Garfield in Space

Garfield Pocket #4

by Jim Davis

Falling asleep in a rocket ship, Garfield wakes up on Mars, where he meets tiny green Martians

Genres: Comics, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

James Robert "Jim" Davis is an American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield. Other comics that he has worked on are Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, Slapstick, and a strip about Mr. Potato Head.

Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana, near Marion, where he grew up on a small farm with his father James William Davis, mother Anna Catherine (Carter) Davis, brother Dave, and 25 cats. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of his cartoon character Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon, too, is a cartoonist, and also celebrates his birthday on July 28. Davis attended Ball State University. While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi fraternity. He earned the dubious honor of earning one of the lowest cumulative grade point averages in the history of the university, an honor incidentally shared with Late Show host David Letterman.

Davis as of 2007 resides in Muncie, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his company, Paws, Inc., begun in 1981. He was married to Carolyn, a singer and elementary teacher whom he met while both were attending college, and has a son named James with her. However, the couple divorced, and Davis since 2000 has been married to Jill, Paws' senior vice president of licensing, who has worked there approximately 25 years.

Ironically, Davis did not own cats when he started Garfield because of Carolyn's allergies, but they owned a Labrador retriever named Molly. With Jill, the family has expanded to include children Ashley and Chris; three grandchildren, Chloe, Carly and Cody; cats, Spunky and Nermal; and a dog, Pooky.

Reviews

[Addison Lemke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible predictions about the future of space exploration by Jim Davis. They need to put him on the rocket ship when we send em out

[Eric Wurm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work of fiction has so many elements of reality that you forget that you're reading fiction. In this feline epic, Garfield takes a siesta in a rocket ship seated on a launch pad a short stroll from Jim's house (Isn't it against some city ordinance to launch manned space vehicles with solid fuel boosters in a residential neighborhood?). One can infer that the setting of this story must be Cape Canaveral. Even considering the context clues from the title of the book, I was shocked and dumbfounded when the rocket lifts off taking with it a tubby orange cat. Didn't see that coming! The rocket lands on Mars, where Garfield finds it inhabited with intelligent life and an atmosphere. (Where do you think that "Red Planet" movie got it's plot, hmmm?) The fat git eats their tiny houses, and he is catapulted back into space by the knackered little green men. By chance, the trajectory was exactly a reverse course, and the Lord intervened to prevent Garfield's death in the vacuum of space without protective gear. Even considering that rocks burn up on re-entry, Garfield only ends up with a slightly charred ass as he crash-lands into a hot air balloon. Now, I don't want give away the whole story, but it's a bit late for that isn't it?

All in all, I'm a bit aghast that Pulitzer didn't find this worthy of it's accolade. I give this a solid five by five and have read this book more than 900 times. It never gets old.

[Annburnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Garfield went to Mars and back in this cute comic.