Author(s): HEAVENS LUCY

Humour

On 19th June 1978, Garfield appeared on the comics pages for the first time, kicking off a career that has gone on to involve licensing, television, books, computer games, movies and much more. Now, after 30 years in the spotlight, Garfield is an international star and his humorous strip has become the fastest growing and most widely syndicated comic strip ever! Today, it appears in 2570 newspapers around the globe and is read by 263 million people, making it ‘The Most Widely Syndicated Comic Strip in the World’ as recorded by Guinness World Records. Additionally, Garfield enjoys a healthy product licensing programme, whereby almost 400 licensees crank out thousands of products depicting Garfield and the rest of the gang. In fact, his vast empire stretches into 111 countries and includes a popular website, which attracts over 2 million visitors each month. The new TV show, which commenced airing in May 09, went straight to the top of the children’s viewing charts for the first four weeks and is still one of the top three shows on the channel. At 31, Garfield is still feeling frisky and shows no signs of slowing down.