Garfield

Garfield was born on June 19, 1978 in the kitchen of Mamma Leoni's Italian Restaurant — called "Luigi's" in television specials — weighing five pounds and six ounces. His appetite for Italian food developed immediately after eating a sheet of lasagna from a dropped pan. To avoid being run out of business, Luigi sold Garfield to a local pet shop, where Jon Arbuckle had to choose between adopting Garfield, a rock, and an iguana.

Jim Davis originally conceived the strip after noticing the market was full of dog comics like Peanuts and Beetle Bailey, but there were no major cat-focused comics. He created Garfield with commercial potential in mind, naming him after his grandfather James A. Garfield Davis — "a large, cantankerous man." Davis has said the character is largely based on the various cats he grew up with on an Indiana farm.

The 2024 film provides additional backstory: five years before the film's events, Garfield's father Vic leaves him alone in an alleyway to find food but never returns. A hungry young Garfield crosses the street to an Italian restaurant where Jon is eating alone. Jon notices him through the window and lets him in — and despite Garfield eating everything in the restaurant, Jon adopts him.

Garfield is defined by his laziness, sarcasm, arrogance, and insatiable appetite — especially for lasagna. He dislikes Mondays with a passion that the strip frames as mutual: Mondays "seem to hate Garfield even more than he hates them." He orders an average of 50 boxes of lasagna per week and eats extra on his birthday, which is also a source of dread — he fears aging and frequently experiences nightmares in the days approaching June 19th.

His weight is a constant comedic theme, particularly through his electronic scale RX-2, which insults him at every weigh-in. He has a well-documented habit of terrorizing the neighborhood — tormenting mailman Herman Post, provoking neighbor Mrs. Feeny, and frequently attempting to ship Nermal, the "world's cutest kitten," to Abu Dhabi.

Despite his cynical, self-serving exterior, Garfield has a genuine warm side. He loves Pooky, his stuffed teddy bear, with sincere attachment. He reads, writes, operates electronics, communicates with other animals and aliens, and consistently demonstrates intelligence comparable to an average adult human — though he applies it almost exclusively to acquiring food and avoiding effort.

Garfield is an overweight orange Persian tabby with large ears, spherical eyes with white sclera and black pupils, and a yellow muzzle with a small pink nose. Distinctive black stripes run across his ears, cheeks, and back. He is mostly bipedal — a significant departure from his earliest appearances, when he walked on all fours.

His design has changed substantially since 1978. Early Garfield was drawn more realistically, much larger, and moved on all fours. Over the years he slimmed down artistically, adopted a cartoonish style, and became primarily bipedal. Jim Davis has explained these changes were made to facilitate visual gags — pushing Odie off tables, reaching for pie — that require hands and upright posture.

A 1981 strip established that unlike most cats, Garfield has thumbs — which he uses for hitchhiking. He has four fingers on his front paws and three on his back. His nose is notably absent of any nasal cavity detail in most renderings, giving him the smooth, graphic quality that made him ideal for merchandise.

Jon Arbuckle — Garfield loves his owner while simultaneously exploiting him without remorse. He steals Jon's food by cutting holes through tables or ignoring negotiations entirely. He locks Jon out of the house while retrieving mail, wakes him at absurd hours, and leaves Jon to handle neighborhood complaints. Yet when it counts — during holiday specials, moments of genuine crisis — Garfield's loyalty to Jon is never in doubt.

Odie — Garfield kicks Odie off the table as a near-daily ritual, and uses him as a test subject for schemes. But in "Here Comes Garfield," when Odie is captured by the dogcatcher, Garfield breaks down in tearful flashbacks and risks everything to rescue him. He once described Odie as "honest, true blue, and decent — and not even smart enough to steal."

Nermal — The "world's cutest kitten" triggers Garfield's jealousy reliably. Nermal receives the attention and affection Garfield believes he deserves, and so Garfield responds with casual bullying, attempted mailings to Abu Dhabi, and general hostility. The dynamic is entirely one-sided; Nermal seems largely unbothered.

Arlene — Garfield's pink female cat companion. The strip plays their relationship ambiguously — Garfield is clearly fond of her but grows visibly anxious at any suggestion of commitment. In the CGI films, they are more overtly romantic.

Comic Strip (1978–present) — The strip launched June 19, 1978 in 41 newspapers. By 2002 it held the Guinness World Record for most widely syndicated comic strip at 2,570 papers and 263 million readers. Jim Davis writes all the strips himself, sketching daily since 1978 with assistance from a small team at Paws, Inc.

TV Specials (1982–1991) — Twelve primetime specials aired on CBS. Four won Emmy Awards: "Garfield on the Town" (1983), "Garfield in the Rough" (1984), "Garfield's Halloween Adventure" (1985), and "Garfield's Babes and Bullets" (1989).

Garfield and Friends (1988–1994) — Seven seasons on CBS Saturday mornings, with Lorenzo Music voicing Garfield throughout. The show ran 121 episodes.

Live-Action Films (2004, 2006) — Both films featured Bill Murray as Garfield. Commercially successful despite poor critical reception, they grossed over $200 million combined worldwide.

The Garfield Show (2009–2016) — A French-produced CGI series that aired on Cartoon Network in the US. 5 seasons, 150 episodes.

The Garfield Movie (2024) — Fully animated feature with Chris Pratt as Garfield and Samuel L. Jackson as his father Vic. Earned $255.4 million worldwide on a $60 million budget.

Garfield was deliberately designed to be a merchandising vehicle. Jim Davis has been candid about this — he studied what made successful licensed characters and built Garfield accordingly. Merchandise now earns an estimated $750 million to $1 billion annually, making it one of the most profitable licensing franchises in history.

The character has appeared in over 1,705 comic strips as of December 2016. The "Garfield format" book — longer and less tall than a standard book — was invented by Davis for strip compilations and has since been adopted across the comics industry.

In August 2019, Viacom acquired Paws, Inc., placing Garfield under the Nickelodeon banner. Jim Davis retained creative involvement. The acquisition brought the franchise into the broader ViacomCBS portfolio alongside SpongeBob SquarePants and other major animated properties.

Foods Garfield refuses to eat: raisins in any form, anchovies on pizza, most vegetables, yogurt, Jon's meatloaf, snails, fruitcake, and chicken salad with peanut butter. His willingness to eat anything else is, effectively, unconditional.