GARFIELD AND ODIE’S OWNER

Garfield and Odie's owner. His birthday is July 28, 1951, the same date as Jim Davis', but six years later.

He has poor social skills, despite being a nice and patient guy, and his attempts at dating have usually failed, (in more modern issues, he has been getting lots of dates from Liz) but Garfield is happy as long as Jon keeps him fed.

He has a taste in bizarre attire and has several dull hobbies, including talking to his plants, stamp collecting, measuring the growth of his toenails, and organizing his clothes. Basically, Jon was raised as a geek. Not entirely his fault, you discover, when he visits his family or reminisces about 'life on the farm'.

His mother often refers to him as Jonny, and his full name was revealed on December 6, 2001 to be Jonathan Q. Arbuckle, but he usually just goes as Jon. Jim Davis got this name from an old coffee commercial. He thought the name fit the poor sap who would be stuck with a cranky feline with an overactive appetite.

Even though he introduced himself as a cartoonist in the very first strip, Jon is never seen drawing cartoons, but his job was once referenced, as seen in the 1984 Christmas sequence when Jon left for a cartoonists' convention [2]. (However, Garfield is seen in a couple of strips using Jon's easel and ink, presumably his cartooning tools. In one strip, Garfield draws a cat.) However, in one strip, Jon accidentally washes off one of Garfield's stripes while giving him a bath, suggesting that Garfield is a cartoon that Jon drew.

Jon seems to understand Garfield in some of the later comics, but only sometimes. Garfield's punch lines tend to roll toward the viewer, usually when Garfield answers questions. In the July 13, 1998, comic, he even reacted to Garfield even though Garfield hadn't even thought anything.[7][8]

In recent comic strips Jon has had his first success in love and finally hit it off with Garfield’s vet, Dr. Liz Wilson (following the path of the end of the first movie).