im Davis was born July 28, 1945 in Marion, Indiana, and raised on a small farm w

ith his parents, James and Betty Davis, and his younger brother, Dave (Doc). Lik
e most farms, the barnyard had its share of stray cats; about 25 at one time, by
Jim's estimation. As a child, he suffered serious bouts with asthma and was oft
en bedridden. Forced inside, away from regular farm chores, he whiled away the h
ours drawing pictures.
Gnorm Gnat
Gnorm Gnat In college, he studied art and business before going to work for TUMB
LEWEEDS creator, Tom Ryan. There, he learned the skills and discipline necessary
to become a syndicated cartoonist and began his own strip, GNORM GNAT. When he
tried to sell the strip to a newspaper syndicate he was told, "It's funny, but b
ugs? Who can relate to a bug?" After five years of GNORM, Davis crushed the bug
strip idea and tried a new tact, studying the comics pages closely. He noticed t
here were a lot of successful strips about dogs, but none about cats! Combining
his wry wit with the art skills he had honed since childhood, GARFIELD, a fat, l
azy, lasagna loving, cynical cat was born. Davis says Garfield is a composite of
all the cats he remembered from his childhood, rolled into one feisty orange fu
r ball. Garfield was named after his grandfather, James Garfield Davis.
Early Garfield
Garfield first appeared in June 19, 1978 The strip debuted on June 78 in 41 U.S.
newspapers. Several months after the launch, the Chicago Sun-Times cancelled GA
RFIELD. Over 1300 angry readers demanded that GARFIELD be reinstated. It was, an
d the rest, as they say, is history. Today, GARFIELD is read in over 2400 newspa
pers by 200 millione. Gs World Rec , named GARFIELD The ely Syn ed Comic Strip i s pe
ers a National Cartoonist Soci th B Humor Strip (1981 and 1985), the Elzie Se
gar Award (1990), and the coveted Reuben Award (1990), the top award presented t
o a cartoonist by NCS members.