Garfield

***Garfield*** is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as *Jon* in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as *Garfield*, it chronicles the life of the title character, Garfield the cat; Jon Arbuckle, his human owner; and Odie, the dog. As of 2013, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals, and held the Guinness World Record for being the world's most widely syndicated comic strip.

Though this is rarely mentioned in print, *Garfield* is set in Jim Davis' hometown of Muncie, Indiana, according to the television special *Happy Birthday, Garfield*. Common themes in the strip include Garfield's laziness, obsessive eating, love of coffee and lasagna, disdain of Mondays, and diets. Garfield is also shown to manipulate people to get whatever he wants. The strip's focus is mostly on the interactions among Garfield, Jon, and Odie, but other recurring characters appear as well.

Originally created with the intentions to "come up with a good, marketable character", *Garfield* has spawned merchandise earning $750 million to $1 billion annually. In addition to the various merchandise and commercial tie-ins, the strip has spawned several animated television specials, two animated television series, two theatrical feature-length live-action/CGI animated films, and three fully CGI animated direct-to-video films.

Part of the strip's broad pop cultural appeal is due to its lack of social or political commentary; though this was Davis's original intention, he also admitted that his "grasp of politics isn't strong", joking that, for many years, he thought "OPEC was a denture adhesive".

On August 6, 2019, New York City-based Paramount Global, at the time ViacomCBS, announced that it would acquire Paws, Inc., including most rights to the *Garfield* franchise (the comics, merchandise and animated cartoons). The deal did not include the rights to the live-action *Garfield* films, which are still owned by The Walt Disney Company through its 20th Century Studios label, as well as the upcoming animated *Garfield* film which is set for worldwide distribution by Sony Pictures except China. Jim Davis will continue to make comics, and a new Garfield animated series is in production for Paramount Global subsidiary Nickelodeon.

## Contents

* 1History
* 2Marketing
* 3Media
	+ 3.1Comic Strip Books
	+ 3.2Compilation "Treasury" Collections
	+ 3.3Internet
	+ 3.4Television
		- 3.4.1TV series
		- 3.4.2Primetime specials
	+ 3.5Films
	+ 3.6Video games
	+ 3.7Stage
	+ 3.8Comic book
	+ 3.9Art book
	+ 3.10Restaurant
* 4Main characters
	+ 4.1Garfield
	+ 4.2Jon Arbuckle
	+ 4.3Odie
	+ 4.4Dr. Liz Wilson
* 5Recurring subjects and themes
	+ 5.1Short storylines
	+ 5.2Paws, Inc.
* 62010 Veterans Day controversy
* 7Notes
* 8Bibliography
	+ 8.1Primary sources
	+ 8.2Secondary sources
* 9References
* 10External links

## History

Cartoonist Jim Davis is the creator of *Garfield*.

Cartoonist Jim Davis was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana. In 1972, while working as an assistant for T.K. Ryan's *Tumbleweeds*, he created the comic strip *Gnorm Gnat*, which ran only in the *Pendleton Times* of Pendleton, Indiana, from 1972 to 1975 and met with little success. Davis had tried to syndicate the strip, but was unsuccessful; he noted that one editor told him that his "art was good, his gags were great, [but] nobody can identify with bugs." Davis decided to peruse current comic strips to determine what species of animal characters might be more popular. He felt that dogs were doing well, but noticed no prominent cats. Davis figured he could create a cat star, having grown up on a farm with twenty-five cats. Thus was created the character of Garfield.

Garfield, the star, was based on the cats Davis grew up around; he took his name and personality from Davis' grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis, whom he described as "a large, cantankerous man." The name Jon Arbuckle came from a 1950s coffee commercial. Jon's roommate Lyman, added to give Jon someone to talk with, carried on the name of an earlier *Gnorm Gnat* character. The final character was Lyman's dog Spot, who was renamed Odie so as to avoid confusion with a dog also named Spot in the comic strip *Boner's Ark*. From 1976 to early 1978, these characters appeared in a strip called *Jon* which also ran in the *Times*.

The early prototype strips were not generally well documented and were considered to be lost media until 2019, when a YouTube channel by the name of Quinton Reviews was able to retrieve several digital scans of the *Jon* publications from the Pendleton Community Library and Indiana State Library, after gathering information via a blog post. *Jon* first appeared in the *Pendleton Times* on January 8, 1976, just two weeks after *Gnorm Gnat* ended.

United Feature Syndicate accepted the strip for national distribution, which had been retitled *Garfield* on September 1, 1977, in March 1978 (ending its run in the *Times* on the 2nd) and made its nationwide debut in 41 newspapers on June 19 of that year (however, after a test run, the *Chicago Sun-Times* dropped it, only to reinstate it after readers' complaints).

The *Garfield* Sunday strip was launched on June 25, 1978; it was available only at a third-page size until March 22, 1981. A half-page debuted the following Sunday, March 29. The Sunday strips for March 14 and 21, 1982, tried out a unique nine-panel format, but UFS curtailed further use of it. (UFS did, however, allow Davis to use the format for his later *U.S. Acres* strip.)
The appearance of the characters gradually changed over time. The left panel is taken from the March 7, 1980, strip; the right is from the July 6, 1990, strip.
The strip underwent stylistic changes, evolving from the style of the 1976–83 strips, to a more cartoonish look from 1984 onward. This change has mainly affected Garfield's design, which underwent a "Darwinian evolution" in which he began walking on his hind legs, "slimmed down", and "stopped looking ... through squinty little eyes" His evolution, according to Davis, was to make it easier to "push Odie off the table" or "reach for a piece of pie."

*Garfield* quickly became a commercial success. In 1981, less than three years after its nationwide launch, the strip appeared in 850 newspapers and accumulated over $15 million in merchandise. To manage the merchandise, Davis founded Paws, Inc. In 1982 the strip was appearing in more than 1,000 newspapers.

By 2002, *Garfield* became the world's most syndicated strip, appearing in 2,570 newspapers with 263 million readers worldwide; by 2004, *Garfield* appeared in nearly 2,600 newspapers and sold from $750 million to $1 billion worth of merchandise in 111 countries. In 1994, Davis's company, Paws, Inc., purchased all rights to the strips from 1978 to 1993 from United Feature. The strip is distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, while rights for the strip remain with Paws.[*citation needed*]

While retaining creative control and being the only signer, Davis now only writes and usually does the rough sketches. Since the late 1990s most of the work has been done by long-time assistants Brett Koth and Gary Barker. Inking and coloring work is done by other artists, while Davis spends most of the time supervising production and merchandising th***Garfield: The Movie*** (titled onscreen as ***Garfield***) is a 2004 American live action/computer-animated comedy film. It is the first installment in the *Garfield film duology* and is about the titular overweight, lazy, trouble-making cat with a dry sense of humor. Directed by Peter Hewitt and inspired by Jim Davis' comic strip of the same name, it stars Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson and features Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, who was created with computer animation, though all other animals were real. The film was produced by Davis Entertainment Company and 20th Century Fox. It was released in the United States on June 11, 2004. The film received negative reviews from critics and grossed $200 million on a $50 million budget. A sequel, *Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties*, was released on June 16, 2006. It is the first *Garfield* film distributed by 20th Century Fox following their acquisition of the license, which would expire in 2009.[*citation needed*]

## Contents

* 1Plot
* 2Cast
	+ 2.1Live action
	+ 2.2Voice cast
* 3Production
* 4Release
* 5Reception
	+ 5.1Box office
	+ 5.2Critical response
	+ 5.3Murray's response
* 6Future
	+ 6.1Sequel
	+ 6.2Reboot
* 7References
* 8External links

## Plot[edit]

Garfield, an overweight, lazy and free-spirited orange tabby cat, lives with his owner Jon Arbuckle in Los Angeles, and passes his time by antagonizing Jon and teasing his aggressive Dobermann neighbor, Luca. Aside from Jon, Garfield maintains an unlikely friendship with a helpful mouse, Louis, by constantly sparing him, and also socializes with his fellow neighborhood cats, Nermal and Arlene.

Jon has begun habitually bringing Garfield to the veterinarian, in order to see vet Dr. Liz Wilson, whom he is in love with. Jon tries to ask Liz out, but due to a misunderstanding, Jon is given custody of a dog named Odie, who is lovable, playful and friendly. Regardless, Jon and Liz begin dating. Garfield, however, begins to dislike Odie and pokes fun at him in any given moment. Odie is brought to a canine talent show, where Liz is a judge. Garfield gets involved in an altercation there with other dogs, which moves Odie to the center of the ring, where he does a successful improvised dance to the Black Eyed Peas' "Hey Mama". A local television host named Happy Chapman, who is also a judge, is impressed with Odie's performance, and offers Jon a television deal for Odie, but Jon declines.

When Garfield returns home, frustrated over Odie's presence in his life, he hits a ball, causing a chain reaction that leaves the house in disarray. When Jon finds out, he forces Garfield to sleep outside for the night. When Odie comes out to comfort Garfield, he gets inside and deliberately locks Odie out. Nermal and Arlene witness this as Odie runs away but is then picked up by an elderly woman named Mrs. Baker. Jon and Liz search for Odie while Garfield's friends angrily ridicule him for locking Odie out and making him run away the night before, but Garfield claims that he didn't mean for it to happen.

Meanwhile, Happy Chapman, revealed to be allergic to cats, is jealous of his news reporter brother, Walter, and wants to be more by performing on "Good Day New York". Chapman and his assistant Wendell find a notice Mrs. Baker created of Odie and, recognizing the lucrative possibilities, claim Odie as Happy's own. When Garfield sees Odie on television and hears Chapman announce he and Odie are going to New York City, Garfield sets out to rescue Odie. Jon discovers Garfield is also missing so he tells Liz to start searching for him and Odie. Garfield gets into the broadcast tower via the air vents and finds Odie locked in a kennel, but Chapman enters and secures a shock collar to Odie, which, when activated, releases an electric shock that forces Odie to perform tricks.

Chapman heads for the train station with Garfield in close pursuit. However, an animal control officer catches Garfield, mistaking him as a stray. Meanwhile, Mrs. Baker tells Jon that Chapman took Odie, making him believe Garfield was taken by Chapman as well and then learn Chapman is leaving for the train station. Concurrently, Chapman's abandoned feline star Persnikitty, who dubs himself *Sir Roland*, along with the other animals, releases Garfield from the pound. Chapman boards a New York-bound train, with Odie in the luggage car. After arriving just to see the train depart, Garfield sneaks into the train system control room and switches the tracks, leading to an impending multiple train wreck. Garfield hits an emergency stop button which halts all the trains just in the nick of time, then returns Chapman's train to the station. Garfield frees Odie and they prepare to leave. However, Chapman chases them and eventually corners the duo in a suitcase area. Chapman threatens Odie with the shock collar, but Garfield's friends from the pound, Louis & his entire rat family (whom Garfield had run into earlier), led by Sir Roland, attack Chapman and place the collar on his neck.

Shortly after, Garfield and Odie subdue Chapman by activating the collar. Jon and Liz arrive and find Chapman, whom Jon punches in the face for kidnapping his pets. Garfield, Odie, Jon, and Liz reunite and return home, while Chapman is arrested for his supposed involvement with the trains, as well as kidnapping Odie. Back home, Garfield regains his friends' respect as they & everyone hail him as a hero. Liz and Jon form a relationship, and Garfield learns a lesson about friendship.