Garfield’s Cute Nemesis Nermal is a Hilarious Character, But I Miss His Old Design

Garfield’s greatest nemesis, Nermal, is undeniably one of the franchise’s best characters, but I seriously miss his original design. First debuting on September 3rd, 1979, Nermal hit the ground running 45 years ago as one of the funniest character concepts from the hit Jim Davis newspaper strip. However, just like Garfield, his design has undergone changes over the years, and I can’t help but feel like his current design misses what made his original look so funny.

Nermal’s first comic features Jon walking up to Garfield, telling him they’ll be babysitting his parents’ kitten while they’re on vacation. He then holds out Nermal, who is unbelievably tiny as he perches on Jon’s hand. It’s an adorable design that rightfully earned him the moniker of “the world’s cutest kitten,” but the comics that followed introduced readers to just how funny he could be.

Whether it’s insulting Garfield’s weight or praising himself for being cuter than him, he’s a self-indulged character that works because of his tiny size as he pushes Garfield around.

Nermal Grows to Look More Like Garfield

His Modern Design Takes Away from His Original Concept

While Nermal is undeniably the same as he’s always been in terms of personality, his design has gone through changes over the years. He’s still visibly smaller than Garfield, but not by as much as he was in his earlier days. Plus, his overall look has been molded to look more like a tinier, grayer version of the orange fat cat. It’s still easy to tell them apart, since Nermal has maintained his “cutesy” eyelashes, but he just looks too much like Garfield nowadays, and I feel like that ultimately takes away from what made him so appealing in his earlier appearances.

Nermal worked because he looked very little like Garfield. He was tinier, cuter, and had noticeable differences in his design to separate him from his rival. Plus, with his smaller figure, it made it even funnier when he would say something relentless to Garfield, knowing he could get away with it until he was shoved into a box and mailed to Abu Dhabi. Thankfully, he still fits personality-wise in modern strips, but it’s hard to truly appreciate the joke when he and Garfield look eerily similar to each other, making the punchlines not land as hard since he’s essentially mocking himself without realizing it.

How I Would Change Nermal to Bring Him Back to His Golden Age

Two Major Shifts to Make Him Perfect

The good thing about Nermal is that it wouldn’t take much to change him. Davis still perfectly understands the character’s personality, so no changes are necessary there. The main thing I would alter is his size and the design of his face. Nermal worked so well in the early strips because he was so small that he could fit in Jon’s palm, so returning him to that stature would be a major step in the right direction.

It would make for better punchlines if Nermal wasn’t essentially a character that looked so close in design to Garfield.

The other major alteration would be to change his face in a way that isn’t remotely similar to Garfield. A lot of his humor comes from the fact that he makes Garfield feel bad about his own age and appearance, so it would make for better punchlines if Nermal weren’t essentially a character that looked so much like Garfield.

Nermal has always served as the perfect comic punching bag for Garfield’s everyday life. His rudeness combined with his cute design easily make him someone fans love to hate. However, his modern design, while perfectly fine as it is, seriously detracts from what made Nermal so perfect in the first place, and I miss his earlier Garfield appearances because of it.