Garfield has been one of the most widely known, universally beloved comic strips for nearly half a century – far exceeding even creator Jim Davis’ least humble expectations early in its run. As he once revealed, Davis initially hoped the strip would last twenty-five years in publication, though he never anticipated it would become a full-on global phenomenon.
In a 2018 interview with the Independent, celebrating 40 years of Garfield, Jim Davis reflected on his early expectations for the strip, which he shared with another interviewer decades earlier. Davis took a moment to marvel at his own achievement, noting that he “blew past” his initial goal of twenty-five years and was still going.
Even twenty-five years is a remarkable run for a comic strip. Gary Larson’s Far Side, for example, ran for just sixteen years. Davis’ comment on Garfield indicates that he knew its potential early on, even if not quite the extent of it.
Garfield Creator Jim Davis Underestimated His Strip’s Endurance Potential By Decades
“I remember doing an early interview when Garfield first got going,” Jim Davis told the Independent, “and I told the guy that I hoped I’d get 25 years’ work out of Garfield.” Even out of context, it’s worth considering how remarkable this statement is. For any artist to aim for their work to sustain them for two-and-a-half decades is audacious – despite the syndicated comic strip medium’s tendency toward long-running serials, success is never guaranteed. Evidently, Davis was cognizant, or at least admirably confident, in Garfield’s ability to maintain an audience, but even he didn’t realize how right he was.
“That was my goal,” Davis explained, before adding: “Well, we obviously blew past that some time ago.” First syndicated nationally in 1978, Davis’ Independent interview celebrated four decades of Garfield in 2018, and now with the 50th anniversary of the strip, and its iconic characters, rapidly approaching, Davis continues to spearhead the production of syndicated Garfield strips, in addition to the multimedia empire his work has spawned. Garfield has become a timeless part of pop culture, but it’s worth remembering that this came about as a product of its creators’ hard work and steadfast artistic commitment.
Garfield Remains One Of The Most Inspired Comic Strips Of All Time
As Jim Davis also noted in the Independent’s 40th anniversary retrospective, Garfield has always been a product of creative inspiration, making it all the more remarkable, and inspiring that it found the success it did. Twenty-five years in publication was an ambitious goal, one that the strip’s creator surpassed in what must have felt like the blink of an eye. As Jim Davis continues to write the impressive legacy of Garfield, writers and artists working in all mediums should continue to look to him as an inspirational figure, for creating one of the world’s most relentlessly popular pieces of art.
