The tubby tabby is back, and he's livin' larger than ever! So whether he's enveloping Pooky in his Herculean hug, arguing with the talking scale, or munching on his masterpiece, the Leaning Tower of Pizza, GARFIELD's motto is always the Bigger IS better!
James Robert "Jim" Davis is an American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield. Other comics that he has worked on are Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, Slapstick, and a strip about Mr. Potato Head.
Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana, near Marion, where he grew up on a small farm with his father James William Davis, mother Anna Catherine (Carter) Davis, brother Dave, and 25 cats. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of his cartoon character Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon, too, is a cartoonist, and also celebrates his birthday on July 28. Davis attended Ball State University. While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi fraternity. He earned the dubious honor of earning one of the lowest cumulative grade point averages in the history of the university, an honor incidentally shared with Late Show host David Letterman.
Davis as of 2007 resides in Muncie, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his company, Paws, Inc., begun in 1981. He was married to Carolyn, a singer and elementary teacher whom he met while both were attending college, and has a son named James with her. However, the couple divorced, and Davis since 2000 has been married to Jill, Paws' senior vice president of licensing, who has worked there approximately 25 years.
Ironically, Davis did not own cats when he started Garfield because of Carolyn's allergies, but they owned a Labrador retriever named Molly. With Jill, the family has expanded to include children Ashley and Chris; three grandchildren, Chloe, Carly and Cody; cats, Spunky and Nermal; and a dog, Pooky.
Bueno, qué decir de los Garfields, uno de los compañeros de nuestra infancia (y adolescencia y parte de la vida adulta, recuerdo haberlos leído hasta bien después de acabada la carrera). Recuerdo haberme encontrado el primero en casa de un amigo y habérmelo devorado de una sentada, con 5-6 años, sin entender varios de los chistes pero disfrutando mucho de los más obvios. Hoy en día, en casa, a los ojos entrecerrados con mezcla de desprecio y aburrimiento los seguimos llamando ojos de Garfield: Esta sensación de saber que siempre iba a encontrar unos cuantos graciosos la tuve durante las dos décadas posteriores en las que Garfield iba apareciendo periódicamente en mi vida. No es una obra culmen de la literatura, pero nos ha alegrado muchos momentos.
Ever reread a book and wonder why you once loved a franchise at all. I remember as a kid, first learning to read, I would get the funnies out of the newspaper every day. I didn't read all of the comic strips but one of the ones I followed everyday was Garfield.
And yeah, I was an 80s Kids. Garfield was everywhere. T-Shirt, lunchboxes, suction cup dolls, video games, stickers and every so often... and until I was about seven usually only at Holidays or on Friday nights in the summer- TV.
Revisiting Garfield as an adult you realize the series has maybe six jokes in its entire run. A lot of strips have recurring motiffs they come back to time and again. But they expand on them, show us something about the characters. (For comic strips that have done this right see Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County/Outland and even Big Nate.) However- Garfield never does. You don't get beneath surface level on these characters because that's not the point.
Jim Davis has said, in interviews, that saw how much Peanuts was making from it's TV and theatrical outings. He set out to create the mascot type character... and he did.
And reading Garfield as a kid you see cat do mean things to the dog and the human and go year, this is funny. But then you grow up and want something a little more high brow and whatever it is you're looking for Garfield just doesn't have it. Whereas you can visit Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes again and again... Garfield wasn't really that funny to start with and is less funny now.
Controversial statement-- the stuff Mark Evanier did with Jim Davis's creations on TV in the last 80s through the 90s is a hell of a lot funnier than Jim Davis ever did with Garfield. Maybe it's because Evanier tried to infuse something beyond a surface level to a character who was designed to be toyettic.
Garfield kills a lot of spiders, makes a lot of sarcastic jokes about Jon, boots Odie, etc. Some of these books have more memorable strips than others. I miss when sometimes there were storylines.
This is a collection of Garfield comics; as usual, very funny and can still make me laugh.
Here are my favorites.
Christmas is my favorite holiday and I enjoyed the comic where Garfield said, "Peace on earth, and good will towards men." Odie taps him on the shoulder; Garfield looks at Odie, puts his arm around him and says, "Dogs too."
I think it was very funny when Jon is staring at the phone and finally yells,"Ring!" Garfield looks up and says, So how's YOUR Friday night going?"
I walk my dog, Mistletoe, everyday so I can relate to this comic. Garfield asks Odie, "Do you want to go for a walk, Odie? Do you? Huh?" Odie is jumping up and down all excited. Garfield then walks away and says, "Well, don't be gone long."
And my favorite one is when Jon says, "Cats are mysterious creatures." Garfield smiles and says, "Years ago, somebody lost the operator's manual."