First Appearance: June 19, 1978
Garfield is the main character. He is a lazy, selfish, overweight, orange tabby cat who enjoys eating and sleeping.
Garfield was born in the kitchen of Mama Leoni's Italian Restaurant and developed a taste for lasagna the day he was born. This was revealed on a Garfield TV special called Garfield: His nine lives. Ever since then, it has always been his favorite food. At birth, Garfield weighed 5lbs, 6oz. Later in his life, Garfield runs across his Mother again one Christmas Eve, accidentally, and meets his Grandfather for the first time. Although, in a series of strips from November 10 to November 22, 1980, Garfield meets his other grandfather, and in a television special called Garfield on the Town, he finds his long-lost mother, and is disgusted to find that they are all "mousers" which is the technical term for mice eaters. Another twist was when Garfield met the rest of his family in the special. Most of them were cousins like Sly, the family's watchcat. The most shocking part was when Garfield met his older half-brother Rauel, who has some hygenic and psychological problems.
At the end of the TV special Garfield Gets a Life, Jon’s car is shown driving away, and his vehicle registration plate says Indiana, indicating that Garfield lives in Indiana. Jim Davis added this is possible because he is from Indiana. It is revealed in the special Garfield Goes Hollywood that he and Jon live in Muncie, Indiana in a contest called Pet Search.
In his cartoon appearances, Garfield usually causes mischief in every episode. In June 1983, comic strips introduced Garfield's alter-ego, Amoeba Man, yet he was only shown in 6 strips (6-20 through 6-25). Amoeba Man is only one of his few imaginary alter egos. The Caped Avenger is one of the more common ones. Others include Banana Man, The Chicken Man, The Mummy, Count Cat, The Sock, Freedom Fighter, and Karate Cat.
