Garfield
I'm not overweight, I'm undertall.
Garfield is an orange, fuzzy, tabby cat born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant (later revealed in the television specialGarfield: His 9 Lives to be Mama Leoni's Italian Restaurant) and immediately ate all the pasta and lasagna in sight, thus developing his love and obsession for lasagna and pizza.
Gags in the strips commonly deal with Garfield's obesity (in one strip, Jon jokes, "I wouldn't say Garfield is fat, but the last time he got on a Ferris wheel, the two guys on top starved to death"), and his disdain of any form of exertion or work. He is known for saying "breathing is exercise". In addition to being portrayed as lazy and fat, Garfield is also pessimistic, sadistic, cynical, sarcastic, sardonic and a bit obnoxious. He enjoys destroying things, mauling the mailman, tormenting Odie, kicking Odie off the table; he also makes snide comments, usually about Jon's inability to get a date (in one strip, when Jon bemoans the fact that no one will go out with him on New Year's, Garfield replies, "Don't feel bad Jon. They wouldn't go out with you even if it weren't New Year's").
Though Garfield can be very cynical, he does have a soft side for his teddy bear, Pooky, food and sleep, but one Christmas he says "they say I have to get up early, be nice to people, skip breakfast… I wish it would never end."
It has been wondered by many readers if Garfield can actually be understood by the non animal characters around him. Sometimes it seems like Jon can hear him. However, it is mentioned in more than one strip that Jon cannot understand Garfield. June 19 is celebrated within the strip as Garfield's birthday. The appearance in 1979 claimed it to be his first birthday, although in the first appearance of the strip (June 19, 1978) he was portrayed as a fully-grown cat. Garfield learns about his past from his grandfather, who makes many jokes about Garfield.
I'm not overweight, I'm undertall.
Garfield is an orange, fuzzy, tabby cat born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant (later revealed in the television specialGarfield: His 9 Lives to be Mama Leoni's Italian Restaurant) and immediately ate all the pasta and lasagna in sight, thus developing his love and obsession for lasagna and pizza.
Gags in the strips commonly deal with Garfield's obesity (in one strip, Jon jokes, "I wouldn't say Garfield is fat, but the last time he got on a Ferris wheel, the two guys on top starved to death"), and his disdain of any form of exertion or work. He is known for saying "breathing is exercise". In addition to being portrayed as lazy and fat, Garfield is also pessimistic, sadistic, cynical, sarcastic, sardonic and a bit obnoxious. He enjoys destroying things, mauling the mailman, tormenting Odie, kicking Odie off the table; he also makes snide comments, usually about Jon's inability to get a date (in one strip, when Jon bemoans the fact that no one will go out with him on New Year's, Garfield replies, "Don't feel bad Jon. They wouldn't go out with you even if it weren't New Year's").
Though Garfield can be very cynical, he does have a soft side for his teddy bear, Pooky, food and sleep, but one Christmas he says "they say I have to get up early, be nice to people, skip breakfast… I wish it would never end."
It has been wondered by many readers if Garfield can actually be understood by the non animal characters around him. Sometimes it seems like Jon can hear him. However, it is mentioned in more than one strip that Jon cannot understand Garfield. June 19 is celebrated within the strip as Garfield's birthday. The appearance in 1979 claimed it to be his first birthday, although in the first appearance of the strip (June 19, 1978) he was portrayed as a fully-grown cat. Garfield learns about his past from his grandfather, who makes many jokes about Garfield.
Odie
Jon: I think I'm having some kind of identity crisis.
Garfield, walking past Odie who is lying in a kitchen drawer: He thinks he's having an identity crisis....Odie thinks he's a potato peeler.
Garfield (1991)
Odie is a yellow, long-eared beagle with a large, slobbering tongue, who walks on all four legs, though occasionally he will walk on two like Garfield. He was originally owned by Jon’s friend Lyman, though Jon adopted him after Lyman was written out of the strip. The book Garfield: His 9 Lives (1984) retcons Odie's origin: there is no mention of Lyman, and Odie was a puppy when he was acquired by Jon as company for Garfield (when Garfield was a kitten). Odie is usually portrayed as naïve, happy, affectionate and blissfully unaware of Garfield's cynical, sadistic nature, despite the physical abuse Garfield exhibits toward him, including regularly kicking him off the kitchen table or tricking him into going over the edge himself. On some occasions, however, he is depicted more intelligently, as one strip, in which he holds a heavy rock to prevent Garfield from doing this, and actually hurts Garfield's foot. In one strip when Garfield and Jon are out of the house, Odie is seen reading War and Peace and watching a television program, An Evening With Mozart. Odie has only talked once. In another strip, published on January 28, 2010, he is seen solving Jon's sudoku puzzle. Strips that play off of the size of Odie's tongue and his inscrutability include one in which Garfield remarks, "Is there any wonder why there's no room in his head for a brain?", and another in which Garfield pulls Odie's tail, which results in his tongue being pulled out.
Jon: I think I'm having some kind of identity crisis.
Garfield, walking past Odie who is lying in a kitchen drawer: He thinks he's having an identity crisis....Odie thinks he's a potato peeler.
Garfield (1991)
Odie is a yellow, long-eared beagle with a large, slobbering tongue, who walks on all four legs, though occasionally he will walk on two like Garfield. He was originally owned by Jon’s friend Lyman, though Jon adopted him after Lyman was written out of the strip. The book Garfield: His 9 Lives (1984) retcons Odie's origin: there is no mention of Lyman, and Odie was a puppy when he was acquired by Jon as company for Garfield (when Garfield was a kitten). Odie is usually portrayed as naïve, happy, affectionate and blissfully unaware of Garfield's cynical, sadistic nature, despite the physical abuse Garfield exhibits toward him, including regularly kicking him off the kitchen table or tricking him into going over the edge himself. On some occasions, however, he is depicted more intelligently, as one strip, in which he holds a heavy rock to prevent Garfield from doing this, and actually hurts Garfield's foot. In one strip when Garfield and Jon are out of the house, Odie is seen reading War and Peace and watching a television program, An Evening With Mozart. Odie has only talked once. In another strip, published on January 28, 2010, he is seen solving Jon's sudoku puzzle. Strips that play off of the size of Odie's tongue and his inscrutability include one in which Garfield remarks, "Is there any wonder why there's no room in his head for a brain?", and another in which Garfield pulls Odie's tail, which results in his tongue being pulled out.
Jon Arbuckle
Jon: Here's my sixth-grade report card. My parents were so proud.
Garfield, reading the report card: "Jon has not shoved any crayons up his nose this term."
Garfield (1996)
Jon (Jonathan Q. Arbuckle) is Garfield's owner, usually depicted as an awkward clumsy geek who has trouble finding a date. Jon also had a crush on Liz (Garfield's veterinarian) and is now dating her. In the December 23, 1980 strip, Jon states that he is thirty years old (nominally meaning he should presently be in his sixties, although he has not aged physically). His birthday is July 27.
Jon loves (or occasionally hates) Garfield and all cats. Many gags focus on this; his inability to get a date is usually attributed to his lack of social skills, his poor taste in clothes (Garfield remarked in one strip after seeing his closet that "two hundred moths committed suicide"; in another, the "geek police" ordered Jon to "throw out his tie"), and his eccentric interests which range from stamp collecting to measuring the growth of his toenails to watching movies with "polka ninjas". Other strips portray him as lacking intelligence (he is seen reading a pop-up book in one strip).
Jon was born on a farm that apparently contained few amenities; in one strip, his father, upon seeing indoor plumbing, remarks, "Woo-ha! Ain't science something?" Jon occasionally visits his parents, brother and grandmother at their farm. It was implied that Jon is inspired by a drawing of Davis himself when he was first drawing the strip. Jon was initially portrayed as a cartoonist in earlier strips, as Jim Davis stated this would've been a way to express his own frustrations as a cartoonist himself, but this eventually faded in the later strips.
Jon: Here's my sixth-grade report card. My parents were so proud.
Garfield, reading the report card: "Jon has not shoved any crayons up his nose this term."
Garfield (1996)
Jon (Jonathan Q. Arbuckle) is Garfield's owner, usually depicted as an awkward clumsy geek who has trouble finding a date. Jon also had a crush on Liz (Garfield's veterinarian) and is now dating her. In the December 23, 1980 strip, Jon states that he is thirty years old (nominally meaning he should presently be in his sixties, although he has not aged physically). His birthday is July 27.
Jon loves (or occasionally hates) Garfield and all cats. Many gags focus on this; his inability to get a date is usually attributed to his lack of social skills, his poor taste in clothes (Garfield remarked in one strip after seeing his closet that "two hundred moths committed suicide"; in another, the "geek police" ordered Jon to "throw out his tie"), and his eccentric interests which range from stamp collecting to measuring the growth of his toenails to watching movies with "polka ninjas". Other strips portray him as lacking intelligence (he is seen reading a pop-up book in one strip).
Jon was born on a farm that apparently contained few amenities; in one strip, his father, upon seeing indoor plumbing, remarks, "Woo-ha! Ain't science something?" Jon occasionally visits his parents, brother and grandmother at their farm. It was implied that Jon is inspired by a drawing of Davis himself when he was first drawing the strip. Jon was initially portrayed as a cartoonist in earlier strips, as Jim Davis stated this would've been a way to express his own frustrations as a cartoonist himself, but this eventually faded in the later strips.
Dr. Liz Wilson
Jon: Tell me, Liz, haven't we met somewhere before? A rice paddy in Hong Kong?
Liz: Look, jerk. I'll be the vet for your cat, but I won't play fall guy for your stupid lines. Understood?
Jon, shocked: Uh-huh. So long, doctor.
Liz: Have a nice day.
Garfield (1979)[55]
Dr. Liz Wilson is Garfield's veterinarian and a long-time crush of Jon Arbuckle. Although she has a somewhat deadpan, sardonic persona, she never reacts negatively to Jon's outlandish and goofball behavior and even finds it endearing on occasion. Jon often attempted to ask her out on a date, but rarely succeeded; however, in an extended story arc from June 19 to July 29, 2006 (the main event on July 28), Liz and Jon kiss. Now, they are a couple.[56]
In a few of the July 2007 strips, Garfield became jealous of Liz[57] until they became friends on July 24.[58]
In a 2008 strip that appeared at June 8 and also in Garfield 2: A Tail of Two Kitties, it is implied that Jon and Liz will eventually marry. However, in many books and interviews, Jim Davis has revealed that he has no definite plans for a Jon/Liz marriage.
Jon: Tell me, Liz, haven't we met somewhere before? A rice paddy in Hong Kong?
Liz: Look, jerk. I'll be the vet for your cat, but I won't play fall guy for your stupid lines. Understood?
Jon, shocked: Uh-huh. So long, doctor.
Liz: Have a nice day.
Garfield (1979)[55]
Dr. Liz Wilson is Garfield's veterinarian and a long-time crush of Jon Arbuckle. Although she has a somewhat deadpan, sardonic persona, she never reacts negatively to Jon's outlandish and goofball behavior and even finds it endearing on occasion. Jon often attempted to ask her out on a date, but rarely succeeded; however, in an extended story arc from June 19 to July 29, 2006 (the main event on July 28), Liz and Jon kiss. Now, they are a couple.[56]
In a few of the July 2007 strips, Garfield became jealous of Liz[57] until they became friends on July 24.[58]
In a 2008 strip that appeared at June 8 and also in Garfield 2: A Tail of Two Kitties, it is implied that Jon and Liz will eventually marry. However, in many books and interviews, Jim Davis has revealed that he has no definite plans for a Jon/Liz marriage.