Mike Peters, (creator of Mother Goose and Grimm) has said that Gnorm Gnat is now a part of "cartoon folklore" as a failure that paved the way for major success.

"[7] Another reporter suggested that the notion that no one can relate to insects has been disproved by some jokes in the comic strip The Far Side by Gary Larson.

[1] This was later debunked after a Google Drive document containing many editions of The Pendleton Times that included Gnorm Gnat comics was uploaded in 2019.

The upload was made by Youtuber, and Garfield fan, Quinton Kyle Hoover, and a full history of how he managed to digitalize the comic can be found on his channel.

"[9][10] The document also contained some strips for Davis' next work, Jon, a prototype to what would become Garfield, which debuted in the Times on January 8, 1976, two weeks after Gnorm Gnat ended.

Peters claimed, "We can always be thankful that Jim's first strip never made it... Gnorm Gnat has gone down in cartoon folklore as a most fortunate failure.