These Far Side comics from the first six months of Gary Larson’s fifteen-year career showcase his work at its roughest, earliest stage, before his visual style became more polished and refined. For those who want to understand the scope of Larson’s career, these are pivotal panels to analyze and understand.
Throughout 1980, Larson introduced most of The Far Side’s signature elements, from his eclectic cast of recurring characters, to the varying tone of his comedy, which ranged from lighthearted absurdity to bleak gallows humor.
The cartoons collected here emphasize the work-in-progress nature of The Far Side’s first year, offering a look back at Larson’s most formative panels.
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“Only One Head”: The Far Side Made Flipping The Script An Essential Part Of Its Comedic Routine
First Published: February 21, 1980
In this Far Side cartoon, a carnival barker uses a primitive megaphone to draw his audience’s attention to a curious medical oddity: a man with only one head. That is, because the man in the pinstripe coat, and everyone in the audience, have two heads. In effect, it is a Twilight Zone-style inversion of the familiar status quo.
Thematically, this Far Side comic fits into Gary Larson’s ouvre without question. On an aesthetic level, though, it clearly shows that Larson’s visual style was still developing. Like many of the entries on this list, it doesn’t quite have the same signature artistic quality that would come to be synonymous with The Far Side.
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“Looks Like Sally Across The Street”: An Early Example Of The Far Side’s Relationship Humor
First Published: March 25, 1980
“Say Ernie,” a man says to his friend, who is currently in the middle of getting his beloved’s name tattooed on his back, “that looks like Sally across the street…and she’s with some guy.” Upon closer inspection, readers will notice Sally’s name already occupying several prominent spaces on the man’s body, making her suspected infidelity that much worse.
Again, the crude way Gary Larson draws people here is not without its charm, but it highlights how much his artistic abilities would grow over the years. Larson always described his art as his greatest weakness, and it might have been in the beginning, but through practice The Far Side became much more visually sophisticated as time wore on.
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“Camelot”: The Far Side’s Early Comics Were Sketchier Than Gary Larson’s Later Work
First Published: March 31, 1980
This Far Side panel, depicting a camel dealership, or a “Camelot,” in the middle of the desert, certainly isn’t Gary Larson’s best play on words, but what stands out more here is the “quick sketch” quality of the illustration. As he grew as an artist, Larson’s attention to detail became that much greater, moving away from caricatures to more fully-realized characters.
That said, Gary Larson’s more detailed, more recognizable artistic style grew out of cartoons like these. The Far Side was the product of Larson’s drive toward perfectionism, and though he rarely achieved it, producing less-than-perfect Far Side cartoons was the best motivation for him to make the next one better.
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“Tip Of The Iceberg”: This Cartoon Highlights The Far Side’s Bitter Sense Of Irony
First Published: April 3, 1980
In this iconic early use of The Far Side’s characteristic dark irony, a husband and wife lie on deck chairs on a cruise ship, complaining about “lousy food,” and “crummy service,” and “dinky cabins,” which they call “only the tip of the iceberg.” Of course, the “U.S.S. Titanic” life-preserver hanging above their heads shows how hilariously right they are.
Curiously, this is an example of Gary Larson making a rare, seemingly unintentional mistake. That is, the Titanic, of course, was designated R.M.S., rather than U.S.S. It is an error that doesn’t negate the impact of the joke, but it is one that Gary Larson would surely like to correct, given the opportunity, even forty-five years after its release.
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These Primitive Far Side Pirates Show How Much Room To Grow Gary Larson Had Early On
First Published: April 21, 1980
In this wordless Far Side cartoon, pirates make a captive walk the plank…and then score the drowning victim’s dive, with the ship’s crew awarding it an “8,” “7 1/2,” and “8,” respectively. This cartoon shows how Gary Larson’s macabre sense of humor was intact from The Far Side’s start, while once again emphasizing his earlier rough artistic style.
The comic has all the familiar elements that Larson would use in The Far Side’s pirate jokes for years to come, including the trope of the parrot sitting on the captain’s shoulder, but again, they are more like hasty sketches than the fleshed out, visually distinct Far Side characters that would come later.
5
The Far Side’s Human Characters Became More Fully Realized As Gary Larson’s Skill Evolved
First Published: April 30, 1980
This captionless Far Side cartoon leaves readers with more questions than answers, in a good way, as it depicts a wide-eyed woman hunched in her bathtub as a tentacled monster emerges from beneath the surface to helpfully scrub her back. In terms of humor, it is certainly a classic surreal Far Side gag.
At the same time, it is another example of how basic Gary Larson’s drawings of humans tended to be in the early days of his career. The woman here is little more than an outline, though the tentacles portray a degree of depth and shading the prefigures the more immersive illustrations The Far Side would become known for.
4
This Bizarre Far Side Comic Shows Gary Larson Starting To Put The Pieces Together Artistically
First Published: May 24, 1980
Speaking of early surreal Far Side cartoons, this one is vastly underappreciated by even many hardcore fans of Gary Larson’s work. This panel doesn’t necessarily need a caption to work, but some added context might have elevated the humor of what is implied to be a warped Far Side tale of granted-wishes-gone-awry.
Meaning, the cartoon depicts a creature with a human head and arm, an elephant leg, and the body of a polka-dotted chicken carrying an “Out of Order” sign toward a wishing well, implying that either his wishes were granted in an unexpectedly absurd way, or he wished for this, for whatever reason, and now wants to stop others from making the same mistake.
3
Gary Larson Went To Hell And Back To Develop The Far Side’s Artistic Style
First Published: May 27, 1980
The Far Side visited hell often, and comparing/contrasting this early use of the location to subsequent infernal Far Side comics is a great way to highlight how much Gary Larson’s humor developed through the first year of his career and beyond. Here, the demons are vaguely defined sketches, rather than the more overtly human-looking characters they’d morph into in subsequent panels.
As Larson’s confidence grew, so did his artistic skills. The Far Side’s production schedule also had him working so consistently that it was no wonder his abilities as an illustrator developed quickly once his work was in publication. Readers responded positively to the crude early version of The Far Side, but its visual growth definitely helped make the comic a success.
First Published: June 12, 1980
“It’s just like being the heroes of some football game,” an explorer exclaims, as he and his colleague crowd-surf as part of some kind of indigenous ritual, taking place in front of a large, monolithic statue featuring a wide-open mouth full of sharp fangs. It is a hilarious early example of a Far Side comic where explorers get more than they bargained for.
At least, that is, if readers accept the implication that they are unwittingly being fed into the mouth of the deity, which is actually waiting to devour them. There are less grim alternative interpretations of this joke, but given Gary Larson’s track record with dark humor, this seems like the most likely explanation.
1
The Far Side’s Simple Humor Was Always Key To Its Success
First Published: June 14, 1980
This is The Far Side’s humor at its most simplistic, in a panel that depicts a trebuchet on the wall of a sandcastle flinging a rock at the head of the young boy who sculpted it. It is an innocuous joke, one that doesn’t hide deeper meaning or darker implications; it simply takes a recognizable scenario and adds a minor, silly twist.
Gary Larson’s humor would grow more ambitious and elaborate over time, but jokes like these remained a staple of The Far Side. The illustration here is served by its simplicity, showing why Larson continued to employ his sketchy style even as his work became more detailed, all of which contributed to The Far Side becoming an unforgettable cornerstone of American pop culture.
- Writer
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Gary Larson
- Colorist
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Gary Larson
