Pooky (sometimes Pookie) is Garfield's teddy bear and best friend. Pooky debuted on October 23, 1978, when Garfield discovered him in a drawer. His most recent appearance was February 20, 2024.
Physical Appearance[]
Pooky is a brown teddy bear with two button eyes, a large black nose, pink paw pads and pink ear material. In earlier comics, he appeared completely brown aside from his eyes and nose.
Personality[]
Garfield sometimes communicates with Pooky as if he were a living animal; he can also be over-protective of Pooky. When Pooky lost an eye, Garfield requested a new eye for Pooky as his Christmas present. Garfield is not shy to show his love for Pooky, often grabbing him in hugs, making Jon Arbuckle jealous. Pooky is generally portrayed as sentient but immobile. In one instance, Pooky is seen rollerblading past Jon, who assumes Garfield is playing a prank. However, we then see Garfield at the other end of the room, implying that Pooky is skating under his own power. Over the years, Pooky has had several close calls; losing a leg, an arm, and an eye, but Garfield has always been by his side.
In a 1987 sequence when Garfield had amnesia, Pooky cried out a tear when Garfield did not want to play with him, along with Jon and Odie, who also cried. He does have an absent mind himself but has no brain, or common sense, because he is a teddy bear. He enjoys what Garfield does because Pooky is his only friend who does not criticize his sloppy-like attitude. He is the sidekick of the Caped Avenger, also wearing a cape. He had a brief cameo in Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. Pooky was bigger in the first film. In the second film, he is a tiny Ty-Beany Baby doll with a shaking-rattle inside him. In The Garfield Show, Nermal stole Pooky from Garfield as blackmail to get him to be nice to him. In one strip, Garfield was watching television with Pooky. After he finished watching a program, Garfield left leaving Pooky on the couch. The program changed to a nature documentary about bears while Jon walked by. Pooky has been around for 44 years and has not fallen apart.
Role[]
Garfield's Halloween Adventure[]
At the end of the special, Garfield grabs Pooky to sleep with
Garfield's Feline Fantasies[]
More to Come.
Ode to Odie[]
As the camera moves across the room, Pooky can be seen sitting on the sofa.
Caped Avenger[]
Jon takes Pooky to be washed while Garfield is sleeping. Garfield is unaware of this and believes Pooky to be kidnapped. Dawning his Caped Avenger persona to find the culprit until Jon gives Pooky back to Garfield after Pooky was finished drying.
Trial & Error[]
Pooky was a witness at Odie's trial
Odie in Love[]
More to Come.
Freaky Monday[]
More to Come.
Desperately Seeking Pooky[]
More to Come.
Nice to Nermal[]
More to Come.
Teddy Dearest[]
More to Come.
Whatever Happened to Aunt Ivy?[]
More to Come.
Garfield: The Search for Pooky[]
More to Come.
Sentient Happenings[]
Pooky has been depicted as being sentient multiple times for instance:
- Dreaming that Garfield was sleeping on his lap.
- Shedding a tear when Garfield did not remember him.
- Seeming to jump through a hoop.
- Seeming to skate across the table.
- Throwing a tomato at Garfield's face when Garfield told him a Teddy Bear joke.
- Changing the channel on TV when Garfield goes to get a snack.
Appearances[]
TV Specials[]
Garfield and Friends[]
Season 1[]
Season 4[]
The Garfield Show[]
Season 1[]
Season 3[]
Season 4[]
Video Games[]
Trivia[]
- Pooky appears in Jon, where he was named "Huggy". His first appearance is June 16, 1977, when Garfield discovers him and gives him his name. This strip would recycled for the bear's appearance in the syndicated version, with the art redrawn and the name "Pooky" being used.
- Garfield named Pooky in the latter's first comic strip appearance, confirming that it was not Jon who came up with the name.
- One mouse carried Pooky in the February 18, 1989 strip. As the mouse carried Pooky from behind, Jon thought Pooky was moving on his own, much to Jon's belated shock. When Garfield confronts the mouse over what he was doing, the mouse claimed it was his kid's birthday.
- In a December 1986 sequence, Pooky was squeezed by Garfield so hard that the cotton inside him became a blobby squiggle that enlarged his head. Jon fixed it by making Pooky have his body enlarged with extra cotton, making Pooky much larger and overweight as well. Garfield pulled Jon's shirt up over his head for not fixing Pooky correctly. Pooky, however, was back to correct size in subsequent appearances.
- When Pooky first appeared, he had a mouth (a smile). His mouth is not visible.
- Garfield called Pooky, "dumb, stupid, and silly-looking" in the first strip, but he has never said anything mean to Pooky since.
- Nermal is able to sleep on Pooky's lap. Garfield wishes that he could do that.
- Pooky has either appeared or has been mentioned 198 times in the comic strip as of 19th June 2016, one of the most frequent appearances for a character apart from Jon, Garfield, Odie, the mice, the spiders and Liz.
- In a 1992 strip, Garfield went to wash Pooky, who was huge after his wash, despite the fact that this had not happened after other washes.
- Once in 1983 when Garfield tried to give up Pooky, he suffered from extreme withdrawal and by the end of the week had taken him back.
- In 2013, Pooky was taken hostage by the spiders to bribe Garfield into being nice to them, which horrified the cat.
- Pooky has a black belt in karate, as stated in the comic strip of October 10, 1989.