The comic strip Garfield, created by Jim Davis, appeared in newspapers for the
first time on Monday, June 19, 1978. The strip follows the life of the title character,
a cat named Garfield, after Davis’ grandfather, his owner, Jon Arbuckle, and Jon’s
dog Odie. As of 2007, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals,
and held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s most widely syndicated
comic strip. Though rarely mentioned, Garfield is set in Muncie, Indiana, the home
of Jim Davis.

Cartoonist Jim Davis

The first published Garfield comic strip