Summary
According to his biographer,Peanutscreator Charles Schulz was fiercely competitive –to the point where he consideredGarfieldartist Jim Davis to be something of an arch-rival, even as he helped shape the younger illustrator’s comic in ways that would help define it. A closer look at the relationship between Schulz and Davis offers fascinating insight into how two of the most prolific creators in American pop culture coexisted.
InSchulz and Peanuts: A Biographyby David Michaelis, the author provides readers with a detailed account of how Charles Schulz felt aboutGarfieldwhen the latter strip entered national syndication in 1978.
Michaelis' depiction of Schulz is unflinching, in that it doesn’t seek to lionize the latePeanutscreator. The description of his personal and professional position onGarfield– in contrast to how Jim Davis is described as feeling about the older cartoonist – is one of many details in the book that highlight Schulz' nature as a complex, often intense, and always highly driven artist.
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A One-Sided Rivalry
For decades, it was never in question that Charles Schulz would “win”;Peanutswas the unequivocal top of the comic strip food chain. That was, untilGarfield’sdebut in the late 1970s.
As befitting a biography of an influential cultural figure, whose careerspanned half the 20th century, David Michaelis’Schulz and Peanutsis appropriately dense, aiming to be an exhaustive, definitive account of the artist’s life and career. Of the many humanizing details contained in the book, one that stands out is the description of Schulz' competitiveness. References to the artist’s competitive nature are littered throughout MIchaelis' book, but what is perhaps the stand-out example comes during the account of how Charles Schulz felt aboutGarfield.
The way it is described inSchulzand Peanuts, once Charles Schulz found himself atthe top of the comic industry, he never had any intention of ceding that position to any other creator. As David Michaelis wrote, quoting Schulz directly:
[Schulz] had to get the better of everyone else on the comics page every day. “In the thing that I do best, which is drawing a comic strip, it is important to me that I win.”
For decades, it was never in question that Charles Schulz would “win”;Peanutswas the unequivocal top of the comic strip food chain. That was, untilGarfield’sdebut in the late 1970s. FromSchulz and Peanuts:
Garfield let loose the insecurities that lay behind Schulz’s competitiveness. “[Schulz] had been king of the mountain and suddenly he had a competitor,” recalled on syndicate executive.
Interestingly, the book makes it clear that, as real asGarfield’ssuccess was,the competition between Jim Davis' strip andPeanutswas predominantly in Charles Schulz' mind.
As described inSchulz and Peanuts, Jim Davis' side of their dynamic was very different:
To Davis, meanwhile, Schulz was a fatherly presence, and an artistic conscience at the drawing board – “kind of like having Dad there,” said Davis.
Davis admired Schulz, and sought his council as they became peers; his biography describes Schulz as being “stingy” with his support. In any case, the ways he did help the younger creator, and the lessons he imparted through his success, were essential tomakingGarfielda worldwide phenomenonthroughout the 1980s and ’90s. Still,Schulz and Peanutsalso noted that Schulz had his share of unkind wordsabout Jim Davis' strip, at least in private.
Charles Schulz Was Critical Of Jim Davis' Sense Of Humor
Dissecting ThePeanuts’Artist’s Harsh Words
[Charles] Schulz seemed to be both mystified and mortified by the success ofGarfield, if for no other reason than he considered it too significant of a departure from his own style.
One of the most striking things aboutSchulz and Peanuts’account Charles Schulz and Jim Davis' relationship is a passage in which the author dips into Schulz' perspective for a moment, offering hisbiting dismissal ofGarfield:
As a comic strip, Garfield also had a much narrower range than Peanuts; whereas Schulz swung between the intellectual and the warm and cuddly, Jim Davis was uniformly middlebrow. The humor of Garfield had no concealing subtleties; it was plainly aggressive, with a clear edge of malice. Garfield took no consideration of real human pain; Davis’s character Jon was so obtuse as not to register his multiple rejections, so no tragedy lay in his predictably endless humiliations at the hands of his dates.
This is just one example of something that comes up repeatedly in the artist’s biography:Charles Schulz was highly critical of other artists.In effect, he considered himself an authority in the medium, and judged every other comic strip bythe standard he set himself.
Further expounding on how Schulz really felt aboutGarfield, biographer David Michaelis wrote:
Above all, the drawing was crude, empty; Schulz took every opportunity in private to belittle Davis as a cartoonist. Davis’s smug cat celebrated laziness and cynicism, and [Schulz] loathed it: Garfield, he often said in private, was the “ugliest, most insulting, and vicious” character he had ever seen.
Here, readers are given the sense that Schulz may have been prone to hyperbole – at least, when it came to a perceived rival. In other words, Schulz seemed to be both mystified and mortified by the success ofGarfield, if for no other reason than he considered it too significant of a departure from his own style. Through all of this, a picture of Charles Schulz as a complicated individual emerges, throwing into stark relief the dedicated simplicity ofPeanuts.
To whatever degree it was warranted, or otherwise, Charles Schulz' criticism ofGarfieldstemmed from his relentlessdrive to makePeanutsthe best. While this led him to scrutinize – and privately savage – Jim Davis' work, there is also the positive dimension of competition.Peanutscontinued publication until the year 2000, in an increasingly competitive market that soon came to be filled with stripssuch asCalvin and Hobbes, andGary Larson’sFar Side. Had Schulz not been challenged by these up-and-comers,Peanutsmay not have remained as vital as it did through its final decades.
Whatever His Personal Opinion, Peanuts' Creator Helped Make Garfield A Success
Charles Schulz' Influence OnGarfield
As harshly as Charles Schulz criticized Jim Davis' work in private, he did provide crucial guidance that helped defineGarfield’slegacy.
Ironically, in spite of his seemingly intense disregard forGarfield, and his reticence at the thought ofPeanutsbeing supplanted as the top comic strip in the industry,Charles Schulz ultimately played a pivotal rolein the long-term success of Jim Davis' comic. Schulz had both a direct and an indirect effect on helpingGarfieldascend toPeanuts’level of commercial and critical success. As noted inSchulz and Peanuts:
As time went on, Davis ever more consciously took more than Schulz’s artistic success as his model—the Peanuts licensing program had become “a template that I could apply to Garfield.”
Indeed, in time,Garfieldmerchandise would go on to surpassPeanuts, becoming a billion-dollar industry worldwide.
By far, though,Schulz' most important contribution toGarfield’ssuccess was helping to redesign Garfield himself– specifically, his feet, to allow the character greater mobility. This fundamental change was key toGarfield’slong-term sustainability, opening up the range of movement for the character, and therefore, a wide spectrum of jokes and comedic situations that he hadn’t been capable of before. As harshly as Charles Schulz criticized Jim Davis' work in private, he did provide crucial guidance that helped defineGarfield’slegacy.
Though their “rivalry” might have been one-sided, there nevertheless was a real competitive competition between Jim Davis and Charles Schulz – one that can be argued made both of them stronger.GarfieldandPeanutsshare more qualities than Schulz might have wanted to admit, especially early inGarfield’spublication, but their differences also become more evident upon spending more time with both strips.GarfieldandPeanutsare essential pieces of pop culture, and understanding the interpersonal dynamic of their creators adds a deeper layer to fans' understanding of both comics.
Source:Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
Garfield
Garfield is the central character in Jim Davis’s comic strip, which officially began in 1978 under the same name. Garfield is an orange tabby cat with a love of lasagna and a disdain for Mondays. He tends to torment his owner and dog while trying to secure more food - and quiet.
Peanuts
Created by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts is a multimedia franchise that began as a comic strip in the 1950s and eventually expanded to include films and a television series. Peanuts follows the daily adventures of the Peanuts gang, with Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy at the center of them. Aside from the film released in 2015, the franchise also has several Holiday specials that air regularly on U.S. Television during their appropriate seasons.
