# Jon Arbuckle, cartoonist **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [November 23, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308 "2020-11-23T23:04:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/1 "2020-11-23T23:04:55Z")
Jon Arbuckle is introduced in [the very first _Garfield_ strip](https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1978/06/19) as a cartoonist, but since then I think we’ve seen him only very rarely at the drawing board. What do we know about Arbuckle’s career and artwork? It seems clear that he is involved with a comic strip (as opposed to editorial cartoons) as there are wide shots of his drawing board that show him working on panels. You can see this in the inaugural strip I linked to above, as well as in [this more recent strip from 2 August 2015](https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2015/08/02). But there is so much more about Arbuckle the cartoonist that remains a mystery to me. Is he involved with only one comic strip, or with several? Does he write the comics himself, or does he just do the illustrations? Is his work published locally or is it nationally or internationally syndicated? Do we know anything about the genre of his comic strip or the characters and setting? Has any _Garfield_ strip ever shown a close-up of his artwork? Is cartooning Arbuckle’s sole source of income? If there are canonical answers to these questions, I’d prefer ones that are based on the original _Garfield_ newspaper strip and not its zillions of TV, movie, and other spin-offs. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/2 "2020-11-24T01:51:32Z")
From the [Wiki Entry on Jon Arbuckle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Arbuckle), it’s been mentioned more than once. > In the first strip, Arbuckle is presented as a [cartoonist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoonist).[[15]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Arbuckle#cite_note-15)_Garfield and Friends_ also shows 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. Also, in the strip from May 2, 2010, Liz tells her parents Jon is a cartoonist.[[16]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Arbuckle#cite_note-16) Jon was also seen doing his work briefly in the August 2, 2015 strip.[[17]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Arbuckle#cite_note-17) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/3 "2020-11-24T02:46:39Z")
I’ve always understood the conceit being that he actually draws the Garfield comic strip. I mean, how else can he be doing his best to entertain us? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/4 "2020-11-24T07:45:57Z")
I suppose that theory makes sense, but is there any explicit in-universe evidence for it? Have we ever seen Jon drawing Garfield, or mentioning that Garfield’s the star of his comic strip? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/5 "2020-11-24T07:53:08Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > From the [Wiki Entry on Jon Arbuckle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Arbuckle), it’s been mentioned more than once. Sure, there’s no denying that (and I gave a few examples in my OP). My question is whether we can piece together any further details about Jon’s career, above and beyond the mere fact that he draws a comic strip. In many ways, _Garfield_ is the opposite of _Law & Order_: whereas the latter depicts its characters at work but almost never shows their private lives, _Garfield_ shows plenty of Jon’s personal life but almost never depicts his career. Still, _Law & Order_ does give us brief glimpses of its characters’ lives outside their daily professions—so much so that fans have been able to cobble together some pretty fleshed-out personal biographies. I’m wondering if the converse might be true for Jon Arbuckle. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/6 "2020-11-24T11:07:49Z")
It sounds like you’re a hardcore Garfield fan, so you may be interested in this article by David Malki, author of _Wondermark_, though it has no bearing on Jon as cartoonist. > **[On the bonkers color palette of Garfield comics](http://wondermark.com/garfield-color/)** > > I’ve been reading Garfield comics with my son this week. He’s too young to really follow the narratives — after every strip he pauses, asks what happened, and then says, slowly and calmly, “Why” — but he’s already very fond of the drawings and... ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/7 "2020-11-24T11:42:03Z")
No, not a hardcore fan; just a lover of minutiae. But that article really is fascinating. I had no idea that colouring of syndicated comic strips was once outsourced to the individual newspapers that ran them. It’s fascinating to think that all the comics I read as a kid might have looked very different the next town over. ---
**Author:** ![yarblek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/71e660/32.png) [@yarblek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yarblek)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/8 "2020-11-24T13:28:16Z")
I stopped collecting Garfield comics back in around 2007 so I don’t know what happens to Arbuckle after that. IIRC John’s job comes up extremely infrequently in that period of time for anyone to gleam pretty much anything about it. I would have to go back and refresh my memory but at least for the 1978-2007ish strips, the answers to your questions are completely unknown. Now I wish I continued to collect them so I could answer this! I was somewhat of a fan way back when. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/9 "2020-11-24T16:01:34Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > My question is whether we can piece together any further details about Jon’s career, above and beyond the mere fact that he draws a comic strip. It’s all about [conservation of detail.](http://wordalivepress.ca/blog/The-Conservation-of-Detail). > By spending too much time describing mundane aspects of your setting, the reader ends up having a hard time latching onto what’s important. Indeed, conserving detail isn’t just about speeding up the story; it’s about clarifying the focus. It is necessary to point out that Jon has a job, so readers don’t start obsessing about where he gets the money to afford all that pet food. But the strip is not about Jon’s job, it’s about a cat, and the cat’s relationships. Since Garfield doesn’t worry about Jon’s job, neither should we. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/10 "2020-11-24T18:05:07Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > But the strip is not about Jon’s job, it’s about a cat, and the cat’s relationships. Clearly you have never seen _[Garfield Minus Garfield](https://garfieldminusgarfield.net/)_, a version of _Garfield_ in which all characters other than Jon Arbuckle have been photoshopped out. According to its creator, it presents “a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb”. Jim Davis himself called the project “inspired” and noted that many of the strips work even better than the originals. But on a more serious note, [Davis’s original strip](https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/06/18/newly-discovered-davis-pre-garfield-garfield/) initially had Jon, not Garfield, as its starring character, and it was even titled _Jon_ for the first few years of its run. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/11 "2020-11-24T19:52:32Z")
Since we’re talking about Garfield, did any other comic strip break the fourth wall like this? Those caustic expressions that Garfield shoots to the reader have always cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/12 "2020-11-24T20:06:03Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Clearly you have never seen _[Garfield Minus Garfield](https://garfieldminusgarfield.net/)_ , a version of _Garfield_ in which all characters other than Jon Arbuckle have been photoshopped out. Actually, the only job Jon Arbuckle has ever had was creating and drawing Garfield Minus Garfield. In essence, he is working through his depression through his work. However, there is no market for it, so when he finishes a panel, he throws it out. Garfield removes them from the trash, inserts himself and sends it off to the sindecate. As Garfield is a cat, he cannot have a checking account, so the money is deposited in Jon’s account. Jon, in the depths of his depression, doesn’t even notice. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/13 "2020-11-24T20:20:47Z")
[Red Meat](https://www.redmeat.com/) does it all the time with Bug-eyed Earl. In fact, most comics featuring Earl just have him directly addressing the reader. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/14 "2020-11-24T22:10:23Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > But on a more serious note, [Davis’s original strip](https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/06/18/newly-discovered-davis-pre-garfield-garfield/) initially had Jon, not Garfield, as its starring character, and it was even titled _Jon_ for the first few years of its run. That’s kind of my point. Even Jon turned out to be an extraneous detail, except for how he relates to Garfield. See also, adults in _Peanuts_. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-arbuckle-cartoonist/926308/15 "2022-06-03T15:01:32Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > But there is so much more about Arbuckle the cartoonist that remains a mystery to me. Is he involved with only one comic strip, or with several? Does he write the comics himself, or does he just do the illustrations? Is his work published locally or is it nationally or internationally syndicated? Do we know anything about the genre of his comic strip or the characters and setting? Has any _Garfield_ strip ever shown a close-up of his artwork? Is cartooning Arbuckle’s sole source of income? I just stumbled upon a definitive answer to one of these questions. In the [4 July 2010 _Garfield_ strip](https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2010/07/04), Jon draws a cartoon pig and we get to see a close-up of it. The pig bears a striking resemblance to Orson, one of the main characters of Jim Davis’s other comic strip, _U.S. Acres_. Does this mean that in the _Garfield_ universe, Jon Arbuckle is the cartoonist behind _U.S. Acres_? Feel free to discuss that particular fan theory in my other thread: [Are Garfield and U.S. Acres set in the same universe?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-garfield-and-u-s-acres-set-in-the-same-universe/965622) In the meantime, I’m just happy to actually see some of Jon’s artwork.