The Far Side

The Far Side
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This article is about the comic strip. For other uses, see Far side.

The Far Side
Wiener Dog Art, one of many Far Side collections published in the United States, features an artist stamping a paint-covered dachshund on a canvas.
Author(s)	Gary Larson
Current status / schedule	Ended
Launch date	January 1, 1980
End Date	January 1, 1995
Syndicate(s)	Chronicle Features (1980–1985) Universal Press Syndicate (1985–1995)
Genre(s)	Humor, Satire
Preceded by	Nature's Way

The Far Side is a popular one-panel syndicated comic created by Gary Larson. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world, logical fallacies, impending bizarre disasters, or the search for meaning in life. Due to Larson's biology background, use of animals and nature facts is extremely common. The strip ran from January 1, 1980 to January 1, 1995. Reruns are still printed in many newspapers.

Around the world, The Far Side is perhaps better known for the compilation books and merchandise (especially calendars, T-shirts, greeting cards, and mugs) than it is for its original incarnation as a daily newspaper feature.^{citation needed}

The series was preceded by a similar panel called Nature's Way, also by Larson.

1 The comic
2 Criticism
3 Publications
- 3.1 Collections
- 3.2 Other books
4 On television
5 Online
6 In popular culture
7 See also
8 Notes
9 External links

The comic

Most Far Side cartoons are a single rectangular panel, occasionally split into small sections of four, six or eight for the purposes of a storyline. A caption or dialogue usually appears under the panel as typed text, although word-balloons are sometimes utilized for conversations. Sunday comics were double-sized, done in watercolor or colored pencils, with captions hand written in Larson's own cursive.

Most of Larson's comics relied on some combination of a visual and verbal gag, rather than just one or the other.

Larson was recognized for his work on the strip with the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1985 and 1988, and their Reuben Award for 1990 and 1994^{citation needed}.

Criticism

Larson's comic has been attacked by people and groups to whom it caused offense. Several Far Side jokes have involved violence and murder, often between animals or humans and animals. Though not visually gory, some readers have found such strips to be too gruesome and dark for the comics page.

One cartoon shows two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a human hair on the other and inquires, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Goodall tramp?" The Jane Goodall Institute considered this to be in bad taste, and its lawyers drafted a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate in which it described the cartoon as an "atrocity." It was stymied, however, by Goodall herself, who revealed that she found the cartoon amusing. Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon have been donated to the Institute. (Larson was attacked by Frodo, a chimp described by Goodall as a bully, while visiting Gombe National Park in 1988. Goodall commented, "He somehow managed to get news of the cartoon.")^{citation needed}

Larson has occasionally engaged in self-censorship, acknowledging that some of his cartoons were seriously over the line. The Prehistory of the Far Side shows a number of these.

In The Complete Far Side as well as The Prehistory Of The Far Side, interspersed with the comics, there are letters from angry citizens to newspaper publishers, demanding the removal of The Far Side from their pages, and often citing a canceled subscription if this was not met. However, these protesters constituted a small enough minority that papers were able to continue to run the strip, with the matter becoming moot when compilation books were produced. Larson himself often laughs at the controversies of his comic as evidenced in The Prehistory of the Far Side, in which he writes that these people have usually misunderstood the cartoon.

Publications

Gary Larson has produced 23 Far Side books, all of which have made it to the New York Times bestseller list. The cartoons were first collected in small books (see list below), and some were then republished in larger best-of collections (The Far Side Galleries). Additional best-of collections were published, such as The Prehistory of The Far Side, culminating in the final, most complete publication, The Complete Far Side.

Collections

September 1982: The Far Side (ISBN 0-8362-1200-2)
August 1983: Beyond The Far Side (ISBN 0-8362-1149-9)
August 1984: In Search of The Far Side (ISBN 0-8362-2060-9)
April 1985: Bride of The Far Side (ISBN 0-8362-2066-8)
August 1985: Valley of The Far Side (ISBN 0-8362-2067-6)
August 1986: It Came from The Far Side (ISBN 0-8362-2073-0)
April 1987: Hound of The Far Side (ISBN 0-8362-2087-0)
October 1987: The Far Side Observer (ISBN 0-8362-2098-6)
July 1988: Night of the Crash Test Dummies (ISBN 0-8362-2049-8)
April 1989: Wildlife Preserves (ISBN 0-8362-1842-6)
October 1990: Wiener Dog Art (ISBN 0-8362-1865-5)
November 1991: Unnatural Selections (ISBN 0-8362-1881-7)
November 1992: Cows of Our Planet (ISBN 0-8362-1701-2)
November 1993: The Chickens are Restless (ISBN 0-8362-1717-9)
November 1994: The Curse of Madame "C" (ISBN 0-8362-1763-2)
October 1996: Last Chapter and Worse (ISBN 0-8362-2131-1; published after the end of the strip)

Other books

November 1984: The Far Side Gallery (ISBN 0-8362-2062-5)
October 1986: The Far Side Gallery 2 (ISBN 0-8362-2085-4)
October 1988: The Far Side Gallery 3 (ISBN 0-8362-1831-0)
January 1989: The Prehistory of the Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit (ISBN 0-8362-1851-5)
October 1993: The Far Side Gallery 4 (ISBN 0-8362-1724-1)
September 1995 The Far Side Gallery 5 (ISBN 0-8362-0425-5)
April 1998: There's a Hair in My Dirt! (ISBN 0-06-093274-0; not a collection of single panels)
August 2003: The Complete Far Side: 1980-1994 (ISBN 0-7407-2113-5)

The five Far Side Galleries are the most popular of the books, each of them collecting together the best cartoons from three smaller books, along with a humorous foreword by a celebrity fan, including Stephen King, Robin Williams, and Jane Goodall.

In 1989, The Prehistory Of The Far Side was published to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the strip. In this book, Gary Larson discussed the development of The Far Side, the public's reaction to it, and presented a selection of his personal favorites from the cartoon's history, as well as previously unpublished sketches and strips rejected by his editor.

In 2003, The Complete Far Side was released, which contains nearly every Far Side comic ever published, although some cartoons written for Christmas cards were not included. The collection is also missing parody art pieces from Wiener Dog Art, some material from The Prehistory of the Far Side, and a panel run for a caption writing contest in the Telegram-Tribune newspaper. The set was released in two volumes (1980–1986 and 1987–1994), with a foreword by Steve Martin and an introduction by Larson's long-time editor Jake Morrisey. The first-edition hardcover boxed set weighs nineteen and a half pounds (8.8 kilograms). Some of the comics were altered for this book, either featuring a different caption or correcting errors or simply colorised. In 2003 Gary Larson drew a cover for The New Yorker magazine,^[1] a prestigious offer he said he couldn't refuse.^[2]

On television

In 1994, Larson produced an animated special, Tales from the Far Side, featuring his art style and gags from the strips. He followed up with a sequel in 1997.

Online

It is difficult to find many Far Side cartoons online, since Larson (and/or his publishers and lawyers) has been very effective at persuading people to not infringe on his copyright. There is a widely distributed letter online, attributed to Gary Larson, in which he explains the "emotional cost" to him of people displaying his cartoons on their websites, and asks them to stop doing so.

In popular culture

In Cheers, Woody looks at a newspaper depressed. When the regulars ask why he's down he says its because he doesn't get the Far Side. After they explain it to him, he tells them he was just disappointed his newspaper doesn't carry it, and now they made him feel stupid.
Strong Sad from Homestar Runner dresses up as the fat kid from The Far Side in the 2007 Halloween special.^[3]
Darkwing Duck: In the episode "Beauty and the Beet" (September 9, 1991), two Larsonian type scientists called Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson are featured.^[4]
Darkwing Duck: In the episode "Twin Beaks" (November 7, 1991), an alien cow states, "We come from the planet Larson on the Far Side of the galaxy."^[5]
Tom Clancy wrote in The Bear and The Dragon, "The Early Bird was the clipping service the government provided for senior officials, but for breakfast Swordsman preferred the real paper, complete with cartoons. Like many, Ryan lamented the retirement of Gary Larson and the attendant loss of the morning Far Side, but Jack understood the pressure of enforced daily output."^{citation needed}
In The Simpsons episode "The Homega Man", Homer is in the Withstandinator bomb shelter reading Far Side comics when Springfield is destroyed. As he flips the pages of the Off The Wall Calendar he states "Oh, a Gary Larson calendar …. I don't get it, I don't get it, I don't get it, I don't get it, ha! Ha! Ha! I don't get it...".
In Scrubs, episode My Intern's Eyes, there is a scene in which JD fantasizes about a hospital where the patients are treated like horses and the doctors carry shotguns. This is a parody of a Far Side cartoon. JD cocks the shotgun as he says to a patient with a broken leg: "I am sorry Mr. Larson, but I do not like the look of that leg."^{citation needed}
In Family Guy, episode 8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter, Peter buys an entire rack of greeting cards on credit and gives Meg a Far Side one of a Vulture wearing a cowboy hat which Meg says is "kind of funny". In Lois Kills Stewie, Stewie comments that his new presidential portrait is better than the one Gary Larson drew which shows him drawn in a Far Side style conversing with an anthropomorphic chicken.^{citation needed}
In War of the Worlds the closing credits for every episode in the first season is a reference to The Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson, courtesy of Chronicle Features. Several cutout Far Side comic strips are seen briefly in “The Resurrection”, tacked onto a bulletin board in Suzanne McCullough’s university office; however, since this is only seen in one episode, it’s unknown why the credit remains throughout the season.^[6]
In the episode "Emily In Wonderland" on the TV show Gilmore Girls, Lorelai tells Rory that whenever she talks to her mother all she hears is "blah blah blah Ginger."
Australian comedians, Roy and HG, when commentating State of Origin football matches, would refer to Gary Larson (rugby league) as being "on the far side" of the playing arena - a joke aimed at his name being shared with famous cartoonist Gary Larson ("and the ball is passed to Gary Larson... on the far side...").^{citation needed}
In his book Dave Barry In Cyberspace, Dave Barry titled an article on the infamous dead whale removal The Far Side comes to life in Oregon .^[7]
The Worth1000 website for image manipulation contests has featured Far Side contests where Far Side cartoons made real^[8].