusiastic about inheriting Odie while Lymon left for unexplained reasons. Jon thought owning a dog would help him meet women.
As for the quote you referenced. Garfield has thought bubbles. Jon talks. Lyman exists because he can talk while Garfield can only “think”. Jim Davis originally thought it would be confusing to have thought clouds and talk bubbles interacting. Like how does a cat talk with a person? But that quickly became the norm in the comic. Once talking and thinking could interact, Lyman no longer needed to exist.
Rare appearance of Jon’s friend Lyman, who doesn’t appear in hardly anything after 1980.
A kind of interesting phenomenon. He comes in with his dog, cries that he doesn’t have a place to stay, Jon allows it for as long as needed and then… he just vanishes one day, leaving Odie with Jon, never to contact them again. Did something happen between the two? Was he ever real or a product of Jon’s mind? A wiki states:
It doesn’t reveal who gave Lyman that purpose; it could be that it was Jon himself who, over the years, got less attached to reality, so he got done with talking to and interacting with Garfield.
That or it’s just a lazy uninspired comic that only has a minimum level of continuity and doesn’t care to explain why a former choir character suddenly vanishes.
I’m a huge long-term fan of the Garfield comics. Lyman basically ditches Jon with Odie. It’s never explained in detail because it’s a 3 frame comic. More optimistically, and “cannon” Jon was enthusiastic about inheriting Odie while Lymon left for unexplained reasons. Jon thought owning a dog would help him meet women.
As for the quote you referenced. Garfield has thought bubbles. Jon talks. Lyman exists because he can talk while Garfield can only “think”. Jim Davis originally thought it would be confusing to have thought clouds and talk bubbles interacting. Like how does a cat talk with a person? But that quickly became the norm in the comic. Once talking and thinking could interact, Lyman no longer needed to exist.
It never occurred to me how weird it is they can talk via thought bubbles in Garfield but you’re right, now I can’t unsee it.
Jon took a level in druid
I love Lyman. He’s a normal guy against Jon’s creeping insanity.
Maybe I’m explaining the joke, but Jon is supposed to be an Everyman.
Tell that to Garfield Minus Garfield
He has a peculiar face