List of Garfield characters
This is a list of characters in the Garfield comic strip, created by Jim Davis. It includes notable characters from the comic strip as well as cartoons, and movies centered on the Garfield character, and is organized by what medium they appeared in first.
Comic strip
Garfield
First Appearance: June 19, 1978
Jon Arbuckle
First Appearance: June 19, 1978
Odie
First Appearance: August 8, 1978
Dr. Liz Wilson
First Appearance: June 26, 1979
On Garfield and Friends, Liz was voiced by Julie Payne, occasionally appearing in the first two seasons. In the live-action/animated movies, she is played by Jennifer Love Hewitt. Her first albeit brief television appearance was on the second TV special Garfield on the Town.
In The Garfield Show, she is once again voiced by Julie Payne.
Arlene
First Appearance: December 17, 1980 In the Garfield film, she appears as a purple-ish Russian Blue cat, voiced by Debra Messing.
Pooky
First Appearance: October 23, 1978
Nermal
First Appearance: September 3, 1979
Nermal is a small grey male tabby cat with thick eyelashes. Despite being an adult cat, he is smaller than most and prefers to call himself "the world's cutest kitten". Nermal was first introduced as Jon's parents' kitten.[1]
In Garfield: The Movie, Nermal is portrayed as a Siamese cat in the neighborhood, and is voiced by David Eigenberg. He voiced by Jason Marsden in The Garfield Show, and the films Garfield Gets Real, Garfield's Fun Fest, and Garfield's Pet Force.
Squeak
First Appearance: October 30, 1984
On Garfield and Friends, the same character was named Floyd and voiced by Gregg Berger, who reprised the role in The Garfield Show, with Berger reprising his role.
Lyman
First Appearance: August 7, 1978
Last Appearance: As a regular: April 24, 1983 (Cameo in the tenth anniversary strip: June 19, 1988
In The Garfield Show episode "Long Lost Lyman" (season 3), an effort is made to explain what became of the character in-continuity. Lyman is said to have left Odie with Jon before moving away to work as a wildlife photographer in a distant jungle. When Jon learns that Lyman disappeared while searching for a mythical Bigfoot-like creature, Jon, Garfield, and Odie travel to the jungle to find him. The "Long Lost Lyman" version of Lyman has round eyes resembling Jon's rather than the dot-eyes of his traditional comics design,and is voiced by Frank Ferrante.[2]
Mom
First Appearance: February 13, 1980
Doc Boy
First Appearance: May 17, 1983
In A Garfield Christmas Special, he was voiced by David Lander. Doc Boy also appears in The Garfield Show, with Lander reprising his role, but only in six episodes.
Grandma
First Appearance: January 25, 1982
in A Garfield Christmas Special, where it is revealed that her husband has died and she talks about her life with him.
Aunt Gussie
First Appearance: August 14, 1981
Garfield's mother
Garfield's mother first made appearances in the animated specials Garfield on the Town and Garfield: His 9 Lives, as well as a few cameos in the comic strip (including a December 1984 story which was a loose adaptation of Garfield on the Town). Sandi Huge provided her voice in the specials. She also appeared once on Garfield and Friends in an episode called "The Garfield Rap."
Garfield's grandpa
First Appearance: November 10, 1980
Garfield's grandpa first appeared in the strip on November 10, 1980.
In Garfield on the Town, a different-looking, rougher maternal grandfather who lives with Garfield's mother is seen, though whether the comic strip's version is simply Garfield's paternal grandfather has not been explicitly clarified.
Irma
First Appearance: June 9, 1979)
Herman Post
First Appearance: July 19, 1978
Jon Arbuckle's mailman. In one strip he wears a suit of medieval armor to protect him from Garfield.[3] He can be seen with either yellow, white, or brown colored hair.
He was on Garfield and friends for the first four seasons. In "The Mail Animal" He was fired because the postmaster thought he was being weak, only to have Garfield treat him worse, resulting in the postmaster begging Post to return to work.
In The Garfield Show episode "Mailman Blues", he goes on vacation in Hawaii while his replacement Stu does the job for him, but before Herman Post goes on vacation, he warns Stu about Garfield, describing him as a "monster". While Herman Post is on his vacation, Garfield torments Stu. However, Stu quits, and Herman returns early only after receiving a raise. He reveals that this happens every year. It is shown that this has been recurring for 13 years.
In Garfield and Friends, the mailman was voiced by Gregg Berger.
Binky the Clown
First Appearance: September 17, 1986
A television personality noted for his extremely loud and piercing greetings, most notably "HEEEEEEEY, KIDS!" He appears to be a parody of Bozo the Clown, and in the cartoons shares an exaggerated raspy voice with the Bob Bell portrayal of Bozo (much in the same way Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons does; Krusty's voice was likewise based on Bell's[4]).
The character made his first appearance in the animated TV special Garfield's Halloween Adventure.
He was first mentioned in the comic strips on March 13, 1985. Previously, other different clown characters were seen. Binky was first seen in the comics on September 15, 1986, then appeared in person on September 17, 1986.
The Big Vicious Dog
First Appearance: September 12, 1995
Hubert and Reba
Hubert and Reba are an elderly couple who live near Jon. Hubert is often portrayed as an older man, while Reba is often either unseen or tending to household chores. The couple made an appearance in Here Comes Garfield. In the animated cartoon, Hubert is portrayed as hostile towards Garfield and Odie (which is not entirely without justification as Garfield tore up their yard and knocked a bunch of flowers and dirt on Hubert's head), calling the animal shelter personnel to remove them. In the strips, Hubert is less hostile towards Garfield.
References
- "Garfield Daily Comic Strip on September 3, 1979". Garfield by Jim Davis. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
- "Garfield: Episodenführer der TV-Serie (3.Staffel)". fernsehserien.de. 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
- "Garfield". Gocomics.com. 1978-10-30. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- Joe Rhodes (October 21, 2000). "Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves". TV Guide.