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Get a first year Garfield original for $5k

Posted by
May 9, 2008

Ted Dawson over at “Three Men in a Tub” blog reports that an original Garfield comic strip is for sale an eBay store for $4,499. The seller writes that it is thought to be the 25th strip published in papers and one of the earliest Garfield originals to be sold publicly.

Disclaimer: With all auctions, online or otherwise, I make no claims as to the authenticity of the item being sold. Do your homework before making purchases.

Community Comments

#1 Larry Levine
May/9/2008
@ 4:40 pm

Anyone here know if Jim Davis wrote/drew Garfield solo in the begining?
#2 Rick Stromoski
May/9/2008
@ 4:57 pm

Of course he did. Can you think of a cartoonist who would hire gag writers and ghost artists out of the gate? I’ve seen this strip for sale for a number of months now.
#3 Garey Mckee
May/9/2008
@ 10:15 pm

I agree with Rick on the answer, but I believe Larry’s question to be a valid one especially considering Jim Davis’ background as an assistant on Tumbleweeds. If I were going to spend five grand for an original Garfield strip, I would want to make sure it was actually drawn by Davis and not Joe Shmoe the ghost artist.
#4 Wiley Miller
May/10/2008
@ 8:23 am

It should be noted here that “being for sale” is not the same as “sold for”.
#5 Neil J Murphy
May/10/2008
@ 8:41 am

According to the official Garfield website, it is indeed the 25th strip (7/13/78)

http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_archives_strip.html?1978-ga780713
#6 Ted Rall
May/10/2008
@ 12:20 pm

It’s wayyy overpriced. Peanuts originals often go for a lot less.
#7 josh shalek
May/12/2008
@ 10:49 am

Does anyone know the date of the last Garfield strip Jim Davis drew?
#8 Pab Sungenis
May/12/2008
@ 4:10 pm

Rick: “Garfield” was conceived as little more than an excuse for marketing from the beginning. I have no doubt that Davis would be the type to start a sweatshop… er… studio from the start.
#9 Garey Mckee
May/12/2008
@ 6:35 pm

I don’t know, Pab. I wouldn’t call the first character design of Garfield from the first strips very marketable. He really was fat, ugly and lazy. He looked more like a Kliban cat. However, that did seem to change rather quickly. I don’t know if that was because of the desire to expand the cat’s marketability or if it was just a natural progression of design to allow more expressiveness and range of motion of the character in the comic frame. Perhaps a little of both?

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