Summary

• Gnorm Gnat strips are clever, on-brand, and hilariously morbid, making them truly hilarious.
• Gnorm Gnat parodies Peanuts and breaks the fourth wall, brilliantly addressing the popularity of the rival comic strip.
• Gnorm Gnat strips prove to be funnier than Garfield at times, showcasing clever punchlines and beats that Garfield misses.

Jim Davis is famous for being the creator of Garfield is perhaps the most iconic comic strip in the history of the medium. However, before Garfield, another - decidedly lesser-known - comic strip was produced by Davis that was arguably just as funny: Gnorm Gnat.

Gnorm Gnat was published in The Pendleton Times from 1973-1975, and while it found some success, the paper’s editor reportedly canceled the series because it wasn’t relatable enough. Apparently, bugs weren’t considered relatable to people in the mid-’70s, which is why Davis pivoted to the comic strip Jon (subsequently re-named Garfield). In short, Gnorm Gnat quite literally gave life to Garfield, but even so, it was funny enough to stand on its own merit as a truly hilarious comic. Here are 10 Gnorm Gnat strips that prove it!

10 Gnorm Gnat’s First Comic Strip Sets the Stage for a Hilarious 3-Year Run

Gnorm Gnat - March 1, 1973

The first Gnorm Gnat comic strip is absolutely hilarious - perhaps the best of the series. The first shows Gnorm meeting Freddy the Fruit Fly, who quickly explains that the lifespan of a fruit fly is one week, so he really doesn’t have time to stop for a long chat. Gnorm Gnat comments that that’s too bad, to which Freddy replies, “The divorce rate is pretty low”.

This strip is light-hearted dark humor at its finest. Here Freddy is, with mere days to live, saying that at least fruit flies aren’t getting divorced very often. This strip is clever, on-brand (indeed, it’s a world featuring talking bugs), and hilariously morbid. In other words, it perfectly sets the stage for a hilarious three-year run.

9 Gnorm Gnat Rips Off Peanuts & Breaks the 4th Wall in 1 Comic Strip

Gnorm Gnat - March 8, 1973

The above strip features Jim Davis speaking directly to Gnorm Gnat, telling the character to ‘get up there’ because the fans will love it. While readers don’t yet know what Davis is referring to, Gnorm Gnat vehemently refuses, despite Davis’ promise that readers will love it. The argument gets so intense that Davis threatens to erase Gnorm Gnat from existence if he doesn’t listen to him. The comic ends with Gnorm Gnat lying flat on his back on the roof of a dog house, saying defeatedly, “That tyrant would sell his mother to build a readership”.

This comic is Jim Davis addressing how popular Peanuts is by doing a parody of Snoopy, all while calling himself out on it the entire time, with his own original character being against the soulless rip-off the entire time. The entire strip is utterly brilliant, and incredibly hilarious.

8 1 Gnorm Gnat Joke is Funnier Than When Garfield Did It

Gnorm Gnat - April 26, 1973

This comic strip shows Gnorm Gnat doing a crossword puzzle, pondering a six-letter word for pain. When Gnorm asks Drac Webb, the spider says, “arrrgh”. Gnorm writes that off as ridiculous, at which point Drac promptly steps on Gnorms foot, causing the gnat to scream out, “ARRRGH”. Gnorm immediately asks for the correct spelling of “arrrgh”, itting defeat.

Garfield did this same joke a few years later, with Jon asking Garfield a six-letter word for pain, and Garfield jumping right to hurting Jon as his answer. Garfield’s version skips a whole beat of the joke, where the person who first said the word was “arrrgh” has to prove their point to the one that laughed them off. It's rare for a comic strip to be funnier than the iconic Garfield, but in this case, the evidence is clear.

7 The End of 1 Gnorm Gnat Saga is Hilariously Continued by Garfield

Gnorm Gnat - May 24, 1973

This comic strip marked the end of a four-part saga that saw Gnorm Gnat trapped beneath a piece of tape. He gets out by flexing his muscles, expanding the tape, and bursts his way to freedom - and it works! Except, right as he’s celebrating his freedom, a human hand comes down upon him with a stapler, and staples him down, leaving Gnorm in a worse position than he was in previously.

A few years later, Garfield found himself in a similar situation when he got caught in the window blinds, and he also came up with the same solution. Garfield decided that if he could flex all his muscles, then he’d be able to escape. But then, Garfield - being a famously fat cat - re that he doesn’t have any muscles, and continues to hang there until Jon saves him. This was a hilarious continuation of the first joke, as the thing that worked for Gnorm Gnat did not work for Garfield, thereby making the original gag that much funnier in retrospect.

6 Gnorm Gnat Helps Drac Webb Come Up With a Recipe for Lunch - & He’s Lunch

Gnorm Gnat - July 19, 1973

Drac Webb is something of an antagonist in Gnorm Gnat, proven true when he catches Gnorm Gnat in his web and threatens to eat him for lunch. But the funny part is, Gnorm is weirdly involved in the cooking process - specifically, choosing the recipe. Drac Webb lists a number of different dishes that he could cook Gnorm into, with Gnorm shooting them all down until he finally hears the one he likes: “Wry Bread”. Though it seemed like the only reason he chose that one was so he could say the punchline: “It would feel nice to be kneaded”.

This strip is actually yet another saga similar to the one where Gnorm Gnat was trapped underneath tape, though this one ended with the direct intervention of Jim Davis (for Gnorm’s benefit, as that ‘Stapler Hand’ may very well have belonged to Davis as well). Davis erased Drac’s web, thereby both freeing Gnorm and reminding readers that he’s still very much an active part of the series.

5 Gnorm Gnat’s Freddy the Fruit Fly Becomes Decidedly Less Optimistic

Gnorm Gnat - September 6, 1973

This strip sees the return of Freddy the Fruit Fly, and just like last time, his short life means he has no time to stop and talk with Gnorm Gnat. However, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a few ing words, especially after Gnorm says that Freddy’s short life shouldn’t depress him, and that he should live it up to the fullest in the little bit of time he’s got. To that, Freddy quickly responds that he can’t afford to, saying, “You should see my life insurance ”.

Freddy the Fruit Fly was definitely sad about his short life the first time he was featured on-, but at least he was optimistic about fruit fly divorce rates. Here, however, he’s decidedly less optimistic, as he marches through a short life to a quick death, all the while paying assuredly an exorbitant amount of money for life insurance.

4 Gnorm Gnat Tries Out Some New Stand-Up Material (& Totally Bombs)

Gnorm Gnat - October 25, 1973

Despite being the star of his very own comic strip, Gnorm Gnat tries his hand at a career in stand-up comedy - and totally bombs. Gnorm gets absolutely no response from the unseen audience as he’s up there on the stage, and when his jokes don’t land, he tells them that he knows they’re there because he can hear them breathing, which is sad even for the most desperate comic.

Rightfully so, Gnorm Gnat gets hooked off the stage, though that isn’t where this little saga ends. Gnorm proceeds to try stand-up two more times in this four-part saga, each time failing more miserably than the last - making each time more hilarious than the last as well.

3 Jim Davis Uses Gnorm Gnat to Prove He’s the King of Dad Jokes

Gnorm Gnat - January 31, 1974

The above strip features Gnorm Gnat sitting alone with his thoughts. He’s thinking about how he wished he lived in the 6th Century, because then he would be a “Gnat in shining armor”. One can feel the collective eye roll of every person who has ever read this comic strip since it was published in 1974, and that alone makes it absolutely hilarious.

It’s no secret that Jim Davis is the king of dad jokes - his voice shining through characters like Jon and Garfield have made that abundantly clear - but Gnorm was the first voice through which Davis’ dad jokes could flourish, and almost none of them can top this one.

2 Jim Davis Uses Gnorm Gnat’s Comic Strip Existence as a Meta Prop

Gnorm Gnat - February 7, 1974

This strip sees Gnorm Gnat asking his friend Lyman how to spell the word “rhythm”. So, Lyman asks him to say the word again, at which point Lyman looks directly at the word bubble of Gnorm Gnat repeating the word, and simply spells what he sees. Gnorm Gnat then looks directly at the reader, saying, “He’s so smart”.

This level of meta awareness in a Gnorm Gnat character allows Jim Davis to literally use the comic strip medium as his own personal prop, making the final joke that much more entertaining.

1 Freddy the Fruit Fly’s Final Gnorm Gnat Appearance is His Funniest (& Most Depressing)

Gnorm Gnat - May 22, 1975

Freddy the Fruit Fly was there at the start of the series, and he was there to finish off his three-year saga that canonically took place in less than a week. Here, Gnorm Gnat works at a watch repair stand, and Freddy approaches him to get his watch fixed (which, in and of itself, is hilarious given how long it’s taken Freddy to die, despite his constant griping). Gnorm tells Freddy that it’ll take about two weeks to fix his watch, so Freddy sadly tells Gnorm to keep it, and continues on his way.

Jim Davis may be most famous as the creator of Garfield, but comic strips like this one confirm Gnorm Gnat is easily just as funny, and well-worth looking back on.