Jim Davis's Garfield comic strip established its comedic formula and central characters in its very first instalment on 19 June 1978, an unusually rare feat for the genre compared with strips like Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes, which took time to develop their tone. The debut immediately set up the sarcastic, food-obsessed cat's dynamic with his well-meaning but hapless owner, Jon Arbuckle, a formula so durable it has powered the strip for nearly five decades and spawned a wide-reaching multimedia franchise, including 2024's The Garfield Movie.

In that first strip, Garfield's silent, sardonic inner thoughts (such as responding to Jon's introduction with "Feed me") contrasted with Jon's earnest, dorky sincerity, a comic device that let readers alone in on the joke. While specific traits like Garfield's love of lasagne and hatred of Mondays developed later, his sarcasm and status as the strip's "straight cat" to Jon's fool were present from day one. The strip has since expanded to include Odie the dog, kitten Nermal, and a running subplot in which veterinarian Liz repeatedly rebuffs Jon's romantic advances, though recent strips have seen the pair finally form a relationship.