The Far Side: C or D?

I have a far side calendar for this year. the big hitters are still so satisfying. but i’m a little shocked by how many misses there are. i mean it was a daily strip, they can’t all be gold. but there’s a LOT of dreck tbh

My favourite so far is Feb 19. a dog positions himself between a man on the couch and the TV and looks earnestly up at him. “The truth is, Stan, I’d like a place of my own.”

Well “Cow Tools” went from being one of his worst to one of his most iconic so there room for changing tastes

Cow tools was always brilliant, surreal, bizarre. A lot of these are just extremely “oh I see what you did there”

Midvale School 4 Lyfe

Love these sketch books: https://www.thefarside.com/sketchbooks/46/gary-larson-sketchbook-4

I still quote this one from time to time

https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/far-side-august-11-1987-a-dog-stand-up-comic-says-take-my-wife-fleas-1.jpg

"The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon" - another example of his cow obsession pushing against the limits of the form.

https://technolandy.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-29-at-8.01.44-am.png

Oh please, oh please cat fud is the one I still quote.

my son loves the far side so much. we got into it together after we found an anthology in a little free library four years back or so. now, every night, I am compelled to read to him from one of the four or five volumes we have; we've been through them again and again, but he howls with laughter at his favorites. "Primitive UFOs." "At the rubber man factory." "Beware of Doug." "Ha! Webster's blown his cerebral cortex!" it is such a joy for him; when he wakes up early (which is more or less daily) I will often hear him reciting his favorite captions to himself. a joy.

I love everything about that post.

thats amazing. over the last few years i've gradually offloaded all my old Calvin & Hobbes and Far Side collections onto one of my little nephews and they're all he wants to read now, its so great to see that stuff connecting across a generation

❤️

"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw."

And cow tools, and the boy pushing on the pull door at the gifted school are the three that have stuck with me.

And the alligators basking on the shore after eating a boat of tourists, talking about how nice eating humans is. Something about no horns, no fur, just soft and pink.

Cow tools has been a big thing in my head for a long time and it weirds me out that it pops up on the internet as much as it does.

bummer of a birthmark, hal

I love how much of a sense of movement Larson is able to incorporate into his cartoons, despite them being a single panel rather than a strip - I think a lot of the best ones are were some action has just happened, or is just about to happen, and the beat between you seeing the comic and working out the implied movement in your head (or the chain of causality) is where the laugh comes from.

So many newspaper cartoons feature gags that would work just as well (or badly) if they were delivered as dialogue in a sitcom or as part of stand up set or a tweet etc, but most Far Side comics feel like they couldn't be anything other than comics.

the beat between you seeing the comic and working out the implied movement in your head (or the chain of causality) is where the laugh comes from.

god that so well-observed, now that you point it out there are SO many of my favorites where this is essentially the gag - somebody about to get smashed in the face or killed in a horrifying way, with their face set in a look of blissful confidence. you wouldnt think it would be possible for a single panel cartoon to have such rich slapstick.

I sprung for the complete set recently and it was such a joy to re-read. there sure are a lot of "stranded on an island" gags!

"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw."

a good one, but it's a jack handey.

so many I can recall from memory

"remember when you laughed so hard an antler came out of your nose?"

I think this was my mom's favourite. She had the clipping on the fridge for years.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_aWnqbQuaCgm1-e0VKPYYz3KB-38bzryZy4hK40GoAaNvrv4Z6HPfZewE8fW8ZX4Z0fA8Vl-oBatxcQHRlRR9Dsgz9XlUrz2sVYjOua9zQtxAVeynl_1Nyo19CZO3VHT5N49U5jlAnrVlib2YfMvGi-EJAcxRBySf6xgTI16mntNxsJDkBQ/w468-h640/b99b0ebf-c570-4390-9c3f-71d345d2fc43.JPG

New batch!

https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/

WOW

The anthill one is amazing

Yeah, my fave for sure.

a real David Hockney accent

I love that this guy comes out of hiding every once in a while.

Great stuff. Surprised at how detailed his colouring is here.

Weird, I'm certain I've seen that anthill one before

nudibranch is so instant classic