"He first appeared on August 7, 1978. However, he had largely disappeared from the comic by 1983 and his disappearance was not fully elaborated upon at the time. His last appearance in the strip was a cameo on Garfield's 10th birthday, June 19, 1988, where he appears in the title panel seated between Jon's father and Liz, he also appears in a flashback panel within the strip.
Recently, Davis was forced to directly address the issue of "What happened to Lyman?" According to Davis, Lyman's original purpose was to be someone who Jon could actually talk to and express other ideas — a role more and more taken over by Garfield, himself. Once Lyman was no longer needed for that purpose, he was removed without explanation."
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