Q 01/05

Who created the Garfield comic strip?

A) Charles Schulz

B) Bill Watterson

C) Jim Henson

D) Jim Davis

Answer · why

D) Jim Davis

Born in Marion, Indiana, he grew up on a Black Angus farm in Fairmount and had first tried a strip about a gnat.

Q 02/05

Under what title did the Pendleton Times run the strip from 1976, before it became Garfield?

A) Spot

B) Jon

C) Lasagna Cat

D) Fat Cat

Answer · why

B) Jon

Jon first appeared on 8 January 1976, two weeks after Davis's failed strip Gnorm Gnat ended; the archives were rediscovered on microfilm in 2019.

Q 03/05

What was Davis's first comic strip, about an insect, which one editor said readers 'can't identify with'?

A) Buzz Beetle

B) Cricket Corner

C) Larry the Louse

D) Gnorm Gnat

Answer · why

D) Gnorm Gnat

It ran in the Pendleton Times from 1973 to 1975; Davis then studied the funny pages and noticed dogs were popular but no strip served cat owners.

Q 04/05

Garfield was named after whom?

A) A US president Davis admired

B) Davis's childhood cat

C) Jim Davis's grandfather

D) Davis's college roommate

Answer · why

C) Jim Davis's grandfather

James A. Garfield Davis was 'a large, cantankerous man' whose personality rubbed off on the cat.

Q 05/05

Jon Arbuckle's surname came from a businessman Davis heard mentioned in a commercial for what product?

A) Ovaltine malted milk

B) Folgers ground coffee

C) Kraft macaroni cheese

D) Yuban instant coffee

Answer · why

D) Yuban instant coffee

John Arbuckle was a 19th-century coffee magnate; Jon's roommate Lyman was named after a Gnorm Gnat character.