Line #14 ComicStrip/GnormGnat

Context ComicStrip / GnormGnat

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1	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1653019587010841900
2	%% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gnorm.png]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:A typical example of the strip's SelfDeprecatingHumor.]]
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8	A short-lived comic strip created by Creator/JimDavis, later of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' fame. Running from 1973 to 1975 in the Pendleton, Indiana ''Times'', the strip featured the comedic misadventures of a group of bugs.
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10	While Davis had attempted for many years to syndicate ''Gnorm Gnat'', he met rejection from publishers who felt that a strip with insect characters was unmarketable. ''Gnorm Gnat'' ceased on Christmas Day 1975, with a final strip in which Gnorm wishes the city of Pendleton a Merry Christmas. Davis then went on to start ''ComicStrip/{{Jon}}'', a predecessor of ''Garfield''.
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12	Despite its obscurity, ''Gnorm Gnat'' has been subject of a number of references by Davis in the intervening years, [[CreatorBacklash most of them negative]]. The strip has also proven extremely hard to find, with fewer than three strips having been known to exist prior to July 2019.
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14	!!Tropes present:
15	* ArtEvolution: Gnorm becomes uglier and more hairy in the later strips.
16	* CallBack:
17	** In the back of ''Garfield Takes His Licks'', Davis created a fictional TopTenList of strips that he had tried before ''Garfield''. #2 was ''Gnorm Gnat'', listed behind only ''Garfield the Toaster''.
18	** In an anthology, Davis noted of the [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1997/ga970605.gif June 5, 1997]] strip of ''Garfield'', which featured just a spider and a fly, that "after nearly 30 years, I finally got a bug strip published."
19	* DeadpanSnarker: Gnorm frequently cracks wise about the antics of his friends.
20	* HerrDoktor: Dr. Rosenwurm has a design reminiscent of UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein.
21	* ImAHumanitarian: It's suggested that Drac Webb eats other characters.
22	* MrImagination: Gnorm is described as having [[Literature/TheSecretLifeOfWalterMitty Walter Mitty]] tendencies. Davis would later use the same comparison to describe Orson of ''ComicStrip/USAcres''.
23	%%* StraightMan: Gnorm.
24	* SuicideAsComedy: Gnorm attempts suicide in a few of the resurfaced strips, and it's PlayedForLaughs. He doesn't succeed, however.
25	* WhatsAHenway:
26	-->'''Gnorm:''' I have resolved to never again set you up for anymore of your rotten puns.\
27	'''Lyman:''' I made a resolution too. I have resolved to paint my car green and snu.\
28	'''Gnorm:''' What's snu? (''AsideGlance'') ...I think I just gone an' done it again.

Context ComicStrip / GnormGnat