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The Jonicles - Entry 17 (Original image source)

Note: This is the seventeenth entry of The Jonicles, hence why the date does not match when this is being posted. This was written back in early July of this year before I started this blog, and there will be errors or developments in how this series was being written. Please enjoy (or don't enjoy) the seventeenth entry of The Jonicles!

It is currently the 7th of July, 2022 at 8:24 pm. The numner of days in between these entries is slowly increasing and its because i keep forgetting to write these or have nothing noteable to really write about... It is currently... Day #50 of my Jon Arbuckle hyperfixation! Jesus Christ! This... This calls for celebration!

Since this entry is on a special occassion, I want to talk about something that's special to me, something that's special to Garfield, and something that a lot of the older fans will know about. Something that, despite having once been a crucial part of the comics, has long since seemed to have faded away out of the panels and into the back of everyone's minds.

That special something is, in fact, a someone, and that someone is Jon Arbuckle's long time friend and roommate, Lyman. First having appeared on the August 7th, 1978 strip (or January 22nd, 1976 if you count the 'Jon' comics) moving into Jon's living space along with his pet dog Odie, Lyman was a major character of the Garfield strip, being a big part of how the dynamic played out and acting as a friend Jon could talk to. Everyone interacted with Lyman in some way and he always had something to bring to the strip whenever he was in it. He was a fun, kind, energetic and athletic man who liked to run and quite extroverted compared to Jon's more reserved personality (at least with the earlier strips, Jon became a little more extroverted as time went on). As a kid, I always thought Lyman was a little weird, but I liked him quite a bit. The comics I first read were, as I've talled about before, ones from the 80s collected by my dad, and whilst Lyman wasn't in a lot of them for reasons I will explain, it was nice seeing him there. In fact, I was so familiar with Lyman and he was so recognisable to me that when I read one of the comics where a one-off character known as Frank, who was supposedly a friend of Jon, appeared and pet Garfield the wrong way, my brain when remembering the strip had completely forgotten about Frank and replaced him with Lyman. So, take what you will of that. Who the fuck even IS Frank anyway????

But despite all that, with Lyman being such a major character and all, he would slowly make less and less appearances in the eaely 80s, sometimes being completely silent or in the background until he would make his last regular appearance in the strip of April 24th, 1983, where his very last spoken words are "Hey, Jon. What happened to you guys?", only being used as the punchline. Lyman made two more cameo appearances, one on Garfield's birthday in 1988, which would be his last appearance in person, and finally, on April 2nd, 2013, Lyman would make his very last appearance ever in the strip, in the form of a photo in the newspaper Jon was reading. And with that, Lyman was gone, seemingly banished from the strip. No explanation, no real reason, nothing. I hadn't realised it as a kid, but when I was reading those Garfield strips from the 80s, it was already too late, as most strips in the books I had were from after 1983, give or take a handful of strips featuring Lyman pre '83. But after that, he was gone, and I hadn't even realised.

And you know, it makes me sad. It makes me sad to know that a character who, while it was small, once brought me a smile or a chuckle as a kid and someone who I grew fond of as the pages turned, not only the pages in the books, but the pages across my life, is gone now. Just a memory, just a footnote. It's like Lyman passed away without warning or explanation, which is a theory that a lot of Garfield fans have as to why this loveable friend of Jon's mysteriously vanished, and one that I'm beginning to believe as well.

When approaching this theory, one could simply point to the newspaper Jon is reading as a clue to the untimely passing of Lyman, and whilst there are not legible words on the page with them just being lines, one could make the assumption that, with Lyman appearing, it could be either a missing persons report or, even worse, a report of Lyman's death. Why else would Lyman be on the front of the paper? Lyman seemed like a normal guy, he was never really a noteworthy figure in the comic's canon, he was just a humble, sweet guy who liked to run and go jogging in the mornings with Jon. He was an unassuming guy, which makes his sudden appearance in the newspaper after having been gone for years a concerning and sad one. The possibility of Lyman just being... dead is one that really saddens me, and what makes this even worse is when you think about Jon when it comes to this theory.

Jon, in the April 2nd 2013 strip is reading a section in the paper that mentions something to do with the hypothesis that if space aliens were to invade Earth, they could take the form of animals. This section seems to have absolutely nothing to do with Lyman unless he's like.... i dunno secretly a xenomorph or something.... But since that theory is very unlikely, this section does not mention Lyman at all. Now, this may seem like an odd thing mention, but to me, it raises the possibility that Jon hasn't seen the article about Lyman yet, seeing as how he seems totally engrossed in the alien article. He looks unaware, unassiming, not like someone who has just seen their long lost friend in the paper for the first time and reading something as devastating as their death. And that means that moments from when this comic takes place, Jon is about to be hit with the bombshell that is Lyman's death, and he will be absolutely devastated by it. There is also the possibility that Jon is simply in denial and is trying to distract himself from this distressing information which is even worse. And considering Jon's mental state, it probably wouldn't be hard to believe.

Speaking of Jon's mental state, it's easy to notice that, since the beginning of the strip, Jon has become more and more unhinged and lonely? Literally the only people he seems to interact with anymore are Garfield, Odie, Liz and sometimes Irma. But even then, Irma doesn't appear as often, so it's mainly just the animals and his girlfiend that Jon interacts with. And ever since Lyman began to fade away, Jon sure has been talking to his cat a whole lot more. The poor guy is probably dying from boredom and loneliness at this point, with Lyman out of the picture, Jon's gotten considerably more unhinged. You see, there's a noticeable difference in Jon's demeanor in the earlier strips, as he appeared more calm and content. Yeah, he was still a little off, but he at least had someone he could talk to about his problems. Yet by the early 2000s, Jon's emotions became a lot more varied and he tended to either jump fron emotion to emotion, or be completely flat and seem depressed. He's more sensitive, he gets angrier a lot easier, he becomes depressed when things go wrong, he becomes depressed a lot more often, and my god was Jon desperate when it came to dating! You remember the strip where he just screamed "HELLOOOOOOOOOO??" into his phone? Poor guy... I really do believe that Lyman's disappearance really did play into why Jon became less coherent and more desperate in the 2000s, and I'm glad Liz came into the picture, as sudden and oddly written as it was. I think Liz was the person that saved Jon in the end, and while Jon's still unhinged, and Liz will never replace Lyman and fill the Lyman shaped hole in my Jon shaped heart, she's definitely good for Jon. He has someone he can talk to, and someone who can help on his road to recovery, and I'm really happy for that. Thank you for being there for Jon, Liz :)

Speaking of Jon, I'd like to also quickly mention two things: There's a Tumblr blog that's dedicated to the theory that the reason Lyman disappeared is because Jon murdered him to obtain Odie for his own needs, citing many edited Garfield strips and other pieces of evidence (all tagged #evidence locker), and I don't have it on hand right now, but there's this really funny set of Sims screenshots that shows Jon killing Lyman in Jon's basement while Garfield just comes down the stairs and hangs around while Odie just watches sadly from the background. Like, Jon's standing there covered in blood and shit and Garfield's literally just sitting there staring at him like "bruh", then after killing Lyman, Jon just sits on a chair and happily reads a book to himself, still covered in blood by the way. It's great

Thing number two: Yes, I am aware of the 4-part special of The Garfield Show called Long Lost Lyman, and no, I do not think that is him. I mentioned this before, but that is not Lyman. Listen, the eye shape on TGS Lyman is COMPLETELY different! And what's worse is that it completely alters the length and shape of his head. Solid Lyman's head is more round and small, but Liquid Lyman's head is oddly elongated and more narrow. Second of all, his hair and moustache shape are completely different! Solid Lyman's hair shape is similar to Jon's, looking curly and short, except it's black, basically. But Liquid Lyman.... Oh my goodness, it's not even close! His hair looks more fluffy than curly and it goes down in this really odd fashion, not similar to Jon's at all. And even weirder is that it's coloured brown. Solid Lyman's moustache goes in a U shape, while Liquid Lyman's moustache honestly just looks more like Mario's, it goes outwards more and just looks... off. And listen, I can understand the producers taking creative liberties with having Jon's hair be more fluffy in the flashback, but here's the thing: Jon's still Jon, and unlike Lyman, he isn't trying to pretend to be Jon! This "Lyman" is an IMPOSTOR! I think that he replaced the real Lyman by trapping him in the basement in Garfield's Scary Scavenger Hunt and FRAMED Jon Arbuckle! "Don't look in Jon's basement!"? Jon may be unhinged, but he wouldn't go as far as to kidnap and decapitate his closest friend. Jon was sitting outside that mansion quivering in fear because he was afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid of the IMPOSTOR that kidnapped and murdered his friend, of course! They even put his head in the oven, he's a cannibal! And so he wouldn't get caught, Liquid Lyman fled to Australia and became the Zabadoo to avoid conviction, and...

Sigh... Listen, I just want closure, man. I can't just have one of my favourite characters disappear without any explanation like that, and I certainly can't have a sussy impostor just replace him like that either. I need something, I need Lyman to just come back into the strip again and give Jon a hug, tell him where he was all these years and just... Well, just tell him that he's okay. Maybe have him as a recurring character. Or maybe he doesn't have to become a regular again, but I just want to know what really happened to Lyman. He's severely underrated, he didn't even appear in Garfield And Friends, he's not in Garfield Kart, Paws Inc barely acknowledges the guy, if at all. I think we all just need to see our loveable Lyman again because it's been a while... It's been a long while. Jon misses him, man. And I'm sure Lyman misses Jon too, wherever he may be...

Forever in our hearts, never forget the one and only Lyman. 1978 - 1983. We miss you, bud.

Last edited at 10:25 pm

I miss Lyman. I miss just being able to see him in my comic books. In fact, the slow disappearance of Lyman is even present in those books the later the issues get. It's incredibly saddening. I just wanna see my boy again, Jon misses him...

... Well, at least with the posting of this entry, we're finally up to date. This is where the old entries end and the new entries can finally start. There are a couple I still need to post like 'What Are The Jonicles?', but apart from that, I'm pretty much all caught up now. Entry 19 is coming soon, and It will be on Jon's birthday this July!

Thank you for reading!

Cheers,

Your Local Jonnoisseur (hehe, "Liquid Lyman")

Posted on the 23rd of July, 2022 at 10:00 am.

#jonicles 17 #i miss lyman #we all miss him #jon misses him #''liquid lyman''#that's a metal gear solid reference... i've never even played that game #maybe frank killed lyman #i wouldnt put it past him #he just looks like he's up to no good #i've got my eyes on you frank......

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