Heathcliff (comic strip)

Heathcliff is an American comic strip created by George Gately in 1973, featuring the title character, an orange cat. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate, which took over the comic from McNaught Syndicate in 1988.
The strip and its title character show some resemblance to the more famous Garfield; however, Heathcliff was published five years before the first Garfield strip.
The strip is usually presented in single-panel gag frames on weekdays. On Sundays, however, the strip is expanded to multiple panels (usually 6–8) and titled Sunday with Heathcliff. A regular feature in the Sunday strips is Kitty Korner, where unusual cats in the real world are described.
Heathcliff daily comics can be currently read online on GoComics, with archives currently dating back to 2002.
The strip takes place in a port town called Westfinster. The title character is an orange housecat, named Heathcliff, owned by an elderly couple named Mr. and Mrs. Nutmeg and their grandson Iggy. Strips often deal with Heathcliff's interactions with the Nutmegs, the owner of a local fish market, local dog catchers, commercial fishers, or various dogs and cats throughout the neighborhood. George Gately began the strip and continued to draw it until his retirement in 1998.
Since Peter Gallagher took over the strip, Heathcliff comic strips often have recurring motifs like bubble gum floating, comic strip or celebrity cameos, helmets, vending machines, robots, an ape called the Garbage Ape, and the word "meat". Readers often interpret it as surreal humor without logic, though Peter Gallagher claimed in an interview with SOLRAD that "I'm not just doing stuff that doesn't make any sense at all".
Starting in 1985, Star Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, began producing comic books titled Heathcliff. The series ran for 56 issues, changing to the Marvel Comics brand with issue #23. Star Comics added an additional spin-off title in 1987 called Heathcliff's Funhouse (which also switched over to Marvel with issue #6). It was a combination of new material and reprinted stories that first appeared in the original Heathcliff title. In the comics, Heathcliff had a far better relationship with Mr. Nutmeg, and much of his adventures were done with Mr. Nutmeg's grandson. Heathcliff's reputation for adventurism was even noted by the local police, who recruited him for a sting operation against a gang of cats stealing purses, in exchange for them forgiving the fact Heathcliff swiped shellfish. Within the Marvel Comics multiverse, Heathcliff's reality is designated as Earth-85481.
Two animated TV series based on the strip, both simply named Heathcliff, were created. Although Heathcliff does not speak in the comic strip, both animated versions of the character were voiced by Mel Blanc. Heathcliff was one of the last original characters Blanc voiced before his death in 1989.
The first Heathcliff was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions and debuted in 1980. The first season featured segments with Dingbat and the Creeps (Dingbat is the vampire dog (Frank Welker) accompanied by Spare Rib the skeleton and Nobody the jack-o-lantern who were both voiced by Don Messick), which were created by Ruby-Spears for the show, and the second season featured fellow comic strip character Marmaduke (voiced by Paul Winchell). This version is sometimes seen on Boomerang.
In 1984, the second Heathcliff debuted, which was produced by DIC Entertainment. This series featured segments with the Catillac Cats (AKA Cats and Co. by the end credits of the show), which is why this version is sometimes referred to as Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats. In 2005, Shout! Factory released a Volume 1 DVD for the show, featuring the first 24 episodes of the series. Since then, Mill Creek Entertainment has gained the license and released the show on DVD, with a ten-episode best-of compilation entitled King of the Beasts and two volumes that cover Season 1; volume 1 contains 32 episodes, while volume 2 has the remaining 33.
In 2021, the film and TV rights of Heathcliff were acquired by Legendary.
In 1986, Heathcliff: The Movie debuted in theaters. It was an anthology film which consisted of seven episodes from the 1984 series. The film was released on VHS by Paramount Home Video in 1988.
In the 2007 Argentine-Italian animated film Noah's Ark, a character looking like Heathcliff pops up in a crowd scene with the other animals.
A CGI-animated Heathcliff film was in development for several years. In 2010, a trailer for Heathcliff in Bad Kitty was released, but the movie itself never materialized.
As of 2021, Legendary Entertainment has plans to simultaneously develop a TV series and film based on the Heathcliff comics. Gallagher will produce the film alongside Steve Waterman.