GARFIELD

In 1970, the comic artist Jim Davis, author of a strip, gnorm Mosquito, who met with mostly negative reviews. One editor said that "his art was good, his gags were great", but "no one can identify with bugs." Davis took his advice and created a new strip with a cat as a main character. The band originally consisted of four main characters. Garfield, owner's character, was based on the cats Davis was around growing up, he took his name and personality of Davis' grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis, who was in Davis' words, "an irascible great man." Jon Arbuckle came from a coffee business since 1950, and Odie is based on a commercial car dealership written by Jim Davis, who has featured Odie the village idiot. At first the owner of the strip Odie was a man named Lyman. It 'was written to give someone to talk to Jon. Davis later realized that Garfield and Jon could "communicate verbally". The strip was originally rejected by King Features Syndicate and Chicago Tribune, New York News, United Feature Syndicate, however, accepted in 1978. It debuted in 41 newspapers on June 19 of that year. In 1994, the company Davis', Paws, Inc., has purchased all rights to the strips from 1978 to 1993 by United Feature. The strip is currently distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, the strip while the rights remain with their paws.
The appearance of the characters gradually changed time.The left panel is taken from a 1980 strip, right by a strip 1990.
Garfield quickly became a commercial success. In 1981, less than three years since its release, the strip appeared in 850 newspapers and accumulated over $ 15 million in merchandise. To handle the merchandise, Davis founded Paws, Inc. In 2002, Garfield has become the most syndicated strip in the world, appearing in 2,570 newspapers with 263 million readers around the world, [1] By 2004, Garfield appeared in nearly 2600 newspapers and sold from $ 750 million to 1 billion worth of merchandise in 111 countries.
As it progressed, the strip underwent stylistic changes. The appearance of Garfield was probably the most important, he underwent a "Darwinian evolution", in which he walked on its 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 "reaching for a piece of cake." Jon has also undergone great changes, and still is today. Now, it seems older than 1990 strips, he is taller and has great features.
Davis is no longer the sole artist of Garfield. Although still writes stories and rough sketches, other artists handle the inking, coloring and lettering. Davis passes otherwise the majority of his time managing the business and merchandising of Garfield.