Jon Arbuckle

"John Arbuckle" redirects here. For other uses, see John Arbuckle (disambiguation).

Jon Arbuckle
Garfield character
First appearance	Garfield comic strip (June 19, 1978)
Created by	Jim Davis
Portrayed by	Breckin Meyer (Live Action Garfield films) Joel Rifkin in Garfield Live
Voiced by	Sandy Kenyon (1982) Thom Huge (1983-2001) Wally Wingert (2007-present)
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Cartoonist
Family	Garfield, Odie, "Mom", "Dad", Doc Boy, Grandma, Drisilla and Minerva, Aunt Gussie, Uncle Waldo, Aunt Orleen, Sometimes Nermal
Spouse(s)	Dr. Liz Wilson
Relatives	"Doc Boy" (brother), Tony Arbuckle, Long John Arbuckle, Bob (uncle), Judy (cousin), Tammy (niece), Stevie (nephew), Ned (uncle), Roy (uncle), Bill (uncle), Ed (uncle), Orpha (aunt), Lillian (aunt), Trupy (aunt), Zelda (aunt), an unnamed great-great-grandmother
Age	1978 ~ Present
Birth Date	July, 28

Jonathan Q. "Jon" Arbuckle is a fictional character from the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. He has also appeared in the animated television series Garfield and Friends, the computer-animated The Garfield Show, and two live-action feature films.

A nerdy and clumsy man, Jon is the owner of Garfield and Odie. He converses with Garfield and is often the butt of his jokes. In the animated Garfield and Friends, he was frequently portrayed as being incredibly gullible when faced with unscrupulous salesmen and rather dumb in general. On The Garfield Show, however, he's portrayed as being smarter, but still a little gullible.

Fictional biography

Jon's birthday is July 28, 1950 (or 1951) as Jon tells Garfield that he is 29 years old in a December 23, 1980 strip. However, in the episode "T3000" he is described as 23.

In the animated show Garfield and Friends, we learn that Jon has an Italian ancestor whose name was Tony Arbuccli. Some episodes of the show suggested that Jon and his pets live in Muncie, Indiana. Jon wears contact lenses, his eyes are green, and his favorite music style is polka. His personal will states that he wishes to be cremated and have his ashes spread over his accordion. He can play accordion, guitar and bongos, and sing, though his singing and musical skills are far from good. Jon Arbuckle's favorite color is red, and he likes decaffeinated coffee, chocolate-chip cookies, and unleaded gasoline. Jon believes in God, or at the very least seems to believe in hell. According to one episode of Garfield and Friends, some of his "fun" ways to cure boredom are buying new socks, clipping his toenails, or playing "Guess the Burp" with Garfield. Jon was raised on a farm, and occasionally visits his mother, father, and his brother, Doc Boy, who lives on the farm.

Jon acquired Odie when Lyman, an old friend of his (and Odie's original owner) moved in with him and Garfield. After a few years, Lyman disappeared from the strip, never to be heard from again. The book Twenty Years and Still Kickin', which marked Garfield's twentieth year, included parodies of how Lyman left such as, "Had lunch with Jimmy Hoffa and then...".

Despite his somewhat timid and honest nature, Jon is sometimes shown to be quite assertive on Garfield And Friends. He also showed a tendency to be a miser as Garfield mentions how Jon passes out seeing the rates on a parking meter and Jon trying to perform an appendectomy on himself to save money.

Jon was voted #1 on "The Most Depressed Comic Book Characters" on the Best Week Ever blog.

Jon also dresses in loud outfits whenever he goes on a date. It is briefly mentioned in one strip where Jon mentions that Liz called him a "fashion emergency". In a May 2006 strip,when he asked Garfield if his tie was too big, Garfield replies "Not at all, as long as your circus friends don't object, neither do I!" In a June 2006 strip, Garfield laughs at his outfit, when Jon asks what he is laughing at,Garfield replies "Oh my, where to start...where to start.". In a January 2002 strip, Garfield mentions that two hundred moths committed suicide.

Career

In the earlier strips, he makes his living as a cartoonist. The TV series Garfield and Friends does show him several times as a cartoonist. His occupation is likely still that of a cartoonist on The Garfield Show, as in the episode "Family Picture", he draws a sketch of a photograph that he wants to take as Liz's birthday present. In the strip from May 2, 2010 Liz tells her parents Jon is a cartoonist, thus confirming his occupation.

Other media

• Jon was voiced by Sandy Kenyon in the first animated television special (Here Comes Garfield), and by Thom Huge in all later specials and in Garfield and Friends. Breckin Meyer portrayed Jon in the live-action films. In Garfield Gets Real, Garfield's Fun Fest and Garfield's Pet Force he was voiced by Wally Wingert. Wally also provides Jon's voice for The Garfield Show.
• In both live-action films, Jon has a powerful right hook which he uses to knock out the main antagonist.
• In an episode of Futurama, the forehead of a giant "Jon" balloon from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade becomes a hot air balloon to raise Fry, Leela, and Bender to the surface world.
• Arbuckle: Garfield through Jon's eyes is a daily webcomic in which fans send a redrawing of a Garfield strip with Garfield's thought bubbles removed.
• Similarly, Garfield Minus Garfield removes all the other characters completely and simply features Jon talking to himself. Fans connected with Jon's "loneliness and desperation" and found his "crazy antics" humorous; Jim Davis himself called Walsh's strips an "inspired thing to do" and said that "some of the strips work better than the originals".
• An Arbuckle Thanksgiving and An Arbuckle Christmas have taken the two holiday video specials and digitally removed Garfield and Odie, leaving Jon as the lead.