Over the Hedge is a syndicated comic strip written and drawn by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. It tells the story of a raccoon, turtle, a squirrel, and their friends who come to terms with their woodlands being taken over by suburbia, trying to survive the increasing flow of humanity and technology while becoming enticed by it at the same time. The strip debuted in June 1995.
A raccoon con artist, RJ takes pride in being extremely apathetic. He apparently envisions himself as an intellectual; however, his "facts" are obviously false. He loves to burgle human homes, as well as watch them and their televisions through the windows. While he enjoys commenting on human life, most of his statements are false as well, although he has studied humans and knows their ways of getting food, and even has slightly imprinted on them. He was shown to care for Clara even before she was born, (after he learned that babies can hear some things outside of the mother from Verne) by reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame and singing a horrible version of "Stairway to Heaven". He is sometimes shown without a brain, using his brain cavity to store his "hanky", and breath mints. He is shown to have the ability to expand to fit a massive amount of food, and is known as "that horrible raccoon kid" on Halloween. He claimed in one strip that he is an immortal god, and once "confessed" to Verne for "lighting the fuse" to the Big Bang, which he explained was because "The matches were right there, and the sign said "Don't light this fuse!!!", so...". He also said that the universe "will have to reschedule the time when the Sun will burn out", as he has "a tail rinse that day".
Verne had an intense hatred for RJ, but eventually, he becomes his best friend and partner in crime. A cautious, easy-going, lactose abhorrent turtle who is reflective and prone to allergies. Verne is a true renaissance-turtle, an intelligent and quick-witted observer with a deep spiritual side and a tingling feeling in his tail when something is not right. He is one of the most caring characters (second to "The Tree That Knows Stuff"), but he sometimes lacks a basic common sense. His proudest achievement is gathering all of the air conditioners out of Suburbia, and shouting, "LET THE GLOBAL COOLING COMMENCE!!!", just as RJ was about to plug them all in. He is a computer nerd, and he once "broke" the Internet. Most recently his shell was used as a hotspot for Queen Izzy, the Ant Queen, and her ant subjects, forcing him to first wear a Lucky Charms cereal box, and then a utili-kilt.