What is Garfield Last Panel Replacements?

A meme format that reworks Jim Davis's Garfield comics by cutting the last panel or swapping it with a signature panel from another strip, usually run by gimmick Twitter accounts.

Where did Garfield Last Panel Replacements come from?

Twitter user @vivaceharmony started it on January 7, 2019, posting a cropped 1980 strip with the claim that Garfield comics improve if you lose the third panel.

What does Garfield Last Panel Replacements mean?

The joke lives in the mismatch: a standard Garfield setup paired with silence or a fixed absurd image, which turns gag strips into bleak or surreal non-sequiturs.

How do you use Garfield Last Panel Replacements?

Take any Garfield strip and either delete the final panel for the subtractive version, or paste in a recurring replacement panel such as the 1978 pipe-smoking Garfield for the additive version.

Is Garfield Last Panel Replacements still popular?

By late 2020, gimmick accounts like @yeetgarf had passed 85,000 followers and r/2panelgarfield was active, though mainstream attention peaked around the AV Club writeup in October 2019.

Garfield Last Panel Replacements

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Published November 15, 2026

Garfield Last Panel Replacements began in January 2019, when Twitter user @vivaceharmony argued that Jim Davis's comics improve if you crop off the third panel. Readers on Twitter and Reddit took the idea and ran with it, first by removing panels and then by swapping in signature images from other Garfield strips. By late 2019, AV Club was writing about @GarfieldPipe, an account that slotted a 1978 panel of Garfield smoking a pipe into every other strip.

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Overview

Two variants run under the Last Panel Replacements umbrella. One approach, pioneered by @vivaceharmony, lops off the final panel so a Jon Arbuckle setup trails into silence, often reading as sudden existential dread instead of a punchline2. A second route swaps that removed panel for a recurring replacement image sourced from a different Garfield strip3.

Each gimmick account commits to a single substitute panel. @GarfieldPipe uses a 1978 panel in which Garfield smokes a pipe, turning every comic into a portrait of its protagonist mid-smoke5. Companion accounts include @flatgarf (Deflated Garfield, from a 1993 strip), @yeetgarf (Garfield thrown out a window, from a 1981 strip), @jonarbucklegrave (Jon Dies, from a 1982 strip), @DabGarfield and @GarfieldGraph3.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter (origin) / Reddit (viral spread)

Creator

@vivaceharmony

Date

2019

On January 7, 2019, Twitter user @vivaceharmony posted a cropped version of Jim Davis's February 26, 1980 Garfield strip, cutting out the third panel and writing 'garfield comics can be substantially improved by cropping off the third panel'2. Over the next two years, that post picked up more than 4,400 retweets and 15,600 likes3.

In its original three-panel form, the strip ends on a conventional Garfield gag. Stripping out that third panel leaves Jon Arbuckle speaking into empty space, which reads as either bleakly funny or quietly tragic depending on the strip chosen2.

How It Spread

The idea traveled off Twitter quickly. On February 3, 2019, Redditor A_Magic_Potato reposted the image to r/memes, where it picked up more than 10,000 upvotes over six months4. That same day, user huntermunts opened r/2panelgarfield for people to post their own cropped strips, with submissions like 'Carrots' appearing immediately6.

Comic artist Manuel Alvarez took the format in the opposite direction on August 26, 2019, launching @GarfieldPipe with Garfield strips whose last panel had been swapped for the pipe-smoking frame from the July 27, 1978 comic5. On October 17, 2019, AV Club covered the account, and by October 2020 it had more than 32,100 followers1.

More accounts followed through 2019 and 2020. @yeetgarf, running a panel of Garfield thrown out a window, passed 85,000 followers by December 2020, while @flatgarf (Deflated Garfield) was near 35,700 and @jonarbucklegrave (Jon Dies) sat around 7,9003.

Timeline

2019-01-07

Twitter user @vivaceharmony posts a cropped version of the February 26, 1980 Garfield strip with the caption that Garfield comics improve if you lose the third panel.

2019-02-03

Redditor A_Magic_Potato reposts the tweet to r/memes, and user huntermunts opens the r/2panelgarfield subreddit for cropped Garfield comics.

2019-08-26

Comic artist Manuel Alvarez launches @GarfieldPipe, replacing the final panel of random strips with the pipe-smoking panel from the July 27, 1978 comic.

2019-10-17

AV Club covers @GarfieldPipe, giving the panel-replacement format mainstream attention.

2020-12-18

Know Your Meme logs follower counts for a cluster of gimmick accounts, including @yeetgarf at over 85,000 followers.

How to Use This Meme

Posts in this format typically pair a random Garfield strip with one of two moves: either delete the last panel so the comic ends on silence, or replace that final panel with a recurring image taken from a different Garfield comic. Gimmick accounts commonly commit to a single replacement panel across every post, so the joke is the mismatch between a familiar Jon-and-Garfield setup and a punchline readers already know is coming.