Meet the Artist Combining Garfield With Super Smash Bros. Characters
Chicago artist Shawn Bowers fuses everyone's favorite cat with Super Smash Bros. characters to create an unholy, yet beautiful union.
Everyone knows Mario, Nintendo’s flagship plumber that loves saving the Mushroom Kingdom, defeating Bowser, and eating lasagna. Wait, that’s not right.
In an impressive feat of fan-art and creativity, Chicago artist Shawn Bowers has undertaken the task of combining Super Smash Bros. characters with everyone’s favorite orange cat Garfield. While I’m not sure why Bowers has decided to create these pastiches, I’m eternally grateful for the outcome. Each of Bowers’ mash-ups contains a beautiful, ornate illustration of a reimagined Super Smash Bros. character, each with its own charming biography.
Kicking off Bowers’ undertaking is none other than Marfield, a combination of Mario and Garfield. According to Bowers, Marfield “was the owner of his own plumbing company, but his true laziness and unwillingness to work on Mondays killed the business.”
Of course, where would Marfield be without his ape companion? No, I’m not referring to Donkey Kong, I’m referring to Bowers’ character Garfey Kong. While Garfey Kong is a combination of Donkey Kong and Mario, he also features his very own origin story. Sounding eerily similar to the Green Goblin’s origin, Garfey Kong was “a weak-muscled geneticist” that combined his “puny cat body with ape DNA” in order to gain “incredible strength and speed” at the sacrifice of his intelligence.
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Bowers proves to be a bonafide Garfield aficionado. Not only does the artist’s past-work heavily feature the Monday-hating cat, but Bowers also hosts a podcast titled Questions About Garfield. According to the show’s iTunes description, Question About Garfield “works overtime to tackle some of the toughest QUAGs (Questions About Garfield) in the world.” With episodes titled, “Can You Eat Garfield?” and “Can Garfield Get You High?”, Bower’s podcast promises an in-depth look at the real questions behind America’s grumpiest cat.
You can check out Bowers’ additional creations Star Field (aka Cat McCloud) and Jigglygarf below. Additionally, you can check out Bowers’ entire Instagram page here. May Garfield have mercy on us all.
