The discourse aroundThe Far Siderevolves around certain words and phrases, which are in turn, tied to particular ideas and perspectives on Gary Larson’s syndicated newspaper comic, which ran from 1980 to 1995. So, it is worth exploring in more detail what it means to call aFar Sidecartoon “confusing” or “absurd,” or any number of the descriptors that have come to be associated with it.
In truth,The Far Sideis “confusing, obtuse, esoteric, and strange”; it is hilarious and frustrating and idiosyncratic and iconoclastic –what makes Gary Larson’s work so truly noteworthy, and so enduring all these years later, is that it encompasses all these reactions and more, while still always maintaining a slightly elusive quality.
This is why it is worth taking a step back and talking about how people talk aboutThe Far Side, in order to develop both a greater appreciation for Gary Larson’s work, and a better understanding ofthe reactions it prompts from readers.
8"Confusing": How The Far Side Gained Its Notorious Reaction For Flummoxing Readers
Synonyms Include: Bewildering, Confounding, Mystifying Perplexing
By far, the most common word used to describeThe Far Sideis “confusing”– though perhaps this would be better if it were extended to something like “confusing at first glance,” or “confusing until the reader takes a closer look.” That is,The Far Sidewas often revelatory – Gary Larson’s punchlines weren’t always obvious, or immediately clear. Given that, by Larson’s own admission, a reader’s first response to aFar Sidecomic is the most important one, it was inevitable that his comedic style would cultivate a reputation for throwing readers for a loop.
With that in mind,The Far Side’stendency toward confusing humor played a large role in helping it become a wild successfrom the mid-1980s onward. As much as some readers are off-put by confusion, many more are drawn to it. In other words, even people who don’t “like"The Far Sideare often intrigued by it – proving that a bit of mystique is a vital hook for any piece of art.
7"Genius”: Why Gary Larson Is Unparalleled As A Cartoonist In So Many Ways
Synonyms Include: Brilliant, Masterful, Singular
Gary Larson is often hailed as a master of his craft, and rightfully so. He was a prolific artist during his time as a cartoonist, and his comedic perspective can be described as “often imitated, but never fully replicated.” Larson’s cultural influence is recognizable in contemporary meme humor, and his comics have an entrenched legacy in the minds of generations of Americans – even those who haven’t thought aboutThe Far Sidein decades tend to get a wry smile on their face when it is mentioned, immediately conjuring to mind the memory of their favorite, or perhaps least favorite, panel.
“Genius” is difficult to quantify or qualify, butgiven the significance ofThe Far Side’simpact on newspaper readers, and the high level at which Larson executed his work on a regular basis for fifteen years, most would agree there was something transcendent about his abilitiesas an artist and a humorist.
6"Dark": What Made The Far Side’s Sense Of Humor Stand Out
Synonyms Include: Bleak, Macabre, Pessimistic
Along with its capacity for “confusion,“The Far Sideis most frequently associated with the label of “dark humor”– while Gary Larson created plenty of blatantly silly, and innocuously surreal, panels over the years,his strain of jokes about death, destruction, and the more depressing aspects of the human experience tend to stick with audiences more.In large part, this is due to these punchlines' mix of catharsis and shock value. For readers who shared this darker sensibilitity, Larson’s comedy was a point of connection, while for those with more “innocent” tastes, it was a jolt to the system.
10 Best Far Side Comics With Stories Too Ambitious For One Panel To Contain (From the Back Half of Gary Larson’s Career)
As Gary Larson’s career progressed, his jokes became more involved, leading to ambitious punchlines that a single Far Side panel couldn’t contain.
Both of these responses madeThe Far Sidememorable.The Far Sidewas far from the first example of “dark humor” with mass commercial appeal, but its use of the newspaper comic medium to deliver a dose of the strange and surreal, the mischievous and the macabre, on a day-to-day basis made it front-and-center in the progression of American culture’s overall shift toward more “subversive,” or as Larson’s work is also often called, “absurd” humor.
5"Absurd”: Why The Far Side Gained A Reputation For Being Surreal
Synonyms Include: Ludicrous, Over-The-Top, Ridiculous, Unhinged
The Far Sideis inarguably absurd, or at least routinely absurdist, but it is important to unpack exactly what that means, or at least, why it is such a defaultreaction to Gary Larson’s work. In philosophical terms, absurdism centers around the idea that humanity’s constant search for the meaning of life is bound to yield no positive results. At best, people can only recognize the true, incomprehensible nature of reality, and laugh at their own attempts to interpret it. At least, this is the philosophy as it is embodied byThe Far Side, in which both the process of the comics' creation, and the process of reading them, fit this description to a large degree.
In other words,The Far Sidewas a product of Gary Larson’s attempt to reckon with the world around him; not to make it make sense, necessarily, but to compress it into a digestible form, one that was likely to get a reaction out of readers. For people engaging with the author’s work,the word “absurd” is often the first to come to mind if for no other reason thanThe Far Sidetends to defy expectations, and to generate a visceral feeling in readers, one which is often hard to put into words.
4"Groundbreaking”: How The Far Opened The Door For Increasingly Weird Humor
As mentioned,The Far Sidewas not the first “absurd” or “dark” work of popular humor to appear in the comic medium – but Gary Larson’s work was still, in many ways, unprecedented. That is, as the Wu-Tang Clan’s O.D.B. once put it: “there’s no father to his style.” Larson picked and chose successful aspects of previous cartoonists' approaches, but his work was wholly unique in many ways. Still, this in itself might not necessarily qualify as “groundbreaking,” butthe incredible success ofThe Far Side, which spread from just a handful of regional newspapers to a nationwide sensation over the course of just several years in the 1980s, certainly paved the way for subsequent generations of oddball creators.
The Far Side Complete Collection
Fans of the far side can’t pass up this master collection of Gary Larson’s finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
Take, for example,Calvin and Hobbes, which began publication in 1985, and ran for just one more year after Gary Larson’s retirement, with creator Bill Watterson retiring himself at the end of 1995. It is not unfair to suggest that the increased appetite for weird, off-kilter comic strips, at the height ofThe Far Side’ssuccess, at least made the path to publication easier for Watterson’s own legendary work.
3"Subversive": The Far Side Rose To Prominence Because It Subverted Expectations
Synonyms Include: Iconoclastic, Surprising, Radical
The Far Sideis regularly called “subversive,” but this word actually has a more technical meaning when applied to the comic than one might expect. Certainly, while the artist’s detractors might accuse Gary Larson of “corrupting the youth,” as in the traditional sense of the word, on a much more fundamental level,The Far Sidewas actually mechanically subversive – meaning that it played on, or subverted, readers' expectations expertly, in order to get a laugh out of them, or shock and surprise them, or whatever a particular panel was intended to do.
The Far Side’shumorwas always rooted in something familiar, some recognizable element; even the strip’s jokes about actual extraterrestrials were never totally alien to readers, even if they did, at times, play with a sense of alienation. The effect of aFar Sidejoke was all about how Gary Larson warped the expected into something the reader couldn’t have anticipated, whether that was a play on words, or a complete inversion of human-animal interactions.
2"Outrageous": Why The Far Side Was Controversial To Some, And Uproarious To Others
Synonyms Include: Appalling, Distressing, Shocking, Infamous
The truth is,The Far Sideis largely tame by contemporary standards – standards Gary Larson’s work is widely considered to have helped make what they are today. Still, during its 1980s-90s heyday, as often asThe Far Sidewas praised, it was also criticized.Larson’s work was the source of its fair share of controversies, which were as integral to the fame/infamy of the comic strip as those panels that were praised for their cleverness and astute insight into human behavior.
These 3 Far Side Comics Combine to Explain Why Ducks Are Illegal in Gary Larson’s Surreal (But Hilarious) World
Published 12 years apart, these Far Side comics set up the idea that ducks are illegal in Gary Larson’s surreal world, then actually explained why!
As with all the ways of describingThe Far Sidecataloged here – and the many more not cataloged –there is an “eye of the beholder” situation when it comes to what makes Larson’s work a source of outrage, vs. a source of laugh-out-loud joy. Any response to art is subjective, butThe Far Sideis particularly difficult to develop a consensus opinion on, because every reader’s reaction to every different Larsonian punchline, of which there are thousands, can vary wildly. Like “absurdity,” “outrage” as a reaction toThe Far Sideoften is the initial, unvarnished response readers have to particularFar Sidecartoons.
1"Iconic": Why The Far Side Has Stood The Test Of Time
Synonyms Include: Classic, Renowned, Legendary, Unforgettable
Another way to describeThe Far Side’s"subversive" qualities is to call it “iconoclastic” – that is, Gary Larson was unafraid to take the sacred and inject some manner of profanity into it, which he skillfully managed to do without ever employing actual profanity. Still, it is amusing that, in due time, Larson’s work has been afforded “icon” status itself. That is,The Far Sidehad a monumental impact on pop culture, and its author subsequently towers over the comic medium as a legendary figure – one that ensuing generations of creators can try to live up to, or knock down.
The Far Side’shumor was meant to create an immediate impression, but against all odds, it is still being talked about to this day. Readers are still trying to unpack “confusing"Far Sidecomics, or wrap their heads around the most “absurd” of Gary Larson’s jokes.That is why it is vital the fans of the artist’s work approach this project well-equipped with the vocabulary to make the most of their experience, so that they can uncover the countless bits of insight, wisdom, and unexpected hilarity contained inthe vast corpus ofThe Far Side.
The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
