This morning, for some reason, I became very concerned about whatever happened to Lyman. Do you remember Lyman? He was the dark haired guy with a mustache in “Garfield.” He was Jon’s friend (apparently only one) who moved in at one point. Originally, Odie was his dog. Odie only came to live with Garfield when Lyman did. However, at some point Lyman disappeared. Odie continued to appear, but Lyman was gone.
Does no one care about this? Does anyone else even remember?
According to Wikipedia, Lyman first appeared back in August of 1978. He last regularly appeared in the strip in April of 1983. No explanation appeared in the strip. One day he was there, the next day he had just faded away. Jon became Odie’s de facto owner, though any transfer of ownership wasn’t really mentioned. Jon just sort of acted like he always owned Odie.
This disturbs me. Where did Lyman go? Why? Why was it never mentioned in the strip? I can only assume dark things. Did Jon kill him? Garfield? Liz? Now, Liz would have had no motive back when the disappearance occurred, but recently she has actually dated Jon seriously. Perhaps she off’d Lyman or arranged for him to go away in furtherance of plans that she would have Jon to herself to manipulate (other than Garfield) in twenty-five years or so. Is he dead? Hiding in an abandoned privy in the French countryside? Captured? Joined the Heaven’s Gate cult? Abducted by gophers and held for strange demands no one has understood since gophers can’t talk? These are dark possibilities, and no one seems concerned.
Wikipedia refers to Jon having adopted Odie when Lyman was written out of the strip. However, that is not an explanation as to Lyman’s whereabouts. Wikipedia also mentions that Lyman was originally introduced so Jon could actually talk to someone. However, as Jim Davis explored non-verbal interaction, Lyman was not needed. Thus, something possibly unfortunate must have been arranged to get Lyman out of the way. Wikipedia reports that when Davis was confronted about this, he reportedly said (Wikipedia says jokingly), “Don’t look in Jon’s basement.”
Doesn’t this bother anyone else? It bothers the crap out of me! Lyman is gone and we haven’t been given a satisfactory explanation! Get pissed, damn you! Demand an explanation! The truth is out there!
Now, Davis may have been joking. Even he might not know what happened to Lyman. Then again, maybe he does. Maybe we should look in Jon’s basement. Hell, let’s put out an all points bulletin. Find Lyman. If he is in Jon’s basement, let’s find out what happened. He could still be alive, being held prisoner, for god’s sake. Bound up in duct tape with a rubber squeeky ball in his mouth. He may need help. If he isn’t in Jon’s basement, let’s go out and look for the poor guy. Nobody’s ever investigated! Ask some questions! Interview some witnesses! Everybody needs to help on this. We must find Lyman. Save Lyman!
David Atkinson's Blog 
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who cares something about Lyman! I, too, wonder exactly what happened to him. Jim Davis has explained, like you said, that Lyman was originally there for Jon to have someone to talk to, but since Garfield and Jon were able to communicate non-verbally with time, Lyman wasn’t needed. I don’t think they did anything particularly bad to Lyman – they just simply phased him out without giving a good explanation (though it is still fun to imagine, though).
Truthfully, even though Lyman might not have been as necessary, I’d still like to see him around. He is an interesting character to me, and I’d like to see him make at least an occasional appearance in the new strips. However, I doubt that’ll happen.
Agreed. I would like to see Lyman once in a while, but I doubt Davis will listen to me. I just think it reinforces Jon’s character to have a singular friend instead of just letting us assume he has no friends. When I see NO friends, I assume that I’m just not seeing the friends Jon has. When I saw Jon having ONE friend, I just assumed Lyman was the only person willing to talk to him.
Yeah, I agree. In the comics, Jon is pretty much viewed as a dork and a loser, and up until recently when he started dating Liz, he probably didn’t have any friends besides his pets. Even though it’s good that Liz is his friend/girlfriend, it would still be good for Jon to have one guy as a friend so they can bond in that sort of way (not romantically, of course).
I think I saw somewhere that part of the reason Lyman was written out was because Lyman and Jon living together presented a potentially “gay” situation that might draw criticism from some readers, and Davis realized that and had to get himself out of it.
I suppose it is possible, but that could just be the sort of thing people read in later. All the stuff I heard regarding Davis’s reasons for getting rid of Lyman centered more on him not finding any use for the guy as opposed to any homosexuality concerns (let’s face it, Jon did date a lot of women even if they never called him again because he was a loser). Let’s face it too, drawing that mustache is probably a lot of work.
When I was a kid, I once pestered this poor woman who worked at the Garfield website (but was kind enough to e-mail me) about Lyman. I wanted Lyman brought back, damn it!… I was born in 1988, so I didn’t become even aware of him until buying one of the older Garfield books I used to collect as a child… I found him a funny character that Jon could interact with. Too bad Jim Davis won’t bring him back.
I remember Lyman (I was born in the 70s) and I do miss him. I could kind of see the point Davis was making though that Lyman didn’t really provide him any opportunities. He was fun, but kind of useless (though I don’t think that merited killing him).
Heartless of Lyman to join the Peace Corp and abandon his pet.
Right?
I’m thinking Lyman is the source of meat in all those lasagnas.
Possible….
Well he did appear as a 3d animated character in Garfield show. But since that isn’t canon I too am curious where Lyman is. But I doubt he’s dead, it’s a comedy strip for gods sake!
Exactly why it would happen off screen.
Well the offscreen story seems to be, Lyman left Odie to Jon while he went and did the things he was interested in, that was wild life photographing as seen in the Garfield Show. But he’s still friends with Jon, as he came to Garfield’s 10th birthday party and visited him in that Garfield Show episode.
If Jim Davis aint gonna add any more info at all, then that’s the story for now I guess.
Sounds suspiciously like a cover story to me.
Lol you are asking for a dark version of the story now. Well Lyman was at Garfield’s 10th birthday anyway in a canon comic strip and that was 5 years after he disappeared
He could very well be stuffed in that picture. http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1988/ga880619.gif
Lmao that wouldn’t be it at all. Not everything is so dark, and this is a comedy not something to make dark theories about. Lyman isn’t dead.
But dark theories are so much more fun than “they decided he was an unecessary character and stopped using him.”
But happy theories are so much.. happier and more realistic xD you asked what happened to Lyman so I told you using events from official Garfield things. Anyway I prefer “they decided to stop using him” more than some twisted psycho story of chaining him in the basement.
Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
Well then okay, suit yourself. Happy new year (almost)
To you as well!
I found this blog by googling “lyman and odie” because I have always been bothered the Lyman simply disappeared and people don’t even know Odie was Lyman’s dog first. I’m glad someone else was bothered. I was a teenager in 1978 and collected the comics from the newspaper as soon as they began–I was obsessed.
This is how I’ve seen it; Lyman was first seen knocking on Jon’s door (towards the end of the first year of the strip), and telling him he had nowhere to stay, and Jon let him (and his dog Odie) move in with him. Lyman ended up staying with Jon for a few years (the duration of the time that Lyman regularly appeared in the strip with Jon, Garfield, and Odie). Lyman then finally moved out to get his own place, probably way across to the other side of the country since he was almost never seen again, even just to visit Jon. Lyman also handed Odie over to Jon to keep right before moving out, which explains why Odie stayed and not Lyman. Lyman probably gave Odie to Jon because he was tired of owning such a dumb dog who wasn’t housebroken (remember when Lyman smacks Odie with a newspaper for going on the floor). Jon didn’t seem to mind Odie as much (even though Garfield did)
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