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James Robert "Jim" Davis is a professional cartoonist, television writer, and television producer from Marion, Indiana. His main claim to fame has been the creation of the long-running comic strip "Garfield" (1978-), featuring a cantankerous cat and a memorable group of supporting characters. The strip has been adapted into three animated television series, 12 prime-time television specials, two theatrical films, and a number of video games. Davis also created the short-lived comic strip "U.S. Acres" (1986-1989), featuring a group of anthropomorphic barnyard animals. This strip was also adapted in animated form. It inspired a series of spin-off children's books.

In 1945, Davis was born in Marion, Indiana. The city is primarily known as the base for the Indiana Wesleyan University, the largest evangelical Christian university in the Midwestern United States. Davis parents' were farmers, named James William "Jim" Davis and Anna Catherine "Betty" Carter. Davis was primarily raised on a small cow farm, located in the vicinity of Fairmount, Indiana. Fairmount serves as a bedroom community for nearby Marion. Davis parents' primarily owned Aberdeen Angus cows, members of a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. The breed was first imported into the United States in 1873.

Davis received his secondary education at the Fairmount High School. He joined the staff of the school newspaper, "The Breeze". He eventually served as the newspaper's art editor. While working there, he created a comic strip about school life. He used the strip's characters to illustrate his senior yearbook.

Davis received his tertiary education at the Ball State University, a public research university located in Muncie, Indiana. He studied both art and business. Following his graduation graduation, he intended to become a professional newspaper cartoonist. In 1969, Davis was hired as an assistant by experienced cartoonist Tom K. Ryan (1926-2019). From 1969 to 1978, Davis worked as an assistant artist in the Western comedy strip "Tumbleweeds" (1965-2007). The comic strip's protagonist was the laconic cowboy Tumbleweeds, a man who was content to drift through life.

Davis aspired to create a comic strip of his own. His first effort was the strip "Gnorm Gnat" (1973-1975), published by the newspaper "The Pendleton Times" in Indiana. It featured anthropomorphic insects, with the main character Gnorm Gnat serving as a comedic straight man to his zanier supporting cast. Davis tried for years to sign a deal to have this comic strip syndicated nationwide. He kept facing rejection by various syndicates. He was told that he had a good art style, and a good sense for gags. But that readers would have trouble relating to insect characters. Davis decided to end this comic strip, and to start a replacement.

Davis decided to research other people's syndicated comic strips, trying to find out what made them popular. He noticed that there were numerous strips about animals, many of them featuring pet dogs. He realized that people related well to the idea of a pet animal, but figured that creating another comic strip about a dog would make his work unlikely to stand out. He realized that there were no comic strips about pet cats, so he decided to create a comic strip about a pet cat. Davis created the locally published comic strip "Jon" (1976-1978), featuring the relationship of a pet owner and his cat. He created the character Garfield for this comic strip. He based the character's personality on his own cantankerous grandfather, who was named James A. Garfield Davis.

In 1948, Davis signed a deal with United Feature Syndicate. They agreed to syndicate his comic strip for national distribution. He launched the revised comic strip "Garfield" on June 19, 1978. It was published in 41 newspapers, Davis' first work to have such a wide distribution. A Sunday version of the comic strip was launched June 25, 1978.

Davis gradually changed Garfield's design over the first years of the comic strip. By 1983, Garfield had become a bipedal animal. Garfield was far more successful than Davis had expected. By 1981, it was published in 850 newspapers and had accumulated over 15 million dollars in merchandise. David founded the company "Paws, Inc." (1981-) to handle the licensing rights to the comic strip and its characters. He started employing both artists (as assistants) and licensing administrators.

Davis signed a deal with producers Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson for the creation of the first Garfield television special, "Here Comes Garfield" (1982). Both men had previously produced television specials for the comic strip "Peanuts". The director of the special was Phil Roman, while Davis himself handled the screenplay. The special reached an audience of about 50 million people, and was nominated for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program". Based on this success, other 11 television specials were created between 1983 and 1991. All of them were nominated for Emmy Awards, and four of them won the Award.

Based on the success of Garfield in animation, Davis went to work on creating an animated television series about the character. He served as the producer of "Garfield and Friends" (1988-1994). Veteran comic book writer Mark Evanier was hired as the series' head writer. The series lasted for 7 seasons and 121 episodes. The series was considered quite successful, but its production cost kept rising. The network CBS eventually ended the series. Its end was one of a series of cost-cutting measures for the network, as CBS was facing financial problems in the mid-1990s. The series found further success in syndication.

In 1994, Davis (through Paws, Inc.) purchased all rights to the previously published Garfield comic strips from the United Feature Syndicate. Davis was the sole owner of the comic strip series from 1994 to 2019, while having the right to license reprints of the strip.

In the late 1990s, Davis stopped drawing the "Garfield" comic strip. He only provided rough sketches for subsequent comic strips, while the main artists for the strip were his long-term assistants Brett Koth and Gary Barker. Davis remained as the strip's main writer.

In 2000, Davis and his frequent collaborator Brett Koth launched a new comic strip, based on the toy character "Mr. Potato Head". The strip was not particularly successful, and ended in 2003. In 2002, "Garfield" became the world's most syndicated strip. It was published in 2,570 different newspapers across several countries, and had an estimated reading audience of 263 million people.

In 2006, Davis joined the faculty of the Ball State University as an adjunct professor. He lectured students "on the creative and business aspects of the comics industry". In 2011, Davis started drawing comics digitally through using a graphics tablet. He kept his older hand-painted "Garfield" strips in a climate-controlled safe, until he could figure what to do with his art archives. In 2019, he started selling parts of his archives at auctions.

In 2019, Davis sold Paws, Inc. to the media conglomerate Viacom. The rights to the "Garfield" comic strip and its global merchandising were transferred to Nickelodeon, one of Viacom's subsidiaries. As part of the deal, Davis would continue to supervise the production of the comic strip. The main offices of Paws Inc. were transferred from Muncie, Indiana to the skyscraper "One Astor Plaza" in New York City.

By 2022, Davis was 76-years-old. He continues supervising the production of the "Garfield" comic strip from his home in Indiana. He has spend most of his life in his home state, and seems to have no plans to move out or to retire. He has had two marriages, and has raised several of his own children and two step-children. While the comic strip market has declined in the 21st century, the popularity of Davis' cantankerous cat has never faded.

Jim Davis in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)

Awards

Jim Davis

Primetime Emmy Awards

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