Early Garfield: A Suicidal Tabby?

Garfield sure used to be a lot edgier, huh?

Content advisory: This page includes references to suicide in a fat orange cat context. Reader discretion is advised.
Garfield throws up his arms and cries 'Take me now, Lord!' after Odie arrives.
August 9, 1978 © Paws, Inc.
Garfield laments being declawed, setting up a grim joke. Garfield puts his head in the oven to 'end it all,' only to note it's electric.
October 17-18, 1978 © Paws, Inc.
A waitress wails 'I could just shoot myself!' over Jon's strong coffee; Garfield shrugs, 'It's her life.'
November 16, 1979 © Paws, Inc.
Garfield complains his breakfast drives up the 'suicide rate among cats.'
January 8, 1980 © Paws, Inc.
Sulking in the rain, Garfield decides to catch pneumonia and die, because 'that'll make 'em feel bad.'
March 8, 1981 © Paws, Inc.
Flattened by his diet in the 'lost-your-will-to-live phase,' Garfield asks to be left to die in peace.
July 25, 1981 © Paws, Inc.
Garfield frees a mouse from a trap; after an earful from his wife, the mouse climbs right back in. SNAP!
December 2, 1982 © Paws, Inc.
Garfield jokes that suicide, exercise, and dieting are equally unappealing.
May 6, 1983 © Paws, Inc.
Stuck in a tree, Garfield tells Nermal to talk fast: he was just considering leaping to his death.
July 22, 1983 © Paws, Inc.
Garfield eyes an exercise rope drawn like a noose, dreading it.
August 18, 1983 © Paws, Inc.
Jon says he'll go out and shoot himself; Garfield replies 'Sure' and accuses him of just trying to cheer him up.
October 19, 1983 © Paws, Inc.
After a diet lunch of one lettuce leaf, Garfield thanks Jon and announces he's going to die now.
August 8, 1985 © Paws, Inc.
Garfield says he’s moved from depressed to suicidal, played as a punchline.
December 10, 1985 © Paws, Inc.
Garfield steps in Odie's food bowl in the dark and decides he'll curl up and die now.
June 5, 1987 © Paws, Inc.
Starved and sleepless on a diet, Garfield says if self-pity weren't the third thing he lives for, he'd kill himself.
January 13, 1988 © Paws, Inc.
On a rainy Monday, Jon announces a camping trip; Garfield hopes that if he dies, he won't have to go.
August 14, 1989 © Paws, Inc.
Jon greets Monday morning with an accordion polka; Garfield begs, 'Take me now, Monday!'
March 1, 2021 © Paws, Inc.