Garfield Opens an Online Superstore; the Fat Cat Celebrates the Grand Opening of http://catalog.garfield.com and Spruces Up His Web Site, Too.

ALBANY, Ind.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Oct. 2, 1998--The fat cat with the rude 'tude launches his online catalog, Garfield Stuff(R), at http://catalog.garfield.com on September 28, 1998.

The cybershop, a Mecca for Garfield friends and fans, features over 400 products, ranging from 20th anniversary collectibles (the furry phenom celebrated his 20th-anniversary this year on June 19th) to $1,200 leather jackets signed by Davis. The colorful online catalog is an extension of the successful mail-order catalog by the same name.

Garfield's creator, Jim Davis, explained: "We mailed out the first Garfield Stuff(R) catalog last year and it's been a big hit. Making it available online as well was really the only thing to do, since Garfield's typical fan is a little like Garfield himself. Garfield is known to say, `Some say `go for it.' I say, `Make it come to you.' Shopping the online store is about as easy as shopping can get." Davis estimated his catalog sales via the Web site could be as much as 30% of his overall catalog business by the year 2000.

Additionally, Garfield's popular Web site, www.garfield.com, has been retooled by Universal Press Syndicate and Paws, Inc. to better reflect Garfield's megalomaniacal personality.

"The site has had a complete makeover," said Davis, "but don't expect Garfield to give up lasagna or naps. Garfield's home on the Internet has been remodeled to better fit his personality. His Web site had to reflect his no-holds-barred personality. Garfield's a glutton and the new www.garfield.com is a smorgasbord for the senses."

Fans entering www.garfield.com for a sneak preview before the official September 28th relaunch said, "It's like Garfield has sharpened his claws." One Brazilian fan commented, "This is the Garfield online we've been waiting for!" The graphics have been completely overhauled, the online store is now open, and for the first time, Garfield offers G-Mail -- free e-mail with "cattitude". The site also features volumes of comic strips from the vast GARFIELD archives, new games -- including Garfield's Fashion Passion and Wacky Word Search -- new screensavers, Garfield news, electronic postcards, and a members-only fan club area.

"Garfield's sole purpose in life, other than eating and sleeping, is to entertain. Garfield's Web site is a mirror of that philosophy," stated Davis.

Garfield, the comic strip cat that launched a thousand industries -- including a theme park, Garfield's Adventure America, slated by developers to open June 1999 near Indianapolis, Indiana; restaurants; retail stores; and thousands of licensed products ranging from T-shirts to toilet seats -- first debuted his Web site on July 3, 1996. Just over a year later, the site was getting over one million page views a month. On March 15, 1998, Davis began to include the Web site address in the widely read comic strip GARFIELD, and numbers have since climbed to reach 3.2 million page views per month. The site averages 793,000 visitors each month.

GARFIELD, the comic strip, appears in over 2,600 newspapers worldwide, making it the most syndicated comic strip in the world. In the United States, GARFIELD appears in more of the 100 largest papers than any other comic strip. Over 100,000,000 GARFIELD books have sold worldwide and the character has appeared in 13 prime-time TV specials and starred in his own Saturday morning cartoon series, "Garfield and Friends," currently in global syndication.