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 panic and an attack on the White House by feminists. 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, who was 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..
Inventions
The Electro-Photo Pigment-izer
This skin-darkening invention was created to flash the white S.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.Shuttlechair Enterpoop
This was ment to take Cutter John to DC, where he would flash the white S.African ambassador in a desperate strive to destroy the apartheid act, working for Oliver. It consisted of Cutter's wheelchair with balloons tied to it, and (as they realized too late) no way to steer.The Teleportation Device
This was an attempt to transport matter, but due to Bill The Cat's presence in the transporter, Oliver was changed into a half-human half-cat, a la The Fly.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).
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