What`s the market for Garfield oa by Jim Davis?

[ComicConnoisseur]

Any advice?

pros and cons?

I alway liked the cat.

 

[Brian Peck]

I heard he has used assistants on Garfield for years. If you are looking for something drawn by Davis I would concentrate on the 80s strips. Not sure when exactly he stopped drawing the strip himself.

[Bronty]

there's tons of garfields that have sold on heritage lately if you check them out for an idea on what to pay

[AKA Rick]

I think Garfield is one of those currently under appreciated characters that in the future, much like how we all look at opportunities with 20/20 hindsight of "should have, would have, could have", may be one of today's more solid investments.

 

Look at The Peanuts, and you don't need to go that far back and look at Garfield's peers with The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes... the artwork isn't that much different, and I'd argue that Garfield has had the most success from a licensing standpoint to any of it's 1980's to present peers in daily comic strips. What makes Calvin & Hobbes so sought after is the forced scarcity by the artist (and much like celebrities who "Die Young and Stay Pretty", he ended the strip at it's height without overstaying his welcome), as it's not necessarily any better other strips of the era by leaps and bounds. Whereas Jim Davis build a website and opened up sales to everyone, so the artwork is readily available.

 

I did hear that Jim Davis used art assistants for his later work, and he may have contributed layouts, but did do the writing of the gags. Recently, I believe the artwork is done digitally, so no new artwork is being created as original pencil/ink drawings.

 

Garfield has been relevant and thriving, had a lot of merchandising, a cartoon series (1982-1991), two major motion picture movies (2004 & 2006), and holds the Guinness World Record for being "The Most Widely Syndicated Comic Strip", and has been ongoing since 1978... for 35 years (and continuing still - - and has a bit longer to go to catch up with Charles Schulz's 50 year epic run with The Peanuts strip)

 

If you enjoy Garfield, even more the reason to buy now, and go direct to Jim Davis' website to buy straight from him:

 

http://www.garfieldcollectibles.com/ComicPage.asp?dept_id=101&pf_id=100SPECIAL&

 

It's $2,000 for Daily Strips and $3,000 for Sunday Strips

 

These are the modern ones, so the vintage ones you'd have to get in the secondary collector's market, but I don't think they command much more than these prices in the possible $3k-5k range at highest I'd speculate today, now... as for the future, who knows?

[Brian Peck]

That is really over priced considering there is a lot pf Garfiled art out there. You can get Dilbert strips much cheaper and there are a lot fewer Dilbert strips on the market than Garfield.

[mister_not_so_nice]

I did hear that Jim Davis used art assistants for his later work, and he may have contributed layouts, but did do the writing of the gags. Recently, I believe the artwork is done digitally, so no new artwork is being created as original pencil/ink drawings.

 

I'm assuming everyone is speaking strictly about Jim Davis GARFIELD.

I know recently Mike DeCarlo has been hired on to draw some of the GARFIELD strips and he still does traditional pencil/ink art.

[stinkininkin]

Look at The Peanuts, and you don't need to go that far back and look at Garfield's peers with The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes... the artwork isn't that much different, and I'd argue that Garfield has had the most success from a licensing standpoint to any of it's 1980's to present peers in daily comic strips. What makes Calvin & Hobbes so sought after is the forced scarcity by the artist (and much like celebrities who "Die Young and Stay Pretty", he ended the strip at it's height without overstaying his welcome), as it's not necessarily any better other strips of the era by leaps and bounds. Whereas Jim Davis build a website and opened up sales to everyone, so the artwork is readily available.

 

 

Different strokes I guess. Though wildly popular and long lasting, I find Garfield inane. Saying it compares favorably to Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side seems absurd to me, but everybody is entitled to an opinion. I TRULY wish Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side could be had at a similar price as Garfield, at which point I'd gladly put my money where my mouth is.

 

Scott

[lb jefferies]

 

Different strokes I guess. Though wildly popular and long lasting, I find Garfield inane. Saying it compares favorably to Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side seems absurd to me, but everybody is entitled to an opinion. I TRULY wish Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side could be had at a similar price as Garfield, at which point I'd gladly put my money where my mouth is.

 

Scott

 

+1

[alxjhnsn]

I like Garfield early on, but it lost its lust by 85 or so. Of current strips, I really like Mutts and was glad to get this (if you click on it you can read about its origin):

 

[ashrael]

I am surprised how inexpensive Marmaduke panels are. I placed a very low placeholder bid a couple of years ago before I investigated prices and won on my 1st Heritage auction, later winning a 2nd in another auction. (Both pieces are from the 1950s.)

[dem1138]

 

Different strokes I guess. Though wildly popular and long lasting, I find Garfield inane. Saying it compares favorably to Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side seems absurd to me, but everybody is entitled to an opinion. I TRULY wish Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side could be had at a similar price as Garfield, at which point I'd gladly put my money where my mouth is.

 

Scott

 

+1

However, I always liked Garfield but would absolutely own a C&H if they were priced the same. I really loved that strip and was disappointed when I first got into OA and learned that basically none were available.

[batman_fan]

I am surprised how inexpensive Marmaduke panels are. I placed a very low placeholder bid a couple of years ago before I investigated prices and won on my 1st Heritage auction, later winning a 2nd in another auction. (Both pieces are from the 1950s.)

 

I agree, I picked up two of them myself, but I observed that the earlier auctions with the Marmadukes were much cheaper than the later auctions.

[Nexus]

Look at The Peanuts, and you don't need to go that far back and look at Garfield's peers with The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes... the artwork isn't that much different, and I'd argue that Garfield has had the most success from a licensing standpoint to any of it's 1980's to present peers in daily comic strips. What makes Calvin & Hobbes so sought after is the forced scarcity by the artist (and much like celebrities who "Die Young and Stay Pretty", he ended the strip at it's height without overstaying his welcome), as it's not necessarily any better other strips of the era by leaps and bounds. Whereas Jim Davis build a website and opened up sales to everyone, so the artwork is readily available.

 

 

Different strokes I guess. Though wildly popular and long lasting, I find Garfield inane. Saying it compares favorably to Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side seems absurd to me, but everybody is entitled to an opinion. I TRULY wish Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side could be had at a similar price as Garfield, at which point I'd gladly put my money where my mouth is.

 

Scott

 

Totally agree. GARFIELD, in its first year or two, was fun. The little rectangular paperbacks were everywhere. I loved it...as a second-grader.

 

It wasn't long, though, before it devolved into the WORST strip on the funnies page. Unfunny and even insulting. To a third grader. Even then, couldn't believe there was an audience for GARFIELD or CATHY. Well, I could, I just didn't think they'd be the ones to ever pick up a newspaper.

 

It took this guy to make GARFIELD worth reading:

 

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

 

One of these strips, I'd buy.

[jjonahjameson1]

Look at The Peanuts, and you don't need to go that far back and look at Garfield's peers with The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes... the artwork isn't that much different, and I'd argue that Garfield has had the most success from a licensing standpoint to any of it's 1980's to present peers in daily comic strips. What makes Calvin & Hobbes so sought after is the forced scarcity by the artist (and much like celebrities who "Die Young and Stay Pretty", he ended the strip at it's height without overstaying his welcome), as it's not necessarily any better other strips of the era by leaps and bounds. Whereas Jim Davis build a website and opened up sales to everyone, so the artwork is readily available.

 

 

Different strokes I guess. Though wildly popular and long lasting, I find Garfield inane. Saying it compares favorably to Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side seems absurd to me, but everybody is entitled to an opinion. I TRULY wish Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side could be had at a similar price as Garfield, at which point I'd gladly put my money where my mouth is.

 

Scott

 

Totally agree. GARFIELD, in its first year or two, was fun. The little rectangular paperbacks were everywhere. I loved it...as a second-grader.

 

It wasn't long, though, before it devolved into the WORST strip on the funnies page. Unfunny and even insulting. To a third grader. Even then, couldn't believe there was an audience for GARFIELD or CATHY. Well, I could, I just didn't think they'd be the ones to ever pick up a newspaper.

 

It took this guy to make GARFIELD worth reading:

 

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

 

One of these strips, I'd buy.

 

Really? I found it to be far more interesting than Peanuts. I've tried for decades to understand why this strip holds a special place for so many people. I just don't get it.

[alxjhnsn]

Really? I found it to be far more interesting than Peanuts. I've tried for decades to understand why this strip holds a special place for so many people. I just don't get it.

The stuff that's currently reprinted in the paper started in 1974 and it's not as good, IMO.

 

I think the best Peanuts were in the first 10 or 15 years. Those strips were amazing.

[Garf]

I loved Garfield when I was a lot younger. Maybe the name gives it away a little. Yup definitely remember the little rectangular paperbacks being staple reading when I had some spare time and not much to do. I have used the alias in one form or another online quite a bit but it was just something that popped into my head at the time and stuck. I haven't really had any urge to pick up a Garfield book for decades now, even when I have seen them in car boot sales (flea markets) for pennies and picked up a copy to briefly thumb through they were put down again. All those years later I really can't recall many individual strips at all and even the ones I do remember don't seem that amusing any more.

 

Quite a few people who I know love Calvin and Hobbes often can reel off a large number of their favourites.

 

I guess I am simply grew out of more than a passing liking of Garfield

 

edit: I guess progression from strips to actual comics was what happened and I never looked back.

[Bronty]

^ totally. Jjj, I never got peanuts either til I read the 50s strips from those fantagrahics hc's. 50-62 or so are amazing. There's also an excellent period from about 70 to 74. After that its just a nostalgia band so to speak. The peppermint patty years are esp painful

[mister_not_so_nice]

I love my GARFIELD piece (an homage to PREACHER One Man's War page 50) from Mike DeCarlo

[alxjhnsn]

It is an excellent homage!

 

[AKA Rick]

The creative arts are subjective, so most people can agree to disagree, and whomever likes whatever shouldn't be ridiculed or criticized for their tastes, and those who love whatever they're passionate about shouldn't necessarily think others are out of the norm for not agreeing or matching that passion, or adamantly proclaim one is better than another.

 

Millions of readers of Garfield proves there's definite fandom for the character, be it the art or the stories or just the cuteness. I do think, of course there's a huge difference in liking something and loving something, and with original art, it's that love that's what causes the demand and depletes the supply, and I get a sense there's not a lot of love for Garfield's original artwork, yet, and the fans of the character aren't necessarily the ones who collect original art.

 

Similarly to sports cards, there's people who like to play the game, people who like to watch the game and people who like to collect the memorabilia, and they don't necessarily always crossover within each other.