With Creator Dan Walsh

On the 7th of Febuary 2010 LotsofInterviews.com interviewed a creator of the webcomic Garfield Minus Garfield, Dan Walsh, as part of our "Web Comic Spotlight". We talk how the comic started, about its popularity, coming up with new ideas and how the name of the comic was chosen.

What made you want to start this web comic?

The premise of removing Garfield from the strip had

been knocking around message boards for a couple of years before I first encountered them, but when I did it genuinely made me laugh out loud. I decided that if I found it funny, my friends probably would too. So I decided to make it into a web comic for my friends to see, not realising that so many other people would find it funny too.

Are you a big fan of web comics yourself?

Yes, I'm a huge comic fan both off (Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side) and on the web. As far as web only comics, amongst others I love: Savage Chickens, Bellen!, The Perry Bible Fellowship, Gun Show comic, Nedroid Picture Diary, Space Avalanche, Thingpart, and Cyanide and Happiness.

Are you a big Garfield fan?

I was a huge Garfield fan when I was a kid and I still read the daily strips now.

When you first started the strip, did you ever think it would become as big as he has done?

No, in fact if I had of known it would become some popular, I never would have started it; I was terrified I was going to be sued by the Garfield folks(Paws Incorporated), of course thankfully the opposite happened.

Are there not copyright laws you are breaking with your strip?

Technically, my strip falls under the remit of "Fair Use", which allows me to use copyrighted content as I am making an observation & parody of the source material.

Does your comic support you financially?

No, Garfield minus Garfield doesn't make enough money to support me financially. Even if it did, as a concept, I'm dependant on there always being suitable original strips for me to edit, which won't always be the case. I'll run out of usable original strips eventually.

What is the process of actually making a strip?

Most of my time is spent looking for a good candidate for the process; probably 95% of Garfield strips don't work. After I find one I edit the strip using MS Paint, that probably takes an average of about 15 minutes per strip.

Do you ever find it hard to come up with a new idea for a story/joke?

It gets harder every day. I'd love to never stop the strip but eventually I'll have used all suitable strips from the archive, once that happens I'll pretty much have to end the weekly updates.