No one mentioned the huge Jim Davis Garfield strip auction at Heritage? 2 2

[batman_fan]

8 hours ago, szav said:

I expected I might hear from the peanuts gallery after my post (that's grade A Garfield level humor there...).  Who knows where both will go, and Peanuts is certainly king, but I see better growth potential for Garfield at current prices, we'll see.  I can't say I've seen what Apple has to offer in terms of new Peanuts related content (or that I've ever actually watched Apple TV, Netflix and Amazon prime are more than enough TV for me), but wasn't there kind of an uproar over them pulling the Great Pumpkin off public TV?  

Indeed, all I can say is my in the last 5 years my household has had 1 Garfield related birthday party and zero Peanuts related parties.  Works for me anyway, I prefer when the one that I like better and has personal meaning to me is 3-4% the price of the one that I have no connection with.

From a raw % standpoint Garfield material may have more potential after they get past selling all his stuff which will likely take years  

I haven’t watched the Apple Snoopy show but have watched some clips and the animation is real nice and looks to have a cute theme geared for kids. Snoopy is definitely the star. 

[Bronty]

15 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

Doesn’t say much for the workmanship if people can’t figure out who drew it. 

It doesn't seem difficult.    The Davis ones look like Davis and the other ones don't.   He did the early ones.   You can see the style change in the work.

Anyways, the best part of Garfield, like Peanuts, was the writing not the art.   

[Bronty]

11 hours ago, szav said:

I disagree.  While many are eyeroll worthy, there are some legit high quality funny ones, and I feel a great nostalgic pull from them especially as I see my young kids reading my old Garfield books now and asking for newer non beat up copies and t-shirts etc.

I'm gonna go against the crowd and say that these could possibly be a better investment at current prices than something like Peanuts original art right now.  I dunno how much more Garfield OA there is than there is peanuts OA, but peanuts OA doesn't seem to be in short supply.  What is it like 10,000 Garfields vs 2500 or so peanuts?  Am I way off here?  Price comparison seems to be about 500-3000 for Garfield strips most towards the lower end, with peanuts OA going for 20-75k now?

I'd also conjecture that your average Peanuts collector may be 20-30 years older than anyone who grew up on Garfield and sees these for sale now, so Peanuts may not have as much relative future growth in it.

Guess it all depends how old you are.  I only got one so far, but would like to add one or two more, and if I had the money I'd be scooping up the lower price ones and those bulk prelim lots.

I don't expect them to be a great investment.    I think they will do fine but only fine.

Anyways, I really like the strips and the key, much like Peanuts really, is that the earliest years are best.   With Garfield the first 5, maybe the first 10 years, but in particular the first 3-4 are really great.

I bought a couple sundays... last auction I think

[batman_fan]

12 minutes ago, Bronty said:

It doesn't seem difficult.    The Davis ones look like Davis and the other ones don't.   He did the early ones.   You can see the style change in the work.

Anyways, the best part of Garfield, like Peanuts, was the writing not the art.   

I am going to respectfully disagree on the Peanuts artwork.  Looking at one of Schulz strips up close and seeing his beautiful line work really makes me appreciate the simplicity and truly masterful work he did.  The attached Sunday is just striking in person.

[Bronty]

I feel like the example you posted proves my point.  

The art is great, sure.   But what stands out to me on that page is the lettering, the shouting, the characterizations.

The writing.

The art, while fine or even great, would not have carried the strip.   What carries the strip is that all these little people have big personalities.

Ask yourself this - why do you prefer 50s/60s peanuts strips to 90s peanuts?    Is it because his handy wasn't shaky yet and the art was better, or because the early strips were funny while the 90s strips had 1500 insufferable Pattie/Marcie nonfunny strips in a row?

Edited April 7, 2021 by Bronty

[Bronty]

I bought a couple early Sundays.   Not yet in hand but I might as well share them.

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2021 by Bronty

[batman_fan]

39 minutes ago, Bronty said:

I feel like the example you posted proves my point.  

The art is great, sure.   But what stands out to me on that page is the lettering, the shouting, the characterizations.

The writing.

The art, while fine or even great, would not have carried the strip.   What carries the strip is that all these little people have big personalities.

Ask yourself this - why do you prefer 50s/60s peanuts strips to 90s peanuts?    Is it because his handy wasn't shaky yet and the art was better, or because the early strips were funny while the 90s strips had 1500 insufferable Pattie/Marcie nonfunny strips in a row?

I prefer the earlier stuff because of the quality of the artwork.  The strip theme always matters but even latter pieces with his shaky pen work that have great themes don’t interest me although I would like to purchase one at some point because the artwork really shows how Schulz’s abilities degraded but rather than get a ghost artist, he continued to do it.  Definitely his great story telling through his artwork really makes the piece for me.  The one I posted really conveys the characters emotions through the pen work of both the characters and even the lettering.

I may be out of the norm, but I actually like the early version of Garfield.

[Bronty]

2 minutes ago, batman_fan said:

 

I may be out of the norm, but I actually like the early version of Garfield.

You know, me too, but I think that's sort of the norm.   I used to hate...or thought I hated.. the earliest ones, but I've been rereading them to my 10 year old daughter at bedtime and we are both really enjoying those very early strips a lot more than I remembered.     There's a couple where she's said "dad!  if they sell the art for that one you have to buy it!" so I may be a bidder on a few in the future  

Edited April 7, 2021 by Bronty

[spidey300]

I've always wanted to own a Garfield strip having grown up on the books, TV series and specials. As a kid, seeing the 1978-79 version of Garfield was jarring after being more familiar with the mid to late 80's version. But the writing and comedy quickly won me over.

I actually won a strip this past auction (see below), my first EVER win on Heritage Auctions. Being a rookie at this and a bit overwhelmed by the rush, I accidentally won a 1980 strip despite tracking only the 1979s. My intention was to purchase a piece where Davis had also inked and lettered, so I'll be trying again at the upcoming one. I don't have Bronty funds , so generally I purchase one ideal example of my favorite artists.

I have been trying to research exactly when Valette Greene began working/inking for Jim Davis, but there's very little solid information. I read Davis' interview where he states he did everything for the first year. But also found the following reference online (The Comic Strip Project-Who's Who-H2 (bpib.com):

"Hildebrandt, Valette (Greene)
asst. cs "Garfield" (i) 1977-97"

1977 can't be right unless she was assisting on the prior "Jon" strip.

Anyways, I agree the hardcore fans that double as original art collectors prefer the all-Davis strips. But, ultimately, most care about the character appearances, gags and how memorable the strip is.

Edited April 7, 2021 by spidey300

[Bronty]

Great example!   I was considering that one myself.   Congrats!

[Bronty]

33 minutes ago, spidey300 said:

 seeing the 1978-79 version of Garfield was jarring after being more familiar with the mid to late 80's version. But the writing and comedy quickly won me over.

 

 

You've hit the nail on the head... exactly how I felt as well.   Jarred, and then won over.

[ExNihilo]

52 minutes ago, spidey300 said:

 

This is yours?  I don't recall this strip, but I just laughed out loud.  I don't know much about the history of the strip (ie artists and what not).  My interest would be based on the content of the strip (the writing/gag).

I see a lot of pieces on Heritage right now, with a lot of low current bids.  How high do pieces typically go for?  I might have to bid on one if they're relatively affordable.

[vodou]

1 hour ago, spidey300 said:

That's a great one! If these were more like 300, I'd be all over several. But they are not, thus I am not  

[vodou]

8 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

How high do pieces typically go for?

Somehow, always too much. Can't all of you go on vacation to place without internet for...2 weeks?  

[Randall Ries]

On 9/3/2019 at 9:40 PM, soulcage said:

Honestly I have no idea how the Garfield strips command as much as they do today. The art is shockingly pedestrian, and so is the humor. The 10,000 dump should normalize the market hopefully in a few years, if not immediately. 

I think the art is fine. But the whole lazy cat/lasagna thing got old in 1979. No question Garfield was a landmark comic strip. I had had enough of Beetle Bailey with the pervy General. REALLY had enough of Hi and Lois. Family Circus was smarmy. Although I did enjoy following Jeffy dashes all over the neighborhood. Then Garfield showed up and it was funny at first but it too got old quickly. Charles Shulz was getting old and tired and his artwork showed how shaky his hands were becoming. And he seemed to be on autopilot. Then Calvin and Hobbes came around and blew everyone including Peanuts out of the pond. THERE are some original strips I'd pay beaucoup dollars for.

The Facebook Calvin and Hobbes fan pages are ridiculous.

"WHEN are they gonna make a MOOOOVIIIIEEE?"
"If Calvin was MY child, I'd discipline him!"
"WHY is Hobbes only real to CAALLLVIIIINN?"
"This is ridiculous! Dinosaurs can't fly PLANES!"

And my personal favorite: People who try to embellish on a given strip with their own lousy humor and ideas. Just shut up. It's as though they were never children. I got booted out of the group for setting some of them straight. No. You DON'T want Watterson to sell the rights, you fools! Do you KNOW what they would do to those characters? Turn them into "woke" whining maggots is what. They'd turn Calvin's uncle into a bisexual. Mom would go to work as an architect and Dad would stay home. If a movie was made, it would open the flood gates of bad taste and merchandise. Something I respect Watterson for is he never sold out. Refused any and all licensing proposals. A man who knows he has a good thing and is proud of it. A man who is satisfied with the money he makes. His kids may feel differently when he passes the inevitable torch. I hope I'm dead before that happens.

Aside from maybe Pogo, Calvin and Hobbes was the best cartoon strip in a regular daily series ever done.

[batman_fan]

If I try to list strips I loved over the years in no particular order

peanuts

bloom county

wizard of id 

hagar

bc

marmaduke

Dennis the menace 

calvin and Hobbs 

[szav]

8 minutes ago, batman_fan said:

If I try to list strips I loved over the years in no particular order

As far as things from the funny pages, I think I owned and regularly wore a few Far Side t-shirts back in the day... looks like only a scant few originals have sold on HA in recent years and they were pricey for sure.

I’d love one of those.

Edited April 7, 2021 by szav

[Bronty]

1 hour ago, ExNihilo said:

This is yours?  I don't recall this strip, but I just laughed out loud.  I don't know much about the history of the strip (ie artists and what not).  My interest would be based on the content of the strip (the writing/gag).

I see a lot of pieces on Heritage right now, with a lot of low current bids.  How high do pieces typically go for?  I might have to bid on one if they're relatively affordable.

Last I checked, call the range 500 - 5000.    500 for an okay daily, 1500 for a hotly contested daily, 1500 for a mehh Sunday, and 5k for a hotly contested one

[batman_fan]

1 hour ago, szav said:

As far as things from the funny pages, I think I owned and regularly wore a few Far Side t-shirts back in the day... looks like only a scant few originals have sold on HA in recent years and they were pricey for sure.

I’d love one of those.

Another good one!

Still my favorite is the School for the Gifted.

[batman_fan]

This is a panel from my favorite BC comic