''Heathcliff'' is an American

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

created by

George Gately George Gately Gallagher (December 21, 1928 – September 30, 2001), better known as George Gately, was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the '' Heathcliff'' comic strip. Born in Queens Village, Queens, Gately came from a famil ...

in 1973, featuring the title character, an orange

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1,000

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s by

Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...

, which took over the comic from

McNaught Syndicate The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ...

in 1988. The strip and its title character show some resemblance to the more famous ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

''; however, Heathcliff was published five years before the first Garfield strip. The strip is usually presented in single-panel gag frames on weekdays. On Sundays, however, the strip is expanded to multiple panels (usually 6–8) and titled ''Sunday with Heathcliff''. A regular feature in the Sunday strips is ''Kitty Korner'', where unusual cats in the real world are described. Heathcliff daily comics can be currently read online on

GoComics GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones. However, in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online st ...

, with archives currently dating back to 2002.

Setting

The strip takes place in a port town called Westfinster. The title character is an orange housecat, named Heathcliff, owned by an elderly couple named Mr. and Mrs. Nutmeg and their grandson Iggy. Strips often deal with Heathcliff's interactions with the Nutmegs, the owner of a local fish market, local dog catchers, commercial fishers, or various dogs and cats throughout the neighborhood.

began the strip and continued to draw it until his retirement in 1998. Since Peter Gallagher took over the strip, Heathcliff comic strips often have recurring motifs like bubble gum floating, comic strip or celebrity cameos, helmets, vending machines, robots, an ape called the Garbage Ape, and the word "meat". Readers often interpret it as surreal humor without logic, though Peter Gallagher claimed in an interview with SOLRAD that "I'm not just doing stuff that doesn't make any sense at all".

In other media

Comic books

Starting in 1985,

Star Comics Star Comics was an imprint of Marvel Comics that began in 1984 and featured titles that were aimed at child readers and were often adaptations of children's television series, animated series or toys. The last comic published under the imprint ...

, an imprint of Marvel Comics, began producing

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s titled ''Heathcliff''. The series ran for 56 issues, changing to the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

brand with issue #23. Star Comics added an additional

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

title in 1987 called ''Heathcliff's Funhouse'' (which also switched over to Marvel with issue #6). It was a combination of new material and reprinted stories that first appeared in the original ''Heathcliff'' title. In the comics, Heathcliff had a far better relationship with Mr. Nutmeg, and much of his adventures were done with Mr. Nutmeg's grandson. Heathcliff's reputation for adventurism was even noted by the local police, who recruited him for a sting operation against a gang of cats stealing purses, in exchange for them forgiving the fact Heathcliff swiped shellfish. Within the Marvel Comics multiverse, Heathcliff's reality is designated as Earth-85481. * ''Heathcliff: The Trickiest Cat in Town'' (1 issue, Marvel Books) * ''Heathcliff the Fish Bandit'' (1 issue, Marvel Books) * ''Heathcliff Goes to Hollywood'' (1 issue, Marvel Books) * ''Heathcliff in Outer Space'' (1 issue, Marvel Books) * ''Heathcliff'' (56 issues, Star/Marvel) * ''Heathcliff Annual'' (1 issue, Star) * ''Heathcliff's Funhouse'' (10 issues, Star/Marvel) * ''Heathcliff Spring Special'' (1 issue, Marvel UK) * ''Star Comics Presents: Heathcliff'' (1 issue, ashcan) * ''Star Comics Magazine'' (AKA ''Star Comics Digest'') (13 issues, Star)

Animated series

Two animated TV series based on the strip, both simply named ''Heathcliff'', were created. Although Heathcliff does not speak in the comic strip, both animated versions of the character were voiced by

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

. Heathcliff was one of the last original characters Blanc voiced before his death in 1989. The first '' Heathcliff'' was produced by

Ruby-Spears Productions Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was an American entertainment production company founded by veteran writers and ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' creators, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, in 1977, before closing in 1996. Spec ...

and debuted in 1980. The first season featured segments with Dingbat and the Creeps (Dingbat is the

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

dog (

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

) accompanied by Spare Rib the

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

and Nobody the jack-o-lantern who were both voiced by

Don Messick Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor, known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His best-remembered voice roles include Scooby-Doo; Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ''The Flintsto ...

), which were created by Ruby-Spears for the show, and the second season featured fellow comic strip character

Marmaduke ''Marmaduke'' is a newspaper comic strip revolving around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson (cartoonist), Brad Anderson from November 15, 1954 to 2015. Publication history The strip was created by wri ...

(voiced by

Paul Winchell Paul Winchell (''Birth name, né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Pa ...

). This version is sometimes seen on

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

. In 1984, the second '' Heathcliff'' debuted, which was produced by

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions, sometimes stylized as DİC) was a French American film and television production company that ...

. This series featured segments with

the Catillac Cats The Catillac Cats is the name of a group of characters that starred in the secondary segment (officially billed ''Cats & Co.'' on the end credits) of the 1984 in television, 1984 animated series of ''Heathcliff (1984 TV series), Heathcliff''. Mos ...

(AKA Cats and Co. by the end credits of the show), which is why this version is sometimes referred to as ''Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats''. In 2005,

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released a Volume 1 DVD for the show, featuring the first 24 episodes of the series. Since then, Mill Creek Entertainment has gained the license and released the show on DVD, with a ten-episode best-of compilation entitled ''King of the Beasts'' and two volumes that cover Season 1; volume 1 contains 32 episodes, while volume 2 has the remaining 33. In 2021, the film and TV rights of Heathcliff were acquired by Legendary.

Film

In 1986, '' Heathcliff: The Movie'' debuted in theaters. It was an

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

which consisted of seven episodes from the 1984 series. The film was released on VHS by

Paramount Home Video Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

in 1988. In the 2007 Argentine-Italian animated film '' Noah's Ark'', a character looking like Heathcliff pops up in a crowd scene with the other animals. A CGI-animated Heathcliff film was in development for several years. In 2010, a trailer for ''Heathcliff in Bad Kitty'' was released, but the movie itself never materialized. As of 2021,

Legendary Entertainment Legendary Entertainment, LLC (also known as Legendary Pictures or simply Legendary) is an American mass media and film production company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull. The company has often collaborated with the major stu ...

has plans to simultaneously develop a TV series and film based on the ''Heathcliff'' comics. Gallagher will produce the film alongside Steve Waterman.

Video games

* ''Heathcliff: Fun with Spelling'', published by

Datasoft Datasoft, Inc. (also written as DataSoft) was a software developer and publisher for home computers founded in 1980 by Pat Ketchum and based out of Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Chatsworth, California. Datasoft primarily published video games, includi ...

for

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

(1984) * ''Heathcliff: Frantic Foto'', published by Storm City Games,

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

(2010) * ''Heathcliff: The Fast and the Furriest'', published by Storm City Games,

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

(2010) * ''Heathcliff: Spot On'', published by Enjoy Gaming, Nintendo DS (

DSiWare This is a list of games and applications, collectively known as DSiWare, for the Nintendo DSi handheld game console, available for download via the DSi Shop and unplayable on earlier DS models. An update released for the Nintendo 3DS in June 20 ...

; 2013)

References

External links

*
Heathcliff Daily Comic - On GoComics

Heathcliff at Creators Syndicate

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on December 8, 2015. {{Heathcliff Comic strips set in the United States 1973 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1973 Star Comics titles Gag-a-day comics Gag cartoon comics American comics characters Comics about anthropomorphic cats Comics about talking animals Comics adapted into television series Comics adapted into animated series