Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: comic strip, garfield, heritage auctions, Jim Davis, sponsored

Immortalize Sunday Paper Cartoons With This Garfield Original

Published Mon, 18 Jan 2021 10:30:41 -0600

by Theo Dwyer

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We love him almost as much as he loves lasagna. Garfield is an American icon and is as synonymous with newspaper comic strips as Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Calvin, and Hobbes. Cartoonist Jim Davis launched Garfield in 1978 and still draws it to this day, continuing an incredible 42-year run on this iconic title. The title that would become Garfield even dates a bit earlier than 1978, as the strip Jon published in the Pendleton Times would serve as the basis for Garfield and introduced the soon-t0-be iconic Jon Arbuckle. There are few cartoon faces more recognizable than this lovably self-centered cat, and now you can have a piece of Garfield history in your artwork collection thanks to Heritage Auctions. In this piece, Jon, Garfield's loving, disaffected owner Jon receives a rare moment of affection from the food-driven cat as feeding time approaches with the sound of a whirring can opener.

Jim Davis Garfield Daily Comic Strip. Credit: Heritage Auctions

Jim Davis Garfield Daily Comic Strip Original Art dated 4-9-85 (United Feature Syndicate, 1985)

It's uncanny just how much Jon's can opener sounds like a cat's purr! Ink over blue pencil with Zipatone shading film on Bristol board, with an image area of 14" x 4". In Excellent condition. From the Jim Davis Collection.

This piece isn't only a terrific Garfield strip; it's also something that any cat lover can appreciate. There's nothing that draws the love or, well, you know, endless begging of a cat than any food-adjacent sound. Also, as a comics fan, one of the coolest aspects of this piece here, especially as compared to other pieces of original art that may be found in your collection, is that it is a complete strip, with the dialogue hand-lettered in on the piece. Essentially, it's the complete Garfield experience, as drawn by the hand that created him all that time ago. It can be yours now over at Heritage Auctions.