Lyman

From Garfield Wiki

Lyman was a friend of Jon's who lived with him for a while and was the original owner of Odie. He first appeared on August 7, 1978. However, he disappeared from the comic in 1983 and his disappearance was never fully elaborated upon. His last appearance in the strip was a cameo on Garfield's 10th Birthday June 19, 1988 where he appears in the title panel seated between Jon's Dad and Liz, he also appears in a flashback panel within the strip. Recently, Davis was forced to directly address the issue of 'What happened to Lyman?'. According to Davis, Lyman's original purpose was to be someone who Jon could actually talk to and express other ideas—a role more and more taken over by Garfield himself. Hence he was removed without explanation. The closest thing Davis has ever given to explain his absence is "Don't look in Jon's basement". In the Web game "Scary Scavenger Hunt" he's shown chained onto the wall in the basement of a haunted mansion as well as screaming in a bathtub upstairs (in a scene clearly referencing the "shower scene" in the film Psycho; even the screeching violins from the infamous scene are played here). In "Scary Scavenger Hunt 2", his head is found inside the kitchen oven. This "in the basement" joke was revealed by Mr. Davis to not be entirely true. In an interview he mentioned that the real reason that Lyman disappeared was that he joined the Peace Corps and was never heard from again. Also on the Garfield webpage in the 'Book Nook' Lyman is shown working behind the counter.