Comic strips

Garfield – Not Aging Gracefully

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D. D. Degg June 19, 2018 1 minute 0 comments

Garfield by Jim Davis turns 40 today.

Newspapers around the world are celebrating the occasion.

In Canada the Edmonton Journal ran an article and interview with Jim Davis.

Q: What did your life look life before Garfield?

A: I was earning $135 a week as an assistant to T.K. Ryan on the Tumbleweeds comic. I wanted to have enough papers with my own strip to not have to take a second job. I figured 100 papers, for my lifestyle living in Indiana. I was 32 when I got syndicated. It was like going to college for 22 years, never knowing when you’re going to get a diploma.

In India the Deccan Chronicle does the same:

“It’s fun being a cartoonist,” Davis says, “I work 12-14 hours a day, and I love what I’m doing.” He sets aside one week each month to focus on writing the comic strip, while his staff help him with blue-lining, inking, lettering, and colouring. He says he’ll continue drawing “until someone taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Jim, you’re not funny anymore’.”

2013 – Garfield is syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals and holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip.

Since 1978, Garfield has grown from a comic strip to an international brand, with movies, TV shows, books, video games, and merchandise. In 1981, Davis founded Paws, Inc. to manage Garfield’s licensing. Dozens of licensing experts, artists, and writers work at Paws, which is located in Davis’ home state of Indiana. And the operation is huge: Garfield merchandise—from posters to clothing to calendars—earns nearly $1 billion in revenue per year.