James "Jim" Robert Davis (born July 28, 1945) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer.

Davis attended Ball State University where he studied art and business, and one of his fellow students was David Letterman.

[7] Davis joined the faculty of Ball State University in Muncie as an adjunct professor in fall 2006, lecturing on the creative and business aspects of the comics industry.

Davis resides in Albany, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his Paws, Inc. company, launched in 1981.

[11] When Davis attempted to sell it to a national comic strip syndicate, an editor told him: "Your art is good, your 'gags' are 'great', but bugs—nobody can relate to bugs!

[13] From January 1976 to February 1978, Davis then published a weekly strip titled Jon in The Pendleton Times, starring the young bachelor Jon Arbuckle and his lethargic, cynical housecat Garfield; the latter's increasing popularity among both editors and readers led Davis to rename the strip Garfield on September 1, 1977.

Garfield would ultimately evolve into a highly successful daily strip of the same name, beginning syndication in 41 newspapers on June 19, 1978.

Acres would conclude on May 1, 1989; Davis' assistant Brett Koth was credited as a co-artist during its final year.

[15] His influences include Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois, Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts, Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon and Johnny Hart's B.C.

[17] In 2019, Davis sold Paws, Inc. to the mass media conglomerate Viacom,[18] which months later merged with CBS Corporation to form ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global).