Garfield Daily (8/8 1980) Comic Strip by Jim Davis

This is an old strip hand-drawn by the old man Jim Davis himself - before Jim Davis made the company Paws Inc. in January 1981 and later hired other artists like Gary Barker to draw Garfield (Gary Barker was hired in Nov 1983). Garfield strips from 1983 and later may not at all have been drawn by Jim Davis - so beware what you buy if you're looking for genuine and original Jim Davis art. Even though Jim Davis' assistants drew the strips, Jim Davis signed them all and did not give any credit to his assistants, at least not on individual strips. In short, if you own original Garfield art from 1983 or later and think it's done by Jim Davis, you may be incorrect - instead maybe you now own orginal Gary Barker art ;-)

In the early 1980s - when I was 10 or 11 years old - I started reading Garfield, and for some time I've been searching for a comic strip from 1978 to 1982 (the early Garfield years). I'm happy to finally get this early original by the strip's creator, Jim Davis, from 1980, it's also signed by Jim Davis.
The uber popular Garfield comic strip began in 1978 and very quickly became a sensation that went far beyond the newspaper comic page. About 40 years after its introduction, Garfield is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world, a position its held for most of the 21st century. It was in 2,580 as of 2013. Garfield has been a merchandising bonanza for decades, generating an estimated $750 million to $1 billion in sales per year! The fat cat has appeared in multiple animated TV series and two theatrical movies.
In 2016, Garfield is still as strong as ever and continues to hold prominent spots in all of the major newspapers in the USA. This 1980 daily features three nice panels all of which feature Garfield, and I think it perfectly represents the strip.

The art has an approximate image area of 14" X 4".

Some more info about Garfield: "Garfield is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield, Jon, his owner, and Jon's dog, Odie. As of 2013, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals, and held the Guinness World Record for being the world's most widely syndicated comic strip.
Though this is rarely mentioned in print, Garfield is set in Muncie, Indiana, the home of Jim Davis, according to the television special Happy Birthday, Garfield. Common themes in the strip include Garfield's laziness, obsessive eating, coffee, and disdain of Mondays and diets. The strip's focus is mostly on the interactions among Garfield, Jon (his owner), and Odie (Jon's pet dog), but other recurring minor characters appear as well."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield