Oliver Wendell Jones

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Oliver Wendell Jones was the most recurring African American character in Bloom County and Outland, two comic strips by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed. The genius of the bunch, he was always hacking into forbidden files with his Banana Jr. 6000 computer, and would be grounded or spanked by his father when he was caught. He once framed Steve Dallas for breaking into the IRS computers.

His first such endeavor in Bloom County occurred only days after his first introduction to the series, where he hacks into the front page of the New York Times, which has the front page article, "Reagan Calls Women 'America's Most Valuable Resource'". Milo, who accompanies Oliver, immediately alters it on the basis of being "too wordy" and the final edition reads "Reagan Calls Women 'America's Little Dumplings'", sparking nationwide outrage and an attack on the White House by feminists (the comment was based on a real comment made by Hayden Fry, the footbal coach for the University of Iowa which provoked similar outrage in real life). Oliver's scientific achievements didn't end with computing; he's dabbled in teleportation, genetic engineering, and once invented a machine that temporarily turned white people black. He and Milo Bloom planned to use the device on the South African ambassador to the United States (at the time, apartheid was still in effect in South Africa), but their plan failed, supposedly killing Opus and Cutter John, who were traveling in the balloon-powered shuttlechair, Enterpoop.

Oliver's mother always tried to get him to emulate someone "normal" - though she always used Michael Jackson as an example - which was something that Oliver did not appreciate.

Oliver was named for United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr..

1 Inventions

[edit] Inventions

[edit] The Electro-Photo Pigment-izer

This skin-darkening invention was created to flash the white South African ambassador in a desperate attempt to destroy the apartheid act, but the mission nearly killed Opus and landed Cutter John in Communist Russia where he was held as a political prisoner.

Prototype testing proved successful on Steve Dallas who, after finding his skin a little darker, believed that he had ventured into the Twilight Zone and began looking for Rod Serling in the bushes.

[edit] Shuttlechair Enterpoop

The Shuttlechair Enterpoop was Cutter John's wheelchair with balloons attached to it, with a crucial design flaw that there is no way to steer. It was meant as a way to take Cutter John to Washington DC so he could use the Electro-photo pigmentizer on the South African ambassador to the United States, thus turning him dark-skinned and creating social chaos in South Africa to help bring down apartheid.

[edit] The Teleportation Device

This was an attempt to transport matter. A few bugs plagued it in the beginning. Oliver's first attempt at teleportation landed him part way in the floor. Another attempt resulted in his father's car being transported into orbit around Pluto. The big disaster was due to Bill The Cat's presence in the transporter with Oliver, which changed Oliver into half-human half-cat, a la The Fly.

[edit] Scalp Tonic

Oliver developed a baldness cure made out of sweat from Bill the Cat. When users began to develop feline characteristics, the government declared the tonic a controlled substance. The price of the tonic skyrocketed, and the gang began selling it underground. Criminals began to get in on the action. The whole series was a thinly disguised commentary on the drug wars. The craziness ended when Congress legalized the scalp tonic which caused the market to collapse, and production to cease, and without a supply of the tonic Oliver's dad went totally bald (by sneezing his hair off).