Many readers were surprised when popular cartoonist Gary Larson retired, ending the fifteen-year run of his syndicated comic strip The Far Side – but in truth, the artist had been clear for much of the strip’s run as to why and how he would call it quits when the time came. As far back as the mid-80s, Larson was already warning that he would one day “pull the plug.”

In a 1985 interview with People Magazine, Larson spoke about the increasing popularity of The Far Side, and the ups and downs that came with it. The strip’s creator was not at ease with becoming a household name himself, even as he enjoyed the financial security brought by his work’s proliferation in newspapers across the U.S.

A closer examination of Larson’s comments – to People, and in other interviews – about Far Side’s lifespan make it clear that the finite nature of his career was always on his mind, and that the decision to end the strip didn’t come lightly.

Far Side’s Ending Seemed Abrupt – But Gary Larson Warned It Was Inevitable

The Final Comic: January 1, 1995

The Far Side ended on a familiar note, referencing an iconic film. In a riff on The Wizard of Oz’s ending, the world of Gary Larson’s comic was revealed to have all been an elaborate dream. He woke surrounded by his family – and pet snake – and explained that all the characters in his bizarre fantasy looked like the people gathered around his bed, before exclaiming: “There’s no place like home!” It was an amusing coda to the over four-thousand cartoons Larson produced, but most casual readers were left surprised, and likely disappointed, that the strip was being discontinued.

In part, Gary Larson was adhering to the timeless creative adage of, “always leave them wanting more” by unceremoniously ending The Far Side. In truth, however, there was a much more practical reason for the artist’s retirement – one that he had made clear a full decade earlier, when speaking to People. As he put it in early 1985:

I’m going to pull the plug, when necessary, to keep my sanity.

Note that Larson said “when,” rather than “if.” Subtly, The Far Side’s creator made it clear that stepping away from his work in order to preserve his well-being would be an inevitability, and that he would know when that moment had arrived.

Larson Started & Ended The Far Side At The Top Of His Game

The First Comic: December 31, 1979

Over the course of its fifteen years in newspapers, The Far Side remained remarkably consistent – even as the style of its art, and the tone and style of its humor, could vary wildly from day to day. Gary Larson’s sense of humor was largely fully-formed by the time the strip entered publication; certainly, it grew even sharper, even more precise, over the course of a decade and a half, but the qualities that made The Far Side successful are as evident in its first strip as its last.

Without a doubt Larson could’ve continued his strip in perpetuity, and it would have continued to be one of the most popular syndicated comics well into the new millennium. That said, by 1995, he had apparently reached a point-of-no-return, one that he recognized on the horizon long beforehand. Rather than artist exhaustion, Gary Larson had reached the limit of how much success he could handle. Having financially positioned himself to be able to end The Far Side, its creator made the right decision for himself, to retreat from popular view.

The Far Side’s Creator Didn’t Like The Attention Success Brought

Gary Larson Rejected Fame AND Infamy

As his strip grew more successful throughout the 1980s, Gary Larson was weary of becoming a popular figure himself; part of the strange wonder of The Far Side is realizing that its absurdist humor and bizarre aesthetic are its creator’s preferred method of communicating with his audience. In other words, Larson didn’t intentionally confuse readers so that he could swoop in and articulate the meanings of his jokes. In fact, he found looking for meaning in The Far Side to be a precarious endeavor to begin with. As he explained:

People try to look for deep meanings in my work. I want to say, ‘They’re just cartoons, folks. You laugh or you don’t.’ Gee, I sound shallow.

Larson once explained that, above all else, his work was intended to solicit a reaction. Aside from laughter, the artist also frequently targeted what he dubbed his readers’ “What-the?” and “Oh God!” reflexes. How a comic initially hit was of predominant importance to him, rather than hoping that fans would spend too long puzzling out the significance of any one particular strip. That said, Gary Larson’s ideas and beliefs were always just below the surface of The Far Side – he just preferred not to be interrogated about them.

Gary Larson’s discomfort with media attention is evident in almost all of his interviews, especially as The Far Side gained further and further attention. It is clear that, rather than growing more comfortable in his role as a popular creator over time, it eventually wore on Larson to the point where he had to step away. As an artist, he never courted fame – or, for those who found his work controversial, infamy – and as a result, when it became too much pressure on him, he simply retired.

Larson Never Let Far Side Become Something It Wasn’t Meant To Be

Always Just A Cartoon

Gary Larson is an inspirational creator for a number of reasons, up to and including his ultimate decision to end The Far Side for his own “sanity,” as he put it in 1985. Even at that point, he knew that he would have to stop publishing the strip before his career could become too much of a detriment to his mental health. To that end, Larson drew a definitive line when it came to the extent he was willing to profit off his creative work, limiting the amount of licensing agreements he permitted for his art.

All along, this was an indicator of his reticence to fully embrace The Far Side as a commercial product, in the way some of his peers did, such Jim Davis’ with Garfield. Gary Larson always had a resolute artistic sense of what The Far Side was, as well as what it could and couldn’t – or perhaps in his mind – shouldn’t be. As a result, he knew early on why he would need to cease producing his iconic work at a certain point, and he told readers this for years before the final Far Side strip ran in 1995.

Source: People, Gary Larson Interview, Feb 4 1985