Jon Arbuckle

First appearance

June 19, 1978 (Comic Strip)

Voiced by

Sandy Kenyon (voice in Here Comes Garfield)

Thom Huge (voice in all other 1980s and early 1990s appearances)
Wally Wingert (current voice)

Portrayed by

Breckin Meyer (in the live-action films)

Family

Mrs. Arbuckle (Mother)
Mr. Arbuckle (Father)
Doc Boy (Brother)
Unnamed grandmother
Aunt Gussie (Aunt)
Aunt Ivy (Aunt)
Orleen (Aunt)
Waldo (Uncle)
Drusilla (Cousin)
Minerva (Cousin)
Ichabod (Cousin)
Edward Arbuckle

(Uncle)

Pets

Garfield
Odie

Nermal

Job

Dr. Liz Wilson

Cartoonist

Likes

Cooking
Baking
Women
Polka
Sudoku puzzles
Dating
Terrible costumes
Games
Calling Garfield "fat"
Putting Garfield on a diet
Plants
Goldfish
Birds
Training Garfield to kill mice

Dislikes

Garfield eating his food and plants
Garfield killing his goldfish and birds
Garfield abusing Odie and Nermal
Garfield scratching his curtains and furniture
Bad dates
Getting rejected by people
Garfield's antics
Mice
Spiders
Uncle Ed
Aunt Ivy

Jon Arbuckle (or Jonathan Quentin "Jon" Arbuckle; July 28, 1950) is the main human character from the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis, and the deuteragonist of The Garfield Show, Garfield and Friends, and Garfield: The Movie. He is present in all branches of the Garfield franchise except a few video games. He is the secondary protagonist in the comic strip and is rarely absent. He and Garfield provide most of the dialogue on a regular basis, though he is one of the only characters whose dialogue is in speech bubbles. He has a very large family, especially consisting of uncles and aunts. Jim Davis based much of himself onto Jon Arbuckle, such as that Jon has the same birthday as Jim Davis, and is also a cartoonist like him.

Double Act with Garfield

Garfield and Jon play an odd pair and take turns who is comedic/unusual and who is the straight man. Garfield is the straight man if Jon does very awkward habits especially curing his boredom, speaking random aspects of philosophy, ruining or complaining about his chances of getting a date, complaining about unfortunate events. That time, Garfield will provide a punchline that's supposed to be the primary sentence of the comic.

Putting Garfield on a Diet

Garfield is capable of eating large quantities of food all about fried chicken, hot dogs, pepperoni pizza (or pizza with everything), cheeseburgers, bacon, donuts, spaghetti, ice cream, cookies, candy, and most of all, lasagna. Because of this, Jon will frequently put him on a diet. In most diets, Jon isn't seen allowing Garfield to go off his diet.

In the Garfield Show, however, Jon is tricked by Garfield dozens of times. Sometimes the fact Garfield needs to diet is not even needed, and Jon is just making it up. This makes Jon feel very bad and guilts himself into giving Garfield food.

Creator Jim Davis stated in the 20 Years and Still Kicking book featuring his annotations on several comic strips and background history that his reading audience want to always read comics where Garfield has to go through a diet, or else they will complain.

Personality

A nerdy and clumsy man, Jon is the owner of Garfield and Odie. He has been portrayed as being extremely pathetic in the world of dating and coolness, constantly striking out when trying to get dates with women. This has been partly due to his ridiculous pick-up lines and loud flashy outfits. Jon is the primary fodder and conversation partner to Garfield and is often the victim of his jokes. In Garfield and Friends, he was frequently portrayed as being incredibly gullible when faced with unscrupulous salesmen and extraordinarily dumb in general for a human. But he has a moments of brilliance so it seems that he simply does not choose to think. He also whines a lot (according to Garfield) and there is some evidence to show that he does.

He is a cartoonist by profession, as established in the first strip, the television cartoon Garfield and Friends, and later by Liz (much to her parents shock).[1] Jon still manages to make enough money to keep Garfield in lasagna -- no easy feat. Often, Jon, as well as Garfield, gets bored, and comes up with "fun" ways to cure boredom, as he was speaking (such as buying new socks, clipping his toenails, or playing "Guess the Burp" with Garfield). He first appeared on June 19, 1978 in the first ever Garfield comic strip. His birthday has been revealed to be July 28 (which is the same as that of Jim Davis). On December 23, 1980, Jon tells Garfield that he is 30 years old. This would make Jon's birth date July 28, 1950, and his current age is almost 63 years old. Jon can be mean and he always forces Garfield to go on a diet. Jon cares about Garfield .

To Garfield, Jon is an easy target for pranks. A recurring gag in the strip is that Jon seems to be afraid of mice. Sometimes he screams like a stereotypical little girl when he sees one.

Dating

Jon has had numerous dates over the following years, like Bertha, Ellen, Kimmy, Loretta Gnish, Cindy Krovitz, Annie Axelrod, Gertie, Greta, and Bob, and Suki.

His biggest crush is Dr. Liz Wilson, Garfield and Odie's vet. Over the years, Jon had asked her out on dates numerous times. She usually turned him down but sometimes agreed, however those dates were usually disastrous, often due to Garfield insisting on accompanying them. In the live action films, Garfield: The Movie and Garfield's A Tale of Two Kitties he became Dr. Liz Wilson's boyfriend. This later became the case in the comic strip too, from July 2006 onwards. In Garfield's A Tale of Two Kitties, Liz marries Jon, but this never became possible in the strips.

Trivia

Jon had a cousin named Leonard who claimed to be kidnapped by aliens. Jon says "The aliens, of course, denied the whole thing." to which Garfield replies, "Okay, now I'm frightened. Are you frightened?"
Jon is 37 years old in Garfield: The Movie.
Jon also had a dog as a child named "Scraps" who chased a stick into a thresher. Garfield says that he lived up to his name.
Other known relatives include:
- Great-uncle Norbert, a color-blind electrician (who had trouble with red and black wires and an interesting hairstyle).
- Great-uncle Floyd, who drove a dynamite truck that was apparently blown up.
- Uncle Buford, a lifelong bachelor due to the fact that he had three arms.
- Uncle Enos, the state champion apple corer. Garfield remarks that he has six fingers, probably from an apple core.
- Uncle Ed, a very gluttonous and rude uncle who had a bigger appetite than Garfield and was the main antagonist of the Garfield and Friends episode The Thing That Stayed Forever.
- Aunt Edna, who is the strict wife of Uncle Ed. Edna felt sympathy for Jon being treated miserably by Uncle Ed and took him away at the end of The Thing That Stayed Forever.
- Shannon', Jon's teenage niece who speak's "valley".
- Kenny', another one of Jon´s nieces, who had a facelift.
- Other relatives that little is known about include cousins Oscar, Zoroaster, Phadrig, Isaac, Norman, Henry, Emmanuel, Ambrose, Denny, and great-great-aunts Veronica and Relda, and aunts Sabrina and Daphne.
The most common meal that Jon is seen eating is mashed potatoes, peas, and meatloaf. Garfield almost always steals it from him.
He was voiced by Sandy Kenyon (in Here Comes Garfield) and Thom Huge (in the rest of the TV specials and Garfield and Friends), and portrayed by Breckin Meyer in the live-action movies. In the DTV movies and The Garfield Show, he is voiced by Wally Wingert.
There is an ongoing comic strip beginning in 2008 entitled "Garfield Minus Garfield" in which Jon is the main character featured and most of the other characters have been removed. In the strip Garfield is depicted as Jon's imaginary friend who only he can see. A running gag has Jon appearing to be talking to himself or having sudden mood swings making him appear insane, or sometimes depressed and seemingly suicidal. Jim Davis is a fan of the strip and sometimes contributes to the site.
Jim Davis says that Jon cannot understand Garfield's thoughts but rather his actions. This is because he wanted a realistic cat and not one that talks.
On the fourth Friday of November, Jon and Garfield have Candy Cane Karaoke Night.