BT-Garfield: Bigr Than

This third installment of "Garfield" features the introduction of Nermal, the introduction of Jon's family ("Eat! Eat! Eat!"), Garfield's National Fat Week, and the more "truthful" side of Irma. Lyman also appears, but he becomes less prevalent as the days go by. A certain must-read for all Garfield fans.

Is Jim Davis trying to pull a George Lucas on us? All of these re-released full-color books are missing the final page of the original release books. This re-release Third Book (Bigger Than Life) is missing the "Garfield Up Close And Personal" special page that was the final page of the original release. It would be a shame to have the special comic lost to time. Luckily I have all the originals. Normally I should give a 1-Star rating to show my displeasure with the missing content of this release. However, I simply can't bring myself to give a poor rating to a Garfield book.

Gotta love Garfield the cat. He says things that a lot of us don't have the guts to say. He is lazy, loves to sleep although I think eating outweighs his love for sleep even more, doesn't enjoy getting physical exams, and enjoys abusing the family dog. As hysterically funny as the first two Garfield books are, I really think that "Bigger Than Life" takes Garfield to a whole new level of laziness and gluttony. The animation is a lot better as well. Here the reader is introduced to the world's cutest (and annoying) kitten Nermal. Originally Nermal belonged to Jon's parents however over the years, Jim Davis just had Nermal drop in unexpectedly. The early drawings of Nermal was just as crude as the early Garfield drawings were. One of the greatest moments in this book was when Garfield sneezed and Jon's breakfast ended up on his face. The other greatest moment that I still love is when Jon leaves the house to go jogging, and Garfield finds a loose thread. Garfield pulls it until...well, Jon returns home unepxectedly in his birthday suit. An absolutely priceless moment for me. I also thought when Garfield caught a code was hilarious.Whenever I feel down, I know I can always count on Garfield making me laugh with his antics.

Although his first two books are good, this book is better and I would consider this to be Garfield's best book of the pre-'82 era. I like the part when Garfield scratches on Jon's chair and Nermal got blamed for it, that was hilarious, if you're a Garfield fan then you can't go wrong getting this book and be sure not to let your cat do what Garfield does otherwise there will be a lot hell to pay.

Contains all the daily and Sunday strips August 27, 1979 through March 30, 1980.