[10][1][11] Some alt-right activists and Internet trolls have edited Garrison's comics to incorporate further offensive content, including the antisemitic "Happy Merchant" caricature.
[12] Garrison originally wanted to pursue a career in the fine arts, but later began working as a graphic artist at the daily newspaper San Angelo Standard-Times instead from 1978 to 1983, where his first editorial cartoon was published in 1980.
[20] Garrison and his wife moved to Montana in 2009, and shortly after that, inspired by the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the subsequent bank bailouts by the Bush and Obama administrations, he began drawing political cartoons after a 20-year hiatus.
[12] In 2010, Garrison uploaded a cartoon to the Internet called "The March of Tyranny," depicting global elite bankers as the Eye of Providence kicking members of the public with its legs, corresponding to both the Democratic and Republican parties, while barking orders from the mainstream media.
Subsequently, an Internet troll on 4chan posted an edited version of the cartoon in which the Eye of Providence has been replaced by an antisemitic caricature of a Jewish man ("Happy Merchant" by A. Wyatt Mann).
[1][7][12][22] Garrison is often linked to white supremacy and antisemitism, resulting in him being falsely included on a list of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members by Anonymous.
[1] In November 2015, Garrison uploaded a cartoon called "Attack of the Cry Bullies", which depicts college students as giant babies, with one of them in a "safe space" playpen.
[13] In June 2016, Garrison uploaded a cartoon about the Brexit referendum called "Abandon Ship", which drew criticism from The Guardian for its portrayal of Muslims and was retweeted by British-Belizean businessman Lord Michael Ashcroft.
[33] As Garrison's cartoons became more widespread, they have been regularly edited online including by Advance New Zealand and critics of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress in India.
[40][41][42] In July 2020, Garrison sued the ADL for defamation claiming the situation over the 2017 comic cost him "embarrassment, humiliation, mental suffering, anguish, injury to his name and professional reputation.
[1] In late September 2021, Tina Garrison revealed that the couple had had COVID-19 for several weeks, characterizing it as a "rough time", but both refused to seek professional medical treatment or hospitalization, instead choosing to treat it with ivermectin and beetroot juice.