Charles Schulz and Jim Davis

C

Cars

New member
O-k, first off, I did not know where to post, so I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. Second, here is my question.

In a book I own, "Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader" (by the Bathroom Readers' Institute), it states that Charles M. Schulz of the "Peanuts" fame had certain feelings for other humor cartoonists. He loved Lynn Johnston's "For Better or For Worse", never said much about Gary Larson's "the Far Side", and check this out, he loathed Jim Davis' "Garfield" - wow.

I admit "Garfield" has its flaws, as does everything else, but I am a big fan of the comic, it is witty, humorous, and interesting, and I think Garfield makes a fantastic cat counterpart to the lovable dog Snoopy, and if I remember correctly, Jim Davis admires Charles Schultz, as he put his inspiration that he got from the "Peanuts" gang into the "Garfield" cast (Snoopy = Garfield, Woodstock = Odie, Charlie Brown = Jon Arbuckle, etc.), and he even made a few references to the "Peanuts" franchise. There are three such comic strips.

One has Garfield walking pass a mirror and seeing Snoopy's reflection instead of his, so he says, "It's going to be one of those Mondays." Another has Garfield lying on the table, Jon Arbuckle comments on his "movement", so Garfield responds, "I wonder if Charlie Brown could use a cat?" A third has Garfield walking to Snoopy's doghouse, lying on the top of it, and letting out a sigh that only Snoopy would do. Additionally, after Schultz died, Garfield did a sketch of Garfield walking to Snoopy's doghouse and holding his hand on it, Garfield then sighs sadly. Now, I do not know if Schultz ever referenced "Garfield" in any of his comics, but there is one such comic. It is the Great Baron's birthday, so Snoopy gets a card and walks to a postal box. He then says out loud to himself that he hopes that the Great Baron would love the card, it is Garfield, after all.

Now, do not get me wrong, I admire both Schultz and Davis, but I am somewhat miffed about this. I mean, Davis has always admired "Peanuts", so why did Schultz loathed "Garfield"? I do not know if anyone can answer this, but does anyone have any thoughts about this? I am just wondering, thanks.

Looneytunes/Disneytoons
 
Bill Waterson also hates Garfield. I don't know why for either of them, though Garfield's heavy commercialism has something to do with it.
 
I'd wager a guess that Waterson and Schultz felt that Davis sold out big time with Garfield. While Schultz and Waterson handled every aspect of their strips from start to finish, Davis had his own production team for Garfield. And compared to Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts, which were often very deep and meaningful, Garfield tended to be more on the shallow side.

I've read that Schultz really liked Calvin and Hobbes, actually.
 
Garfield is about as well-drawn as Family Guy. Only minor changes between panels like mouths. Sometimes Jim Davis draws the same exact frame for the first two panels, with Jon and Garfield saying absolutely nothing, only to have the setup and joke in the third.

Yet I wonder how Garfield and Friends turned out to be a really good cartoon.
 
I thought sold out meant something else, but yeah, I think thats basically it.

You and Mowub are also right about Garfield's shallowness and simplicity, but sometimes I'm in the mood for a cheap joke.
 
Apparently Schulz didn't want the Garfield specials to also be produced by Melendez-Mendelson back in the day, which resulted in the foundation of Film Roman.

FWIW, aside from the number of times Davis has spoken highly of Schulz (and crediting him for the idea of Garfield walking upright), there's a cartoon reprinted in In Dog Years, I'd Be Dead, of Snoopy, drawn and signed by Schulz, congratulating Davis for Garfield being in 1,000 papers. Schulz might've become more resentful of Davis in his last years, but is that likely?
 
These are very good reasons. I never thought of them before, but is a reason why Snoopy and Garfield never appeared together in a comic strip or cartoon episode, despite their many similarities, is because Charles Schultz loathed the "Garfield" franchise? I am just curious.

Looneytunes/Disneytoons
 
Huh? You said in post #1 that Snoopy did appear in a Garfield strip:

And the 2 characters did appear in a TV special together, if one counts CBS's The Fabulous Funnies, hosted by Loni Anderson, in which Snoopy and Garfield were seen alongside several comic strip characters. But regardless of how Schulz felt about Davis' work or vice-versa, I doubt that you would've seen a full-blown Peanuts/Garfield crossover happen anyway, because that's just not how the comic strip industry works. They are 2 separate entities with different styles and sensibilities.

Anyway, it's not a law that all fellow comic strip artists have to admire each other and be pals; comic strip authors are people just like everyone else; everyone has and is entitled to their own likes and dislikes. Does it really matter how Charles Schulz felt about Garfield and vice-versa? I don't think so. Both were successful works which a lot of people enjoyed. That's all that matters.
 
Snoopy did appear in a "Garfield" comic strip, but not as an actual character. In the strip, Garfield walks by a mirror and sees Snoopy's reflection instead of his, he then looks at the audience and says, "It's going to be one of those Mondays." Davis did four "Peanuts" comic strip references, but I do not know how Schultz felt about them. I also never saw "the Fabulous Funnies", but I am talking about an actual crossover. I also know this does not matter, but it is interesting, at least to me, for various reasons.

Looneytunes/Disneytoons
 
I would wish for a Peanuts/Garfield crossover. I can imagine the following if John Arbuckle still depressed then he didn't get any date with girls ask for some psychiatric help to Lucy. Then for the football kick, I think Garfield might be able to outsmart Lucy on this one.
 
This is interesting to hear. I remember watching a special on Garfield on the Animal Planet once when the first movie was coming out. There was a part where Jim Davis was mentioning how it was hard to draw Garfield standing on two legs and he received helpful advise from Charles Schulz on how to do that. I actually have never heard of any dislike of the comic strip from fellow comic strip creators.

Even if he didn't like it, I agree that everyone has different personal tastes. In all honesty, I've never really liked Garfield too much myself. It isn't horrible by any means and Garfield is a pretty interesting character, but I haven't ever felt the same kind of spark of humor and writing from it as I have from reading Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.
 
No offense to anyone, but if that's what a crossover would entail, then I'm glad that didn't happen, 'cause that wouldn't make any sense at all. Why would Jon, a grown man, take dating advice from Lucy, a little kid? Does not compute. Not to mention that Jon would be completely out of place in the world of Peanuts, where all of the adults are perpetually off-camera.

But then, I'm not a fan of crossovers anyway.
 
garfield and peanuts have been the batman and superman of comic strips(by that I their the most famous worldwide)
I surprised the creaters didn't get along
was it just whose strip was more popular
 
Jim Davis wrote in one of the books that he asked Schulz for permission to do that.

Just for the record, you're not talking about the Filmation Fabulous Funnies show from '77, are you?
 
I don't think that was why he didn't like Garfield, if that's what you're asking.

Garfield and Peanuts are very different strips; in a way, it could be thought of as a reflection of Schulz's opinions. Garfield is really popular, but Peanuts is generally regarded by all as a great feature, somewhat explaining Davis' opinions. It's kind of hard for me to put it in words, but that's what I feel.
Basically, what would it be like if the strips somehow came to life and met with each other? The personalities would obviously conflict, philosophical Peanuts and simple Garfield.
 
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