"[1][2] New York Times columnist Cate Doty said of the result, "Without the cutesy thought-bubbles of his lasagna-loving cat, Jon's observations seem to teeter between existential crisis and deep despair.
[6] A review in the New Yorker said that publishing the original comics next to the edited ones "vastly lessens the effect of 'Minus'" and was likely done to protect the Garfield brand.
According to its "About" page, the Paws Inc. comic is "based on the phenomenon ignited by Dan Walsh's hilarious and wildly popular webcomic".
[9] Unlike Walsh's version, it also included the original Garfield strip underneath.
[18] A reviewer for Mother Jones called the strips "devastating (and hilarious) treatises on loneliness, without punch lines or jokes, reminiscent of the appallingly bleak early Peanuts strips.
"[19] Publishers Weekly finished its review, "If Samuel Beckett had been a strip cartoonist, he might’ve produced something like this.
"[8] Garfield creator and artist Jim Davis commented on the webcomic, stating that he was an occasional reader and found it "fascinating" and that he was flattered by the imitation.