Jim Davis created one of the most recognizable cartoon cats in history when his comic strip went into national syndication in 1978. The grumpy, lasagna-loving orange tabby quickly became a cultural phenomenon, spawning movies, TV shows, and endless merchandise. What was the original name of this famous comic strip during its local run before it became "Garfield"?
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Buried in the pages of Indiana's The Pendleton Times, Jim Davis debuted "Jon" in 1976. But it turns out naming a comic strip after a happy young bachelor is as silly as letting Odie guard a sandwich. Readers were much more interested in the cranky furball that treated napping like a job and whose breaks included never-ending lasagna. Davis wisely renamed it "Garfield" in 1977, and only a year later Garfield was taking naps in newspapers from San Francisco to Miami. Now "Garfield" is the most widely syndicated comic strip in history, running in over 2,500 newspapers worldwide.
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