In 1973, newspapers around the country saw the debut of artist George Gately's Heathcliff, a single-panel comic strip about a mischievous orange tabby who menaces dogs and haunts local fish markets.

First there was the delightful The Adventures of the American Rabbit, the first in a series of G-rated family movies from Clubhouse Pictures.Now comes the company’s second release, Heathcliff the ...