Origin
Little is known about Odie’s early life. Only that he was originally the pet of Jon Arbuckle’s roommate, Lyman. Once he made his debut on August the 8th, 1978, Odie had made himself a permanent fixture in the Garfield comics.
Creation
Odie was created to fulfill multiple roles at once. The first was his opposition to Garfield as a dog, playing into the classic rivalry between the two animals (although it seemed to be Garfield who actively opposed him). Another reason was that Odie gave Garfield an animal confidant who could help to build the separate world that the animals had from the human characters. He also helped to create a foil to Garfield, who was grumpy, cynical, fat, lazy and mischievous. Odie, on the other hand, was created to be skinny, happy, playful, loyal and optimistic.
Most of all, Odie was created to add a broader variety of gags to the strip. As a silent character with no dialogue, Odie was the perfect outlet for visual and physical gags, as well as playing the comic clown Garfield’s straight man. And even though it’s quite understated, he became the best friend that Garfield couldn’t have in anyone else.
Odie’s name came from Jim Davis’ own past work. When he was a young man, he wrote a radio commercial for a local car dealership that featured a character who was called ‘Odie the Village Idiot.’ The idea for a dim-witted character named Odie carried over into his work as a cartoonist, and was given new life as Garfield’s canine pal.
Character Evolution
Personality
Ever since his first appearance, Odie has been summarized in three words as such: bean brained dog. His stupidity has been the main aspect of his personality from the very beginning. According to Garfield, Odie’s mother was a beagle and his father was a brick. If Garfield is to be believed, it took Odie three years to get the hang of breathing. But there have been a few instances that hint how Odie may not be as dumb as he seems. In one instance when everyone else was out of the house, Odie was seen to be reading War and Peace, and listening to Mozart. Another time, he finished a Sudoku puzzle in a matter of seconds after Jon had been struggling with it for days.
Much like real life dogs, Odie is happy all the time for apparently no reason. He has a zest for life and all of the things it has to offer, even if that means being punted off the table or mailed to some distant country with insufficient postage. Being a dog, he is loyal to a fault, and will stay by Garfield’s side as his best friend, no matter how badly he’s abused.
Being a loyal friend, Odie will go along with Garfield in any game or scheme that he has in mind, from dancing the hula, performing Swan Lake, being harnessed to a chariot for Garfield to play ‘gladiator,’ searching for a human sacrifice on a full moon, trick or treating, ruining Jon’s dates, or just looking for a sunny place to take a nap.
Appearance
When he first appeared in comics, Odie didn’t look very much like how he does today. His snout was longer and more oblong, his eyes were much smaller, his tongue was quite short, and he had a little bit of a pot belly. Most noticeable of all, his ears were black instead of brown. Yet he still had his trademark yellow coat with black spots.
Over the years, Odie’s design was changed. One of the first things that changed was his ears were changed from being colored black to brown. This was because him having black ears made him look a little bit too similar to a certain other famous comic dog. Gradually, his snout became rounder and shorter, his eyes became wider and more expressive, and his most distinguishing feature became his overly large mouth with a long, protruding tongue.
Major Story Arcs
Debut
Jon’s old friend has moved in with him, and he’s brought an unexpected bit of luggage: a drooling, overly affectionate dipwad of a dog named Odie. From the moment that Odie arrives on the scene, Garfield mourns and grieves the presence of a dog in his life. And while Garfield takes the change hard, Odie only seems to want to make friends. Can Odie win over the heart of a grouchy cat?
Recurring Story Elements
While there are major multi-strip stories that feature Odie prominently, there are also a few gags that involve Odie that happen often enough to be considered major parts of the canon.
The Mighty Punt
One of Garfield’s favorite forms of abuse toward Odie is to punt him off the kitchen table. There are other times that don’t involve the table, but regardless of where he is, Odie will get kicked for an impressive distance.
While the act of getting kicked usually remains the same, the punchline has an incredible amount of variation. Odie has been punted out to the right of the first panel, and has reentered from the left of the final panel. He has defied gravity and simply floated. He has even occasionally turned the tables on Garfield and punted him instead. In one instance that turned out to be only a dream, Odie turned around and verbally expressed his displeasure at being kicked all the time.
Ask a Dog
There are times when a question can only be answered from a dog’s perspective. And in that case, people write letters to Odie to ask him what his thoughts are on a certain topic. The questions cover all manner of subjects, from dating, to what good movies he recommends, to just questions about why dogs do certain things that they do. In any case, the answer that Odie gives is always humorous and must be translated by Garfield.