Telling a story without the benefit of words in a single panel is no easy task, but it is something that Gary Larson perfected over the course of his fan-favorite newspaper strip, The Far Side. Known for his brand of absurdist, dark humor, Larson’s series is frequently lauded for its minimalist approach, with many strips featuring few, or no words.
The world can be a frightening place, with all manner of catastrophes and disasters occurring – and it takes a special kind of cartoonist to see the humor in all that. What Larson manages to do with The Far Side is use his unique brand of surrealism to bring out the humor in otherwise tragic circumstances. Get ready for a ride, because these comics don’t pull punches.
10 “Tornado Painter”
The “Tornado Painter” panel is a great use of framing, both in its composition and its humor. A sneakily brilliant sight gag, Larson offers a strange commentary on the nature of impressionist art, depicting a painter being caught up in his subject, a violent tornado. Surrounded by all manner of objects animate and inanimate, including a stoic chicken, a bewildered cow and of course his easel and stool, the placement and posture of these flying things, distorted into Larson’s trademark cartoonish style, give the distinct nod to the actual painterly disciplines of early 20th century impressionism, particularly the humanesque anatomy of the cow.
9 “Goldfish Baseball”
In what would’ve likely been an easily avoidable situation, two goldfish appear to have signed their death warrants by attempting to play a game of baseball within the confines of their fish tank. The expression of bemused shock upon the batter goldfish’s face, juxtaposed with the easily perceivable dangers of hitting a ball against a breakable surface such as glass, grants a certain minimalist dark humor to the piece, which in turn compliments the minimalism Larson constructs the scene with. Drawing a comparison to rowdy children, who might accidently break their neighbor’s window during a friendly game, the stakes are much higher in this instance.
8 “Butterfly Hunters”
A roving band of lepidopterists, as butterfly collectors are known, appear on their way home in celebration, as the carapace of a once proud, and apparently gigantic, butterfly lies strapped to the hood of their car in a scene meant to recall the activities of hunters. Aside from the unexpectedly brusque behavior of the lepidopterists, there’s a certain tragedy to this majestic insect, what would have been a marvel to behold in the wild, being reduced to a simple trophy for such a group of undisciplined delinquents. A simple, if bleakly-colored parable on the nature of trophy hunting, albeit quite humorous in its accusatory glance towards the study of lepidoptery.
7 “Mailbox Eats Mailman”
The understated horror story of an unlucky mail carrier and a predatory mail receptacle is made clear in this strip, with an unassuming mailbox proving to be the demise of the innocent postman. How or why is never explained, but the relative autonomy of the mailbox, able to raise to its carrier signal flag by itself, seems to allude to the mailbox’s status as some kind of camouflaged carnivorous hunter, using misdirection to lure in its prey. This frequent trait among certain animal species, who use such methods to hunt – notably among octopuses and spiders – adds a slight touch of absurdist humor to an otherwise harrowing entry in the long-running cartoon.
6 “Lobster Dunk Tank”
Another panel in the “parade of cruelty” vein has two stony-faced chefs preparing to enact the customary boiling-to-death of a lobster with perhaps the most tortuous method possible: the use of a carnival dunk tank game. The lobster, not deserving whatever violence is about to be delivered upon it, can only gaze in terror at its legally-sanctioned tormenters, whose impassive attitudes only heightens the air of tension and the resulting gallows humor. The appearance of multiple balls beneath the tiny little chair, specifically made to seat the lobster, give the impression that this is a usual habit of the cooks, while also indicating they are not very good at hitting the target.
5 “Mammoth Tramples Basketball Players”
In a tour-de-force of minimalism, a departing mammoth leaves behind hoof prints, in which are the flattened bodies of a set of prehistoric basketball players, whom, in the middle of their game, were trampled. Perhaps it is the implication that the cavemen were all so involved in their sport that they did not notice the mammoth’s approach, but there’s a certain quality to the panel which invites a kind of dark meta-humor, which makes this cartoon even more effective. Perhaps the cavemen invent basketball only to be destroyed by the mammoth before it could catch on. Perhaps the mammoth simply did not notice cavemen, or possibly there was intention behind the stomping.
4 “The Toy Ship”
A marooned castaway on a tiny desert island believes that he sees his salvation, as a ship trawls ever closer to his isolated patch of dirt, only to be revealed at the end to simply be a toy ship. Aside from the obvious joke that indeed, the ship was no mirage, just not a suitable vessel for traversing the ocean, there’s the humorous concept of the sheer improbability of a toy ship somehow floating all the way from civilization to his island completely unguided, along with his supposed hope of rescue overriding his depth perception in surmising the relative size of the boat.
3 “Red Baron Got Snoopy”
The classic scene from Charles Schultz’s long-running Peanuts cartoon of Snoopy engaging in imagined air battles against the famed WW1 ace Manfred von Richthofen (otherwise known as the “Red Baron”) is given tragic result in this Larson panel as the lovable beagle atop his doghouse-turned fighter biplane is painted upon the pilot’s aircraft. There’s a certain smug air of confidence, if not a hint of thoughtlessness, exuding the Red Baron which turns this dark what-if into a certain amusing banality, as if the childlike wonder and innocent fun of imagining the intrepid hound locked in combat with his immortal foe could only really lead to this untimely death for the funny papers icon.
2 “Bowling Ball Stalker”
The Far Side’s ability to communicate punchlines without using words hinges on its absurd recontexualization of familiar images and situations. Here, a group of bowling pins are shown at a house party. Lurking outside is their greatest menace: a bowling ball. The panel invokes the classic dynamic of slasher movies, while relying on readers’ understanding of the relationship between bowling pin and ball to make the joke cohere into something not only intelligible, but also funny. At the same time, the image is ominous, because the bowling ball’s intentions, its reason for being there, can only be nefarious, once more highlighted by the familiar horror imagery the panel employs.
1 “Bugs Dancing Amidst Nuclear Holocaust”
In what might be the darkest Far Side strip, doomsday has come at last, and its survivors, Earth’s bugs, celebrate their emancipation from humanity, as well as their ascension to the dominant organisms on the planet. As the various insects hold hands and dance in a circle cheerfully, their jubilation is set against the backdrop of humanity’s demise. Though this silver lining appears to be all well and good for the insects, the loss of every human life on Earth precludes a happy outcome for the hypothetical war to end all wars. Here, like many of the darkest panels The Far Side, humor is in the simplicity of the image, but still piercing enough to communicate a message without words.
