| U.S. Acres | |
|---|---|
U.S. Acres logo featuring Orson |
|
| Author(s) | Jim Davis Brett Koth |
| Website | www.garfield.com |
| Current status / schedule | Currently in reruns as a webcomic |
| Launch date | March 3, 1986 |
| End date | Original print run ended May 7, 1989. Reruns began appearing on Garfield.com on October 1, 2010. |
| Alternate name(s) | Orson's Farm (outside of the United States) |
| Syndicate(s) | United Features Syndicate |
| Genre(s) | Humor |
| Preceded by | Garfield |
| Followed by | Mr. Potato Head (comic strip) |
U.S. Acres (known as Orson's Farm in other countries) is a comic strip that originally ran from 1986 to 1989 created by Jim Davis, author of the popular comic strip Garfield. When the strip was launched, Jim Davis expected it to become quickly popular, but it ended after 3 years in 1989. The comic strip was launched on March 3, 1986 in a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers by United Feature Syndicate. For most of the last year of the strip's existence, Brett Koth, who had been assisting Davis on Garfield at that time, was given co-creator's credit in the strip, and signed his name to the strips along with Davis. The strip was centered around a group of barnyard animals, with the main character being Orson, a small pig who had been taken from his mother shortly after being born.
At the peak of the comic's popularity, there were children's books, plush animals (particularly of the characters Roy, Booker, Sheldon, and Orson), and posters of the main characters. Its animated adaptation was included in the TV show Garfield and Friends, and continued to be so for several years after the strip ended.
The final daily strip was printed on April 15, 1989, while the final Sunday, and the strip itself, appeared on May 7, 1989.
The strip was relaunched as an online webcomic on October 1, 2010 the date going back to March 3, 2010. The relaunch was announced the day before in a question and answer column in USA Today.[1]Later, in celebration of U.S. Acres's twenty-fourth anniversary, the strips prior to August 1, 1986 were released on Garfield.com.[2]
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Five comic strip collections were published, by Topper Books of New York City.
Also, at least six comic strip collections were published by Berkley Books of New York City. However, some of these books are missing months of the strip and / or have strips out of order.
It should be noted that the final two months of U.S. Acres were not published as part of an American collection. The last U.S. Acres collection was published in England as a mass-market paperback, titled Orson's Farm Cuts the Corn. The collection, which has since gone out of print along with the rest of the U.S. Acres books, contains fifty-nine of the final sixty strips (one Sunday strip was not printed) and is the rarest of any U.S. Acres/Orson's Farm collection.
The primary traits of the cartoon's main characters were established during the run of the comic strip, even down to such visual gags as the head on Wade's inner tube having the same facial expression as Wade.
Orson Pig (voiced by Gregg Berger in the animated series): A kindhearted but often naïve bibliophile whose work ethic makes him the functional leader. His good humor being tested is one of the common gags in the cartoons. In 1986, Orson had long eyelashes until it disappeared on January 2, 1988, frequently wore costume tights and Booker and Sheldon called him Mom. He tends to avoid conflicts. Being the runt of his litter, Orson's original owner intended to get rid of him. Orson fell from the pick-up taking him away from his birthplace and moved to the farm known as U.S. Acres. and was later found by a farm girl who persuaded Orson to follow her to her father's farm. Orson sometimes becomes a costumed superhero named Power Pig, which more often than not causes his friends or adversaries to fall down laughing at him. Orson loves books, but is very influenced by them, by sometimes doing what's in the book. Sometimes when Orson reads a book, particularly a scary one, the stuff he reads about usually appears behind him and scares the others away.
Roy Rooster (voiced by Thom Huge): A loud, greedy rooster who endlessly enjoys practical jokes. Except for a few instances, he is tolerated because his job (waking up everyone and 'tending' to chickens) is important, although he does his best to avoid labor whenever possible. He has a special delight in tormenting the easy target of Wade.
Wade Duck (voiced by Howard Morris): Wade is the "cowardly craven duck" of the farm. His good nature is sometimes shadowed by his overwhelming hypochondria pantophobia. Wade is always seen wearing a kiddie pool flotation inner tube, which (as part of a continuous running gag) shares the same facial expressions - even down to the direction Wade is looking in.
Booker (voiced by Frank Welker): A chick named by Orson for the pig's love of books. Booker and Sheldon were still eggs when Orson found them abandoned and decided to hatch them. Booker is extremely adventurous and (over) confident despite his size. He often chases worms, but can never seem to catch them. In the comic, he often called Orson "Mom."
Sheldon (voiced by Frank Welker): Booker's twin brother, who decides not to hatch. A recurring gag is to portray his shell as the perfect living space within, without ever showing it. In one episode, the shell finally hatched, only to reveal another shell underneath.
Bo Sheep (also voiced by Frank Welker): Lanolin's brother. In the comics, he was depicted as being unintelligent. However, in the TV series, he was a surfer and shown as not particularly bright, but always cool, collected, and dependable.
Lanolin Sheep (voiced by Julie Payne): Usually shown as a hard worker, but with a personality the polar opposite of her brother: loud and disagreeable. Her name is that of the grease produced by wool-bearing animals, such as sheep. In the comic strip, she was much more abrasive than in the television series, and was the only one who could put Roy in his place.