lyman is probably my favorite garfield character, i'm not sure why, he's just neat.

if you don't know, lyman was a character in the garfield comic strip, he was odie's original owner, and his purpose was mainly so that jon could have a human friend to talk to.

he first appeared on august 7 1978 and he moved in with jon and garfield, becoming his roommate and bringing odie along.

he was a relatively short-lived character, last appearing on april 24 1983, disappearing from the strip without any explanation, and only appearing in small easter eggs ever since.

he was a friendly guy, the goofy counterpart to jon's stoic nature. (after his removal from the strip, jon started taking lyman's goofy traits.)

lyman dissapeared because his role—having someone for jon to talk to—started being overtaken by garfield himself.

he appears as an easter egg in the garfield "scary scavenger hunt" flash game, chained up in a basement of a haunted house and his head appears inside an oven at some point. but that's just an easter egg. i don't think he's dead.

he made his grand comeback in the garfield show, in a 4-parter story arc called "long lost lyman". here, it's revealed that he's a wildlife photographer, who left to another country to photograph a cryptid legend but never returned again. jon, garfield and odie went looking for him, and found him dressed as the cryptid, protecting the jungle from hunters and poachers.

i like him because his design is cool, his dynamic with jon is also funny as they easily bounce off of each other, being the goofy to jon's cynical, the dog person to jon's cat person, etc. plus it was nice that jon had another person to consistently talk to.

i understand why they removed him, but i miss him. he was cool. that's why i made this little shrine for him.

and NO i don't think jon killed lyman. i'm honestly tired of the edgy garfield theories. do you want my personal theory on why he disappeared? he and jon got a divorce. ok that one's just a joke answer.

lyman links:
every comic lyman is present in
the garfield show: long lost lyman
a youtube video about lyman
another youtube video about lyman

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