Garfield’s Cheesy Holiday Special (One Shot) –
KaBOOM!
Part One
Written by Mark Evanier Art by Andy Hirsch
Part Two
Written by Scott Nickel Art by David DeGrand
Colors by Lisa Moore
Letters by Steve Wands
Cover by Andy Hirsch
Holiday specials are one of my favorite things about the Christmas season. It takes you back to your childhood, and for that short amount of time, makes you feel like a kid again at Christmas. Being a big Garfield fan, I jumped at the chance to read this Cheesy Holiday Special! You get two different stories in the issue, along with a few classic comic strips at the end.
The first story really felt like an episode of the Garfield & Friends animated series. Jon gets a job as Santa at a store, and as it usually does, it takes Garfield and Odie on a wild adventure. For a moment in this story there’s moment that will leave you saying, “REALLY GARFIELD!?” I won’t spoil what happens in the next panel, just keep going. The story does take an oddly serious tone near the end, but the message is a pretty good one.
The second story, for me, just didn’t hold my interest. The art was vastly different from the first story, as well. Having an evil lasagna plotting against Garfield is a good idea in theory, but just didn’t play off well to me. They even try to break the 4th wall a couple of times, and it fell a little flat. I get that this isn’t really geared towards adults, but as a long time fan of Garfield, this story just seemed out of place.
The classic strips speak for themselves, and serve as a reminder of the joys the Sunday paper used to bring. This book as a whole definitely had it’s ups and downs, but was definitely able to bring some holiday spirit. Evanier definitely captures the Jim Davis spirit of Garfield, and the colors by Moore are solid throughout. If you don’t mind a slight misstep in the middle, I think there’s a chance you’ll enjoy this with your kids.
RATING: PICK UP