Later next month, Nickelodeon and Boom! Studios (through its children’s division, kaboom!) will release its latest collection of new Garfield comics in the form of the anthology, Garfield Full Course: Volume Four. The collection is set for release Oct. 15. That is not too far away, but in the meantime as audiences wait for its release, there are still three other volumes to enjoy, the most current, Volume Three, having dropped in early July through the companies. The collection in question is its own enjoyable presentation for readers of all ages. That is due, just as with its own predecessors and as with the forthcoming anthology, to its featured stories. They will be discussed shortly. The artwork featured throughout the collection plays into the book in its own right and will be examined a little later. The bonus content that accompanies the collection rounds out its most important elements, too. Each element noted is important in its own right to the whole of Garfield Full Course: Volume Three. All things considered they make this current collection of Garfield comics yet another offering that readers of all ages will appreciate.
Garfield Full Course: Volume Three, the current offering of comics featuring America’s favorite flabby tabby, is just as enjoyable as its predecessors as the Garfield collections that Nickelodeon and kaboom! have released and the forthcoming collection, which will finish out 2024. That is due in part to its featured stories. Once again written largely by Mark Evanier, the stories offer all of the fun, the attitude and even heart that Jim Davis gave the original comic strips while being comic book length tales. The heart is especially on display early in the collection in the form of the Evanier-written story, “Beautiful Balloons.” Centered around a Thanksgiving Day parade that Jon had been looking forward to, it is in essence a biting commentary about how commercial even such a beloved event as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has become. This as the balloons (the main reason people used to go to see the parade) that Jon had wanted to see turn out to be nothing but advertisements for the parade’s sponsor, Schlockman’s Department Store. For those who may not know, this is a slightly veiled reference to a classic Garfield company, Schlocko. At the same time, if one watches the annual real life Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, they hear the Macy’s name at least 15 times every 10 minutes as announcers talk about this singer or that lip syncs to his or her latest single from his or her latest coming album. All of the commercialism in this story is a great way to attack all of the commercialism of the real parade and how depressing it is to consider.
Now to the heart. The heart comes as Garfield actually works to make the parade the happy event that Jon remembered from years past. This attempt to actually do something nice for Jon is rare from Garfield, period, and is welcome to see. The result of Garfield’s efforts will be left for readers to discover for themselves. Overall, though, it is a great example of how the stories featured here make for so much engagement and entertainment.
Another great example of the stories’ roles in the collection comes much later in the form of “My Friend, Nermal.” Not to give away too much, but audiences find something in this story that they would never have expected, Jon, not Garfield, mailing Nermal to Abu Dhabi. What leads to that will be left to readers, but it involves a story that in its own way throws back to some classic Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry cartoons that force one character to be nice to the other. In two classic Looney Tunes cases, Elmer and Sam are forced to be nice to Bugs due to an inheritance they are expected to get. In the case of the Tom & Jerry cartoon, the same is much the case for Tom in regard to how he treats Jerry. In all three cases, the antagonists are mentally tortured by their respective nemeses. The same is the case in this story as Nermal absolutely tortures Garfield for a whole day. To that end, readers could argue that in this story, Evanier was paying tribute to those classic cartoons that have already run the same type of story to just as much success.
“The Finest Print,” another of Evanier’s entries in the collection, changes things up while keeping alive the biting commentary for which Jim Davis’ comic strip has been known for decades. This time, Garfield is forced to come up with a way to save his (technically Jon’s) home after convincing Jon to sign up for the “Lasagna of the Month” club. Jon signed up without having read the contract’s fine print, leading to some problems including Jon nearly losing his home. The very concept of reading the fine print is actually relative to the real world considering how Disney recently used fine print regarding arbitration in a man’s trial Disney+ subscription to try and avoid a lawsuit from a man whose wife died of an allergic reaction after the couple at a restaurant at the company’s Florida theme park. Public backlash led the company to give in and stop fighting the lawsuit, but it is proof that people need to read the fine print as much as possible, just as much as Jon should have read the fine print in his contract with the Lasagna of the Month club. It has all the edge of the original Garfield cartoon strips and even the stories from Garfield & Friends and is yet one more example of how much the stories in this collection make for engagement and entertainment.
The stories featured here are just part of what makes this collection enjoyable for readers. The artwork, once again largely designed by Andy Hirsch, makes for its own appeal. As in the other noted collections, Hirsch’s work comes so close to that of Jim Davis in each of the stories written by Evanier. Yes, there is once again work from the likes of David DeGrand, Courtney Bernard, and Miranda Yeo. Yes, their artwork is unique in its own right but truth be told, Hirsch’s work once again is so close to that of Davis that it will create the most appeal because of the positive nostalgia that it ensures, what with its familiarity in style. To that end, it is no surprise that Hirsch remains the lead artist for these collections. When his work pairs with Evanier’s writing, the pair’s collective presentations make for so much for readers to enjoy.
Knowing how much their work does to ensure readers’ engagement and entertainment, there is one more item to note. That item in question is the bonus content that accompanies the collection. The bonus content comes primarily in the form of a series of classic Sunday Garfield comic strips. In all, there are 14 total classic Sunday strips for readers to enjoy. This is a change of pace for Nickelodeon and kaboom! considering that the companies’ first two Garfield collections do not feature these strips. Rather, they only feature a handful of covers in a gallery. On a side note, audiences will be happy to know that the forthcoming fourth collection also features those strips as a bonus, so it is nice to see that Nickelodeon and kaboom! are sticking with this approach, at least for the time being. From Jon struggling to find a date (and having to make some pretty big concessions because of his desperation) in one of the strips, to plenty of laughs in a handful of Holiday-themed strips, to a couple of equally hilarious Halloween-themed strips and even a pair that find Garfield facing off against his foe, the scale, and more, the classic strips make for their own enjoyment, proving they are the best bonus content. Keeping that in mind, they put the finishing touch to this collection and prove once more just how much readers have to look forward to with this collection.
When the bonus Sunday strips are considered along with the stories (including even those not penned by Evanier) and the artwork of Hirsch, the whole therein makes for so much to like here once again. They make the collection in whole one more wonderful presentation for readers of all ages to add to their home libraries.
Nickelodeon and kaboom!’s third entry in their ongoing Garfield Full Course comics collections series is yet another largely successful offering for readers of all ages. Its enjoyment comes in part through its featured stories. More specifically, the stories crafted by writer Mark Evanier offer just the right balance of comedy, edge, and familiarity to make them well worth reading. There are other stories written by other writers (E.g. Scott Nickel’s “Revenge of the Zombie Meatballs” and “Garfield to the Rescue”) that offer their own entertainment, but it is really Evanier who leads the way once again. Artist Andy Hirsch leads the way in his own right once again with artwork that is so closely similar to that of Garfield’s creator, Jim Davis. The familiarity that Hirsch’s work ensures also ensures plenty of positive nostalgia for readers, too. When it is considered along with Evanier’s work, the team’s collective work makes for plenty of reason in itself to give this collection a chance. The classic Sunday Garfield comic strips included as bonus content put the finishing touch to the whole of the set. They take audiences back even more, ensuring just as much enjoyment. Each item examined here clearly is important in its own way to the whole of this collection. All things considered they make Garfield Full Course: Volume Three yet another wonderful offering for Garfield fans of all ages.
Garfield Full Course: Volume Three is available now through Nickelodeon and kaboom!. More information on this and other Garfield collections (and other titles) from Boom! Studios is available at:
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