Creepy Garfield — Disturbing ink illustration of a monstrous Garfield holding a tiny Jon doll, captioned 'John I require lasagna'.

Creepy Garfield

2018fan artclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Creepy Garfield, also called Gorefield or 'I Am Sorry, Jon', is a horror-art riff on Jim Davis's comic strip that redraws Garfield as a monstrous creature stalking Jon Arbuckle and demanding lasagna. The visual template came from artist Catherine Burke in September 2018 and grew into a fan-art community around the r/imsorryjon subreddit.

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Overview

Creepy Garfield, also called Gorefield or 'I Am Sorry, Jon', is a horror-art take on Jim Davis's orange tabby that redraws the character as a warped creature stalking his owner Jon Arbuckle1. The monster keeps just enough of the strip's flat lasagna gag to make things worse, croaking lines like 'I'm sorry, Jon' and 'I require lasagna' while looming over its terrified owner5.

Visual takes vary between artists. Some go for skeletal and starved, others render a bloated flesh suit with too many teeth, but the gap between the newspaper-strip cheer and body-horror execution is the through line1. Jon's small human dread stays a fixture across the series4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram / Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
Catherine Burke
Date
2018

An early precursor showed up on October 22, 2013, when artist Dubblebaby posted a comic in which Garfield eats Jon's entire house5. The horror framing sharpened on February 24, 2018, when SCP Foundation user Tanhony published SCP-3166, describing a 2.1 metre humanoid in a crude Garfield costume that force-feeds victims lasagna before killing them by blunt trauma2.

The visual template people copy came from horror artist Catherine Burke, who posts under the handle goblin___warlock. On September 18, 2018, Burke uploaded a black and white drawing of a monstrous Garfield cradling a tiny Jon Arbuckle in its palm while demanding lasagna, and the image pulled over 11,600 Instagram likes1.

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Instagram

How It Spread

Days before Burke's post, r/surrealmemes had already primed the audience. On September 12, 2018, Redditor mnvz shared a three-panel strip reimagining 'Garfold' as a horror creature, which climbed past 15,700 upvotes3. Two days later, Redditor idea4granted posted a 3D animation of Garfield bouncing across the floor with 'CONSUME LASAGNA' flashing on screen, which picked up 12,600 upvotes5.

Burke followed her September 18 drawing with four more Gorefield pieces through October 2018, each clearing 10,000 likes on Instagram1. A repost of one image to r/creepy on October 12 hit around 57,600 upvotes5. On October 8, the dedicated subreddit r/imsorryjon launched to collect original art of the character4, and in June 2019 an NSFW spin-off, r/ImReallySorryJon, opened alongside it7.

On October 29, 2018, animator Lumpy Touch pushed the style into video with 'Garfield Gameboy'd Part 1/5', a mock horror-game trailer built around Burke's drawings that pulled over 766,000 YouTube views in its first five months6.

How to Use This Meme

Artists typically redraw Garfield as an emaciated or bloated monster, keep Jon Arbuckle in frame as the terrified victim, and pair the image with lines like 'I'm sorry, Jon' or 'I require lasagna'1. Common conventions include heavy shadow work, distorted proportions, and preserving one recognisable Garfield detail (the eyes, the smirk, the lasagna) so the horror lands against the familiar strip5.

Frequently Asked Questions