Garfield

Origin and the failed comic that came first

Jim Davis spent the early 1970s assisting cartoonist T. K. Ryan on the strip Tumbleweeds while attempting to syndicate his own comic, Gnorm Gnat — a gag-a-day strip about anthropomorphic insects that ran in the local Pendleton Times newspaper from 1973 to 1975. Davis later said one syndicate editor told him "your art is good, your gags are great, but nobody can identify with bugs." Davis surveyed the syndicated comics market for a more relatable animal lead, observed that dogs were already heavily represented while cats were not, and built a new strip around an orange tabby named after his own grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis — by family report a large, cantankerous man whose personality became the cat's template.

Launch and syndication

The strip was first published locally in 1976 under the title Jon, retitled Garfield in 1977, and entered national syndication via United Feature Syndicate on 19 June 1978 in 41 newspapers. By 2002 it had reached approximately 2,580 newspapers and was awarded the Guinness World Record for the most widely syndicated comic strip in history. Davis founded Paws, Inc. in 1981 to retain control of the character; in 2019 he sold Paws to ViacomCBS (now Paramount) for an undisclosed sum.

The recurring cast

Garfield lives with his owner, Jon Arbuckle — a single cartoonist whose long-running pursuit of veterinarian Liz Wilson finally succeeded in the 28 July 2006 strip — and the dog Odie, who joined the strip on 8 August 1978 originally as the pet of Jon's roommate Lyman. Recurring figures include Nermal ("the world's cutest kitten," whom Garfield repeatedly tries to ship to Abu Dhabi), Pooky the teddy bear, and Garfield's mother who appears in occasional flashback strips set on a farm.

Animation and film

The first prime-time animated special, Here Comes Garfield, aired on CBS on 25 October 1982. Garfield and Friends ran on CBS Saturday mornings from 17 September 1988 to 7 October 1994 across seven seasons and 121 episodes; Lorenzo Music voiced Garfield across this period until his death in 2001. Two live-action / CGI hybrid films were released — Garfield: The Movie (2004) and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), both with Bill Murray voicing the cat. The Garfield Movie (2024), a fully CGI feature directed by Mark Dindal, recast the role with Chris Pratt and grossed approximately $250 million worldwide.