As webcomics creators, many of us are happy to simply have an outlet for our creative energies. However, once you make it big, nothing gives you that high more than earning respect from your peers, especially the ones who have done it longer and bigger than you (or so I’m told). Recently, Scott Kurtz (un)officially joined that club of awesome creators.
The news was tucked away in a PvP blog post titled after the terrifying final words of Brad Pitt’s character in Se7en (What’s in the box?). After viewing a very satisfying strip in which Brent’s dad, being the heroic and steel-jawed man that he is, decides to single-handedly solve the “panda problem”, I got curious. And being the curious fella I am, I scrolled down to find the aforementioned post, accompanied by a puzzling Garfield logo emblazoned on what looked to be a manila folder. I clicked through to investigate.
The link whisked me away to a Flickr photoset, wherein the mystery slowly unraveled. Sometime last week, Kurtz received a package directly from Mr. Garfield himself, Jim Davis. Included in this package is the hand-drawn duo of Scratch Fury and Garfield, back-to-back in true brothas-from-anotha-mutha fashion. In the quick gallery, Kurtz describes not only how awesome it is to see his creation standing along with a cartoon legend, but how further investigation of the drawing itself reveals that the gorgeous linework and dead-on likeness of Scratch are the steady hand of a cartooning master.
First things first: in today’s world of PvP, Penny Arcade, and Achewood, strips like Garfield are quickly dismissed by some as trite and simplistic when put up against the more rounded and richer characters of today’s best strips. A drawing like this helps us to remember that guys like Jim Davis are where they are for a reason. Respect is not won or given, it is earned and clearly Davis has the chops to do so any day of the week.
Secondly, having your own character posed with Garfield the Freakin’ Cat?!? If you didn’t believe you’d made it by now, Scott, you best believe it now. Congrats on the awesome event and thanks for sharing it with the rest of us!
