Editing Garfield (section)

==Main characters==
{{Main|List of Garfield characters{{!}}List of ''Garfield'' characters}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="3" | Characters
! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | ''The Fantastic Funnies''
! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | [[Garfield merchandise#Television|''Garfield'' Television Specials]]
! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | Television series
! colspan="3" |Direct-to-DVD films
! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;" | Theatrical films
|-
! style="text-align:center;" | ''[[Garfield and Friends]]''
! style="text-align:center;" | ''[[The Garfield Show]]''
!''[[Garfield Gets Real]]''
!''[[Garfield's Fun Fest]]''
!''[[Garfield's Pet Force]]''
! style="text-align:center;" | ''[[Garfield: The Movie|{{small|Garfield:}}<br />The Movie]]''
! style="text-align:center;" | ''[[Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties|{{small|Garfield:}}<br />A Tail of Two Kitties]]''
! style="text-align:center;" | ''[[The Garfield Movie]]''
|-
! 1980
! 1982–1991
! 1988–1994
! 2009–2016
!2007
!2008
!2009
! 2004
! 2006
! 2024
|-
! [[Garfield (character)|Garfield]]
| [[Scott Beach]]
| colspan="2" | [[Lorenzo Music]]
| colspan="4" | [[Frank Welker]]
| colspan="2" | [[Bill Murray]]
| [[Chris Pratt]]
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Jon Arbuckle]]
| rowspan="2" | Thom Huge
| [[Sandy Kenyon]]
| rowspan="2" | Thom Huge
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | [[Wally Wingert]]
| rowspan="2" colspan="2" | [[Breckin Meyer]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Nicholas Hoult]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grobar |first=Matt |date=2022-08-17 |title='Garfield': Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Waddingham & Cecily Strong Board Animated Feature From Alcon Entertainment |url=https://deadline.com/2022/08/garfield-adds-ving-rhames-nicholas-hoult-hannah-waddingham-cecily-strong-1235094576/ |access-date=2024-02-26 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
| Thom Huge
|-
! [[Odie]]
| style="background:lightgrey;" |
| colspan="6" | [[Gregg Berger]]
| colspan="2" {{N/A|''Uncredited dog''}}
| [[Harvey Guillén]]
|-
! Dr. Liz Wilson
| style="background:lightgrey;" |
| colspan="3" | [[Julie K. Payne]]
| colspan="3" |
| colspan="2" | [[Jennifer Love Hewitt]]
| Dev Joshi
|-
! Nermal
| colspan="2" style="background:lightgrey;" |
| [[Desirée Goyette]]
| colspan="4" | [[Jason Marsden]]
| [[David Eigenberg]]
| style="background:lightgrey;" |
| {{N/A|''Silent cameo''}}
|-
! Arlene
| colspan="2" style="background:lightgrey;" |
| {{N/A|''Silent cameo''}}
| colspan="4" | [[Audrey Wasilewski]]
| [[Debra Messing]]
| colspan="2" style="background:lightgrey;" |
|}

Through the Garfield strips, there have been many additional characters, but the main ones are described here.

===Garfield===
'''First appearance: June 19, 1978'''
[[File:Mike Pence Garfield Speech.ogg|thumb|right|[[Mike Pence]] wishing Garfield a happy birthday during the June 19th 2003 House Session]]
{{quote box|quote=I'm not overweight, I'm undertall.|source= —''[[Garfield At Large: His First Book|Garfield At Large: his First Book]]'' (1980)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pressroom.garfield.com/garfield_bio/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030410100409/http://pressroom.garfield.com/garfield_bio/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 10, 2003|title=The Garfield PressRoom: A Brief History|publisher=Paws Inc.|access-date=July 26, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref>|width=310px}}

[[Garfield (character)|Garfield]] is an orange, fuzzy [[tabby cat]] born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant (later revealed in the television special ''[[Garfield: His 9 Lives#The television special|Garfield: His 9 Lives]]'' to be Mama Leoni's Italian Restaurant) who immediately ate all the pasta and lasagna in sight, thus developing his love and obsession for lasagna and [[pizza]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1984/12/13|title=Garfield|date=December 13, 1984|publisher=Gocomics.com|access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite video|people=Phil Roman (Director), [[Lorenzo Music]] (Voice)|title=Garfield: His Nine Lives [Television production]|medium=Television (Original), VHS|publisher=[[Fox Home Entertainment]]}}</ref>

Gags in the strips commonly deal with Garfield's obesity (in one strip, Jon jokes: "I wouldn't say Garfield is fat, but the last time he got on a [[Ferris wheel]], the two guys on top starved to death")<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1980/05/02|title=Garfield|date=May 2, 1980|publisher=Gocomics.com|access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref> and his disdain of any form of exertion or work. He is known for saying "breathing is exercise".

Though Garfield can be very cynical, he does have a soft side for his teddy bear, Pooky, food, and sleep, and during one Christmas he says, "They say I have to get up early, be nice to people, skip breakfast… I wish it would never end." However, in the feature film ''[[Garfield Gets Real]]'' and its sequels, Garfield is better behaved, friendlier towards Jon and Odie, less self-centered, and more sympathetic.

It has been wondered by many readers if Garfield can actually be understood by the human characters around him. Sometimes, it seems like Jon can hear him. However, it is mentioned in more than one strip that Jon cannot understand Garfield.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2009/08/15|title=Garfield|date=August 15, 2009|publisher=Gocomics.com|access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref> However, in the feature film ''[[Garfield Gets Real]]'' and its sequels, Garfield and the other animals (save for Odie) are able to talk to, and be understood by, Jon and the other humans. In the April 1 ([[April Fools' Day]]), 1997, strip drawn by the artists of ''[[Blondie (comic strip)|Blondie]]'' as part of the [[comic strip switcheroo]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1997/04/01|title=Garfield|date=April 1, 1997|publisher=Gocomics.com|access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref> Garfield, still with thought balloons, can be understood by Jon.

To break the fourth wall, June 19 is celebrated within the strip as Garfield's birthday. The appearance in 1979 claimed it to be his first birthday, although in the first appearance of the strip (June 19, 1978), he was portrayed as a fully grown cat, implying that the birthday is for the strip itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1978/06/19|title=Garfield|date=June 19, 1978|publisher=Gocomics.com|access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref>

===Jon Arbuckle===
'''First appearance: June 19, 1978'''

{{quote box|quote=''Jon:'' Here's my sixth-grade report card. My parents were so proud.<br />
''Garfield, reading the report card:'' "Jon has not shoved any crayons up his nose this term."|source= —''Garfield'' (1996)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1996/ga960311.gif|title=Garfield|date=March 11, 1996|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 26, 2008}}</ref>|width=310px}}

[[Jon Arbuckle|Jon]] (Full name: Jonathan Q. Arbuckle) is Garfield's owner, usually depicted as an awkward clumsy [[geek]] who has trouble finding a date. Jon had a crush on Liz (Garfield's veterinarian) and is now dating her. Jon disapproves of Garfield's "don't care, not interested", attitude and often encourages his pet to take an interest in the world around him, sometimes stating an interesting fact or asking a philosophical question in an attempt to prompt Garfield into thought. Garfield tends to brush off these attempts with a simple yet logical remark, and despite the trouble Garfield causes, Jon has a heart of gold and is very tolerant of Garfield's shortcomings, a fact which Garfield often takes advantage of. Jon's exact age is unknown, as in one 1980 strip where he stated he was 29 (though the fact he said that he would be 30 if he wasn't sick a year and this was said in the context of a joke told to Garfield makes it possible he is a different age) and in an episode of ''The Garfield Show'' he was stated to be 22. His birthday is July 28.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gocomics.com/mobile/garfield/2005/07/28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808190758/http://www.gocomics.com/mobile/garfield/2005/07/28|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 8, 2016|title=Garfield|date=July 28, 2005|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 10, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gocomics.com/mobile/garfield/2008/07/28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808210333/http://www.gocomics.com/mobile/garfield/2008/07/28|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 8, 2016|title=Garfield|date=July 28, 2008|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 10, 2016}}</ref>

Jon loves (or occasionally hates) Garfield and all cats. Many gags focus on this; his inability to get a date is usually attributed to his lack of social skills, his poor taste in clothes (Garfield remarked in one strip after seeing his closet that "two hundred moths committed suicide";<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/2002/ga020110.gif|title=Garfield|date=January 10, 2002|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 26, 2008}}</ref> in another, the "geek police" ordered Jon to "throw out his tie"),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga890811.gif|title=Garfield|date=August 11, 1989|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 26, 2008}}</ref> and his eccentric interests which range from stamp collecting to measuring the growth of his toenails to watching movies with "[[polka]] [[ninja]]s". Other strips portray him as lacking intelligence (he is seen reading a [[pop-up book]] in one strip).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1990/ga900324.gif|title=Garfield|date=March 24, 1990|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 26, 2008}}</ref>

Jon was born on a farm that apparently contained few amenities; in one strip, his father, upon seeing indoor plumbing, remarks: "Woo-ha! Ain't science something?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1984/ga841127.gif|title=Garfield|date=November 27, 1984|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 26, 2008}}</ref> Jon occasionally visits his parents, brother and grandmother at their farm. It was implied that Jon is inspired by a drawing of Davis himself when he was first drawing the strip. Jon was portrayed as a [[cartoonist]] in the first strip<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1978/06/19|title=Garfield by Jim Davis for June 19, 1978 {{!}} GoComics.com|last=Davis|first=Jim|date=June 19, 1978|website=GoComics|language=en|access-date=September 30, 2019}}</ref> and occasional others in the early years; Davis stated his intent had been to express his own frustrations as a cartoonist. Ultimately, Jon's job has been referenced far more frequently in ''Garfield'' animated series than in the strip.

===Odie===
'''First appearance: August 8, 1978'''<ref>{{cite web|title=The Garfield Vault Strip|work=Garfield.com|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1978/ga780808.gif|date=August 8, 1978|access-date=August 7, 2006}}</ref>

{{quote box|quote=''Jon:'' I think I'm having some kind of identity crisis.

''Garfield, walking past Odie who is lying in a kitchen drawer:'' He thinks '''he's''' having an identity crisis ... Odie thinks he's a potato peeler.|source= —''Garfield'' (1991)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1991/ga910912.gif|title=Garfield|date=September 12, 1991|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 26, 2008}}</ref>|width=310px}}

[[Odie]] is a yellow, long-eared [[beagle]] with a large, slobbering tongue, who walks on all four legs, though occasionally he will walk on two like Garfield. He was originally owned by Jon's friend [[List of characters in Garfield#Lyman|Lyman]], though Jon adopted him after Lyman was written out of the strip. The book ''Garfield: His 9 Lives'' (1984) [[retcons]] Odie's origin: there is no mention of Lyman, and Odie was a puppy when he was acquired by Jon as company for Garfield (when Garfield was a kitten).

Odie is younger than Garfield and usually portrayed as naïve, happy, affectionate and blissfully unaware of Garfield's cynical, sadistic nature, despite the physical abuse Garfield exhibits toward him, including regularly kicking him off the kitchen table or tricking him into going over the edge himself. On some occasions, however, he is depicted more intelligently, as in one strip, in which he holds a heavy rock to prevent Garfield from doing this, and actually hurts Garfield's foot. In one strip when Garfield and Jon are out of the house, Odie is seen reading ''[[War and Peace]]'' and watching ''An Evening With Mozart'' on television,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1989/ga890427.gif|title=Garfield|date=April 27, 1989|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=July 26, 2008}}</ref> but in "Ask a Dog" strips, he is depicted as illiterate and has to be read to by Garfield. Odie has only thought once. In another strip, published on January 28, 2010, he is seen solving Jon's [[sudoku]] puzzle.

===Dr. Liz Wilson===
[[File:Jon - 1976-02-26.png|left|thumb|Liz's first appearance from a 1976 ''Jon'' strip, where she was simply known as 'that girl.' Jon's line in the second panel was reused in the first panel of the ''Garfield'' strip published on June 30, 1979.]]
'''First appearance: June 26, 1979'''

{{quote box|quote=''Jon:'' Tell me, Liz, haven't we met somewhere before? A rice paddy in Hong Kong?

''Liz:'' Look, jerk. I'll be the vet for your cat, but I won't play [[fall guy]] for your stupid lines. Understood?

''Jon, shocked:'' Uh-huh. So long, doctor.

''Liz:'' Have a nice day.|source= —''Garfield'' (1979)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1979/ga790630.gif|title=Garfield|date=June 30, 1979|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=March 29, 2014}}</ref>|width=310px}}
Dr. Liz Wilson is Garfield and Odie's sarcastic [[veterinarian]] and a long time crush of Jon Arbuckle. She has a somewhat deadpan, sardonic persona and almost always reacts negatively to Jon's outlandish and goofball behavior but can even find it endearing on occasion. Jon often attempts to ask her out on a date, but rarely succeeds; however, in an extended story arc from June 20 to July 29, 2006 (with the main event taking place on July 28), Liz and Jon kiss, and have been a couple ever since.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=2006&addr=060728|title=Garfield's Comic Strip Archives at Garfield.com – The Official Web Site of Garfield & Friends|publisher=Garfield.com|access-date=September 3, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711072545/http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=2006&addr=060728|archive-date=July 11, 2011 }}</ref> Her first appearance was in a 1976 ''Jon'' strip, where Jon runs into her at a laundromat. This became a running gag of the strip, where Jon would often go out of his way to bump into her (a 1976 strip, for example, sees Jon stalking Liz in an alleyway.) in a 1977 strip, Liz takes a job as a waitress at Irma's diner, where Jon would also frequently ask her out to no avail. It wouldn't be until ''Garfield'' was syndicated where Liz would work as a vet. Her birthday is January 13.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Jim |date=2025-01-14 |title=Garfield by Jim Davis for January 14, 2025 {{!}} GoComics.com |url=https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2025/01/14 |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=GoComics |language=en}}</ref>