Editing 78: Garfield

{{comic
| number    = 78
| date      = March 20, 2006
| title     = Garfield
| image     = garfield.jpg
| titletext = The use of the 'Garfield' character for the purposes of this parody qualifies as fair use under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. sec. 107. See Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music (92-1292), 510 U.S. 569
}}

==Explanation==
The newspaper comic strip {{w|Garfield}}, which features an orange cat as the main character, has increasingly been known for repetitive, quality-lacking strips. In the past, this was because the creator, {{w|Jim Davis (cartoonist)|Jim Davis}}, prefers to explore the same subjects he is comfortable with but in different ways — or from a less charitable view, because the strip is intended for a wide audience and thus becomes homogenized and inoffensive by nature. This attitude has only become more pronounced in the 21st century, as the aging Davis becomes less and less interested in the franchise. Regardless of the reason, these strips are now {{w|Ghostwriter|ghost written}} with little input from Davis and rarely explore the unconventional. The comic is challenging Davis to do something unexpected and surprise us all. The comic also accuses Davis of being a "sellout", sticking to bourgeois/commercial logic, something that Dadaist artists challenged. 

{{w|Dadaism}} was an artistic movement in the early 20th century marked primarily by chaos, irrationality, and surrealism. Some of the artists believed that the bourgeois logic made human beings unhappy and therefore led to war. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] leads by example by featuring a strip that parodies the style of Garfield, with multiple colors (xkcd usually contains only black and white, with some few containing an additional color like red or yellow) and a character that is not a stick figure breaking the normal xkcd pattern. Another Dadaist aspect is the fact that while Garfield is smiling, he is communicating something that could be considered terrifying.

The title text explains that xkcd is exercising legal use of Davis's intellectual property, namely the title character of his comic. The Supreme Court case mentioned, ''{{w|Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music}}'', confirmed that parody is legal even when there is commercial gain as a result, and also referenced the {{w|Copyright Act of 1976}}, 17 U.S.C. § 107, for the same reason. While this is normally understood by most anyone who questions such matters, Randall includes it as a reference to the lessening of strict copyright law, which many comics also mention, usually in the context of {{w|free software}} and those who promote it, like in the comics featuring [[Richard Stallman]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Need to describe the colours and the style better for people who aren't familiar with the newspaper style.
:An {{diff|384703|edit to this Transcript}} was reverted, as rather more like another Explanation ''and'' badly wikiformatted. Possibly ''some'' of might be useful here, but someone would need to check thoroughly.}}
:[This strip takes the form of a parody of the traditional shape for Sunday installments of newspaper strips; specifically the half-page format.]
:I want to see something unexpected in comics. Just one strip could make up for it all.
:[Garfield is standing on hind legs facing and looking directly at the camera. But is off-center in the frame, about 1/3 from the left, rotated very slightly clockwise.]
:[Zoom in on Garfield, still to the left, now rotated slightly counterclockwise.]
:[Zoom in again on Garfield, now the frame clips off the left side of his face.]
:Garfield thought bubble: The world is burning.
:[Final zoom in, the frame is ripped like a page, offset, and Garfield's eyes are half closed on the right half.]
:Garfield thought bubble: Run.
:Caption below the comic: Jim Davis, throw off your commercial shackles. Challenge us. Go out in a blaze of Dadaist glory. There is still time.

==Trivia==
*This is the first comic to use all-caps lettering, the second being [[90: Jacket]]. The all-caps lettering in this strip is likely due to the fact that most newspaper strips, such as Garfield, use all-caps lettering to make it easier to distinguish letters under poor printing quality quite possible with newsprint.

*The comic number (78) corresponds to the year Garfield debuted (1978).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]