Trivia / Marvin

• Follow the Leader: It can be suspected that Armstrong tried to replicate the Garfield formula with a baby, as both strips' title characters share aspects: Orange hair/fur, overweight, communication via thought bubbles, etc.
  • The strip also seems to have started aping the comedy of Calvin and Hobbes, such as imagine spots that start with a monster/disaster and end with Marvin doing something to imitate it, a furry four-legged companion that makes comments and walks on his hind legs, childlike observations about things that his parents do, and the occasional renaming of the comic to Marvin and Bitsy even when Bitsy isn't present.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The Marvin, Baby of the Year TV special has never been released on home video.
• The Merch: Another clue that Armstrong was mimicking Garfield: there was some Marvin merchandise in The '80s available such as drinking glasses, books, stickers, etc.
• What Could Have Been: According to newspaper articles from 1989, Marvin, Baby of the Year was planned to be the first of a number of Marvin animated TV specials. It was the only one that was made and it's unknown why more weren't done.
• Write Who You Know: Armstrong admitted in interviews that Marvin and his cousin Megan were based on his own children, Jonathan and Jennifer.