10 Funniest Far Side Comics That Just Turned 40

Gary Larson’s The Far Side burst onto the scene in 1980, bringing something entirely new to the world of newspaper comics. Rather than lovable recurring characters reeling off family-friendly gags, Larson’s comic offered readers single-image vignettes – one-panel windows into a world that’s often surreal and even morbid, where humans are just another animal in a dangerous and unpredictable world. Thankfully, readers loved it, leading to a 15-year publication run and a fanbase that’s as strong today as it ever was.

In this article, we’re taking a look back to April 1984, celebrating the best comics of the month as they turn 40 years old in April 2024. Larson’s unique eye is as funny as ever in these comics which have stood the test of time. Be sure to stick around to the end and vote in our reader poll for your favorite of The Far Side‘s April 1984 comics.

10

Pink Shadow

This April 23 Comic Puts an Unexpected Twist on Larson’s Love of the Old West

The Far Side has plenty of comics set in the Old West, but this one throws a curveball by focusing on the “beauty and unbridled fury” of the porcine Pink Shadow. Parodying majestic animal stories like Black Beauty and White Fang, it seems the heroic pig is back to free his compatriots from captivity. Larson’s love of nature is the core of The Far Side, but his surreal sense of humor also treats all animals as just a little bit silly – including humans.

In the story of ‘Pink Shadow,’ there’s a definite impression of a book Larson cites as a childhood inspiration, Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat. Morrell Gipson’s children’s book follows a giant bear who aggressively sits on various victims (a Three Little Pigs-style story where the titular villain is eventually defeated by a particularly durable ‘home.’) It’s easy to see how a mind influenced by Mr. Bear would think up the Pink Shadow decades later.

9

Contact Lenses

This April 5 Comic Showcases Far Side’s Sense of Menace

The Far Side‘s love of nature extends to its perspective on life and death situations, as Larson imagines a world where no animal is ever truly safe from harm. Indeed, Larson has attributed this attitude to growing up during the Cold War and especially the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it really seemed like the world could end any moment. Larson often explores this theme through planes – a setting where if the slightest thing goes wrong, it can have disastrous consequences (as also seen in his iconic ‘wings fall off’ comic, below.)

While Larson has a minimalist style, he often includes small details that enhance his jokes, and this comic is made far funnier by the addition of a passenger who has just started to notice that everything is not alright in the plane’s cockpit. This use of foreground and background details is characteristic of The Far Side, which – since it deals mostly with single images – often has to find smart ways to add extra information and context.

8

The Cook Goes Down with the Ship

This April 4 Comic Showcases Larson’s Skill at Telling a Story

In The Pre-History of The Far Side, Larson talks about his process for coming up with jokes, revealing that he sometimes writes out short stories to explore a premise or draws comics from different perspectives. This makes sense, as one of the things that’s so unique about The Far Side is its grasp of narrative – what’s funniest in a Far Side strip is often what’s implied to happen just before or after the moment readers actually get to see.

This comic is based around the goofy reversal of the idea that the captain goes down with the ship, but Larson also manages to tell a story – the two lifeboats filled with four people and the captain rowing away establish a narrative where the captain, not wanting to live up to his duties, has tricked the chef into taking his place. While The Far Side is a gag strip, it’s worth noting how – with some minimalist art and two sentences – Larson can so clearly set up this diabolical tale.

7

Bob’s Assorted Rodents

This April 20 Comic Has Remained Popular

With Garfield and Heathcliff on the market, Larson could have been forgiven for skipping his own take on a cartoon orange cat, but generations of fans have been happy he didn’t. This comic has been popular ever since its 1984 debut, and is among those most often shared by fans. However, one detail most of those fans miss is that the strip actually includes The Far Side‘s hidden recurring character, Al.

Throughout Larson’s comics, Al’s various businesses appear, always involved in some kind of calamity. It would be tempting to compare Larson’s use of Al to Looney Tunes‘ use of the Acme Corporation… if Larson didn’t also use his own Acme company in exactly the same way.

6

Eating in Bed

This April 30 Comic Brings Back an Early Far Side Idea

Far Side‘s dragons aren’t as famous as its cows, but they’ve been around since the second ever Far Side comic in January 1980. In fact, readers who want to imagine Larson’s comic as one big connected universe could even see the two mythological beasts as the same characters, now happily settled down (but with the same taste for knights.)

Larson thrives when he’s subverting situations with clear rules, and knight vs dragon is exactly that – just one step away from the cartoon mainstay of dog vs cat (a well which Larson has also been known to visit.)

5

“So! They’re Back”

This April 19 Comic Embraces Larson’s Surrealism

As mentioned earlier, one of the perspectives that can be found throughout Far Side is the idea of humans as just another type of animal. Here, that’s rendered incredibly literal, as a farmer discovers his crops are – yet again – infested by tiny people. While the joke is essentially just trading gophers for little men, the detail of the coat rack next to a typical animal hole is perfectly surreal. Of course the signs of a tiny human infestation would be distinctly human in nature, even if that ‘of course’ could only exist in the pages of The Far Side.

4

“Let’s See You Roll Over”

This April 6 Comic Combines Two of Larson’s Favorite Themes – Jerk Dogs and Weird Aliens

From Odie to Snoopy to Marmaduke, it’s a set-in-stone rule that newspaper comic dogs should be adorable, even if they are a little naive when compared to the humans around them. However, yet again Larson bucks the trend, often depicting The Far Side‘s dogs as straight-up jerks. Indeed, most of his most controversial comics – from the dark ‘Tethercat’ to a comic where a woman calls her dog after nailing shut the doggy door – are characterized by a distinct lack of sympathy for man’s best friend.

Larson’s alien dog strip takes this concept to the logical conclusion, as a household pet – now catching a ride off Earth with its people – makes the time to take some revenge by ordering its owner to perform a few of the humiliating tricks it’s been forced to master. In another small detail, Larson’s choice to make the alien dogs bipedal is a great touch that really drills home how badly humanity has misunderstood this relationship.

3

Butane Lighters

This April 16 Comic Showcases one of Larson’s Favorite Themes – First Contact

There are a lot of Far Side comics starring aliens, but also a surprising number exploring different takes on the concept of ‘first contact.’ Larson clearly gets a kick out of the idea that the first meeting between humanity and alien life would actually be underwhelming, though it’s notable this isn’t just cynicism – the misunderstandings usually come from very human behavior on both sides, such as the aliens banking too hard on their ‘advanced’ technology impressing humanity, or (in another comic) missing a stair on their grand UFO staircase and instantly ruining any sense of mystique.

2

“He’s Trying to Shoot Me”

This April 7 Comic Is One of Far Side’s All-Time Best

In The Pre-History of The Far Side, Larson laments that some fans have taken offense to comics which they believe contain animal cruelty (see the aformentioned ‘Tethercat’), arguing that it’s actually an issue he feels his comics are clearly against. Indeed, once you know that Larson is so committed to conservationist causes, it’s apparent how his comics poke fun at the logic of harming the natural world. Here, a deer can’t figure out why a hunter would possibly be trying to kill it, understandably trying to figure out if they have a personal connection. It’s a great joke presented perfectly, but also prods at the idea that “for fun” is a pretty ghoulish answer (especially from the deer’s perspective.)

1

Light Bulbs

This April 27 Comic Is Equally Goofy and Menacing – Larson’s Sweet Spot

Happy birthday to this genius Far Side comic, which embodies how much Larson loves to combine a goofy premise with an underlying sense of menace. The idea that a lighthouse works just like a lamp is a really fun cartoon gag, but the stakes are also clearly life and death. It’s also one of several Far Side comics that manages to tell a great joke with just two words, showcasing how Larson’s sparing approach so often leads to pitch-perfect results.

Those are our ten favorite The Far Side comics that just turned 40 in April 2024, but be sure to vote below for which you think is the funniest.