Jim Davis

Jim Davis and Garfield

Making a cartoon isn’t all that easy, but for Jim Davis it is. My hero is Jim Davis. He is a 60-year old man, who was the creator of Garfield, Pink Panther, and Fritz the Cat. Jim got his drawing inspiration from his life on the farm. When Jim was in junior high, he began to draw comic strips of Garfield. The comic strip was printed on June 19, 1978 in forty-one U.S. newspapers. Unfortunately, after the first printing, they cancelled Garfield. Many people were angry and they demanded that the cartoon should still be in the paper. After that, Garfield was the most popular and most wanted comic. That is why Jim Davis is my hero, because he accomplished a cartooning career and never stopped drawing.

Jim Davis grew up in Marion, Indiana, with his parents and 25 cats. Jim started drawing in junior high when he was inspired by his cats. That was how he became famous, in 1978, for creating Garfield. Garfield was in 2,400 newspapers, won four Emmy awards and won a top Saturday morning cartoon spot. After college Jim worked for Tumbleweeds Agency, where he learned different skills for his cartooning career. Jim also started the comic strip, Gnorm the Gnat, but the public didn’t find a bug appealing. The public didn’t see how anyone could relate anything to a bug, so the cartoon was discontinued.

He finally moved on to Garfield, on June 19, 1978. Jim noticed that there weren’t any cat comics in the newspapers, only dogs or some other animals. He figured he could relate his cats and his childhood to his cartoons. A few days after that, Davis posted his comic into the newspaper and the public loved it. He had many struggles getting his worked published to syndicates but that didn’t stop Jim. He was signed up for the United Features, a cartooning company. People doubted him and thought that the cartoon wouldn’t be a success, but it was. A few weeks, later Jim published his first paperback book and if was a best seller. The cartoon set many successes for Davis and Garfield was such a success that it was made into a TV show called "Garfield and Friends."

Jim Davis is a great example of a hero within. He is a Hero within because he faced many challenges of people saying that his cartoon wouldn’t be successful, but he still went on with his career. He had the courage to keep drawing and didn’t let anyone discourage him. Even when he thought that his cartoons wouldn’t do so well in a newspaper, and people said that no one could relate to something that was unrealistic, he still kept drawing.

This is my hero within Jim Davis. He didn’t try to be a hero, he just became one by doing something. He didn’t try being better than someone or bragging about something, he just was very talented. I believe that Jim inspires many people, who will create new cartoons, and inspires the lives of many people.