This is such a meta strip. The strip is in black and white because Garfield believes it’s Monday, since the daily strips were originally printed in black and white, but then when he sees the color newspaper, he’s relieved that it’s Sunday, since the Sunday strips were longer and colorized.
To date, this marks the start of the last of the weekly “on the fence” strips. After this storyline ends, the “on the fence” strips would become once daily strips and pretty rare.
This strip was printed five days after the premiere of the TV special “Garfield’s Babes and Bullets”, which was based on the chapter from the 1984 book “Garfield: His 9 Lives”. Garfield reprises his role as Sam Spayed.
When this was adapted for a Garfield and Friends “quickie”, the “my car is so old” joke was changed to “My car is so old it’s insured against fire, theft, and dinosaur stampedes”, possibly to avoid offending indigenous Americans. And also, when he bids the audience good evening, he tells the old groaner, “I just flew in from the coast and boy, are my paws tired!”
This is such a meta strip. The strip is in black and white because Garfield believes it’s Monday, since the daily strips were originally printed in black and white, but then when he sees the color newspaper, he’s relieved that it’s Sunday, since the Sunday strips were longer and colorized.