Why Garfield Hates Birthdays (Maybe) More Than Mondays

In a comic landscape full of cheerful optimism, there's something refreshing about a character who admits that birthdays can be scary, and aging is weird.

Enter Garfield. His official birthday is June 19, which also happens to be the day in 1978 that Jim Davis debuted the comic. Just one year later, on June 19, 1979, the strip marked Garfield’s first birthday with cake and candles, cementing the annual holiday.

In the early days, Garfield was pretty chill about growing older. After all, birthdays = cake. But as the years go by, things start to gradually shift in Garfield’s psyche. His birthday turns from “just another day” into an annual reminder that his days are numbered. We’re talking worse-than-the-Mondays anxiety.

It’s around his sixth birthday that the dread starts to creep in. The night before he declares, “Old age may take its toll on some cats, but it’s not going to happen to me! I’m going to do something about it!” After that, he hides in his blanket and takes a nap, of course.

Things only spiral from here. In the days leading up to his birthday each year, Garfield often dreams of the worst-case scenarios of getting older, like gray hairs, fewer naps, and no lasagna. These strips often show a less-than-stoic, vulnerable side of Garfield that we don’t always see.

And if the existential dread wasn’t enough, spiders often show up when this fateful day is approaching to poke at Garfield’s deepest insecurities. On June 15, 2001, for example, a spider casually asks Garfield how old he’ll be turning. “23,” Garfield responds, then asks what that would be in spider years. The spider quips back, “Don’t know… no spider has ever lived that long.” Way to twist the knife!

These arachnid insults almost always have the same outcome: a harsh stomp or swat from an orange paw.

This year’s birthday week was no exception. On Monday (of all days!) Garfield’s nemesis Nermal cuts to the quick and calls Garfield an old man. The rest of the week was equally humbling, and another birthday came and went.

Now head into the “Garfield” archive—there’s almost half a century’s worth of birthdays to catch up on!