Garfield Classics #20: Garfield Takes Up Space: His 20th Book

Garfield's Got the Magic Touch

Garfield knows what matters in life—whether he's stealing Jon's dinner, performing for his favorite audience, or simply pondering the vastness of space. And he must be doing something right, because this is his twentieth book and he's still going strong. Live it up, Garfield, and take your millions of fans along for the ride!

The GARFIELD CLASSICS series collects the early years of the GARFIELD comic strip in a larger, full-color format. Garfield may have gone through a few changes, but one thing has stayed the same: his enormous appetite for food and fun. So laugh along with the classic cat, because classics are always in style.

Garfield knows what matters in life--whether he's stealing Jon's dinner, performing for his favorite audience, or simply pondering the vastness of space. And he must be doing something right, because this is his 20th book and he's still going strong.

Jim Davis was born on July 28th, 1945 in Marion, IN. He later attended Ball State University in Muncie, IN where he distinguished himself by earning one of the lowest cumulative grade point averages in the history of the university. (Incidentally, a fellow classmate named David Letterman earned the other). The Garfield strip was born on June 19th, 1978, syndicated in 41 US newspapers. Today it's syndicated in more than 2,500 newspapers worldwide with 263 million readers. Recently, Guinness World Records‘, named Garfield "The Most Widely Syndicated Comic Strip in the World."

Jim Davis has had many successes with Garfield including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program and induction into the Licensing Hall of Fame (1998), but his most prized awards are from his peers in the National Cartoonist Society: Best Humor Strip (1981 and 1985), the Elzie Segar Award (1990), and the coveted Reuben Award (1990) for overall excellence in cartooning.