Garfield treasures

Jim Davis and Cathy Kothe
on Garfield Cruise

Change is Upon Us

For over 40 years the beloved characters, Garfield, Odie, Pookie, Nermal, Arlene, Jon, Doc Boy, and others have graced society in many different formats. On June 19, 1978 … It all started with the comic strip.

When the comic strip became overwhelmingly successful, demand for merchandizing began in the late 70’s to early 80’s. Along with the merchandising, the “Garfield Collector” was also born.

Almost invisible to the Garfield fans and collectors was the ownership of the rights to these characters. Early control was passed from Jim Davis, the creator to United Features Syndicates. After several years, Jim Davis was able to buy back the rights and run his company under the name of Paws, Inc.

The above history accounts for the first 41 years of Garfield’s history.

A new era is upon us – Viacom / CBS / Nickelodeon

On August 6, 2019 the world was alerted to the fact that Viacom acquired the rights to Garfield and will be operating it under their Nickelodeon flagship brand. A few weeks later Viacom merged with CBS to make an even larger company.

So, what does the future hold?

Nobody can tell what the future holds. I can say that the first 40 years were already a roller-coaster that peaked to insane success in the 90’s and leveled out to remain one of the most recognized characters on the planet.

Here at www.LovesGarfield.com Cathy and I embrace the future as an exciting part of our collective journey together. We see a future where Garfield might be in more amusement parks and cruise ships. We also see a future where big box stores might carry more than the occasional Garfield pajamas.

Nickelodeon operates two of the largest indoor mall amusement centers in the world. As of now it is branded with the regular Nickelodeon characters such as sponge bob and the Teenage Mutant Turtles.

Eventually, as the ink dries on the new agreement, more and more Garfield may become visible in not only the Nickelodeon Universe as well as the main-stream world.

Come Share our optimism

Join us on this journey and watch it all unfold in real-time. There should continue to be a calm before the storm, but I believe there can be a resurgence in merchandising which could lead to increased demand in the already produced and no longer available collectables.

The days of new ceramic collectables might be over but that is simply because the world has moved on from ceramics and entered a world of cell phone cases, apps, software and motorized jeeps for three-year old’s. Believe me, If I had a motorized jeep when I was three, I would never touch my tricycle.

Embrace change but preserve the past. as Cathy and I said in our book, “Loves Garfield”, The only difference between collectors and hoarders is that collectors have a theme. I am sure there is room next to the Garfield “peddle car” for a ne shiny orange battery operated Garfield Jeep made for a 3-year old. Our only advice is … Just don’t store it with the battery. I can’t tell you how many Garfield Christmas animations got corroded because of this.

Welcome to the next chapter.