Jim Davis

"Garfield" creator Jim Davis's career started not with a cat, but with a gnat. However, after five years, he killed off "Gnorm Gnat" in favor of a character more readers could relate to. Starting in 1978 in 41 newspapers, "Garfield" has grown in popularity over the years, and has gained over 263 million readers around the world.

Davis has won "Best Humor Strip" from the National Cartoonists Society, the Reuben Award for achievement in comic strips, and several Emmys for "Garfield" television specials. Now run in over 2,600 newspapers around the globe and starring in two Hollywood movies, Davis's fat cat has become one of the most recognizable characters in entertainment today.

As for Garfield himself, he is the lazy, fat, selfish, orange, anthropomorphic tabby cat who enjoys eating, sleeping, stealing his owner Jon's meals. He hates Mondays because he suffers bad luck on those days and considers himself to be more intelligent than humans, dogs, or animals. He also enjoys peforming on a wooden fence in the middle of the night, usually being booed at. He hates spiders, and often swats them with a newspaper or whatever may be close to a paw.

Garfield's birthday is June 19, 1978, the day the first Garfield strip was published.

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