The History of Garfield

Cartoonist Jim Davis began drawing as a child on his family’s farm near Marion, Indiana. Frequently homebound due to asthma, he doodled farm animals, cats, and dogs to entertain his mother. He later got a job as an assistant on the comic strip Tumbleweeds and pitched his own idea about a gnat named Gnorm Gnat, but an editor rejected the concept. Still, Davis wanted to create a comic strip centered on animals. He noticed that there was already at least one famous comic strip about a dog (Snoopy), but no major comics existed at the time about a cat. Davis based the character of Garfield on several cats he knew and also gave the character human traits to make him relatable. He chose the name “Garfield” as a tribute to his beloved grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis. On June 19, 1978, Davis’ Garfield debuted in 41 newspapers across the country. It was instantly popular. Davis later attributed this to Garfield’s relatability and noted that “he relieves [people’s] guilt” over being imperfect — in other words, as a character, Garfield’s appeal is that he is very human. Some people also consider Garfield to be one of the first antiheroes in popular culture. His near-universal appeal was quickly reflected in the comic’s popularity. In 1980, the first Garfield compilation landed on The New York Times Best Seller list. In 2003, Garfield was named the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip by The Guinness Book of World Records. Garfield starred in his first movie in 2004 and several more films have been released since, most recently 2024’s The Garfield Movie. Although Davis sold the rights to Garfield to Viacom in 2019, he continues to play a role in creating the mega-successful comic strip. Today, Garfield remains one of the most beloved, entertaining, and recognizable cartoon characters in the modern world.