Gary Larson’s The Far Side launched in 1979, just a year after the release of Richard Donner’s iconic Superman movie. It’s therefore not surprising that Larson referenced the Man of Steel multiple times over his comic strip’s run, reimagining DC’s world-famous superhero in the surreal, sometimes goofy way Far Side fans love. But which of Larson’s Superman strips is the funniest? Screen Rant shared the best of The Far Side‘s Superman strips and asked readers to vote for their number 1.

Published February 3, 2024, Screen’s Rant’s 5 Best Far Side Comics Making Fun of Superman shared all Larson’s Superman comics and asked fans to vote for their favorite. With over 1300 respondents, it was a hard-fought battle with all of Larson’s strips getting some major love. However, there was a clear winner among the pack.

While Screen Rant readers enjoyed Superman as a grouchy husband and forgetful elder, the winner was actually the strip that deviated least from the Man of Steel’s public image, showing Clark Kent checking for spare change in a phone booth while changing into his costume.

Screen Rant Fans Chose Far Side’s Best Superman Comic

The Far Side Recreates an Iconic Superman Image

Only 6% of the vote ahead of its nearest competitor, Larson’s comic is one which it wouldn’t be surprising to see DC itself publish. The gag takes the iconic image of Superman changing in a phone booth, but imagines him taking a second to check for coins. It’s a perfectly Far Side gag, taking a fantastical moment and adding a relatable, everyday twist. The strip’s victory is interesting given that its competitors show Superman in a more negative light, circling a lighthouse like a moth and using his X-ray vision to cheat at cards.

The lowest-ranked comic shows Superman in his older years, unable to remember why exactly he’s been preparing to soar over the city, and still got plenty of votes from fans, with a closer spacing than in other Far Side fan votes so far. It’s likely that the strip got a bump from drawing on such an iconic Superman image, stoking the fires of nostalgia, and yet interestingly, Clark Kent changing in a phone booth was never meant to be part of the hero’s lore.

Superman Changing in a Phone Booth Is a Bizarre Pop Culture Story

The Iconic Moment Was Never Meant to Matter

It’s a famous image in Superman stories – Clark Kent senses incoming danger and darts into the nearest phone booth, quickly stripping off his suit to reveal the Superman costume underneath. But while this imagery is synonymous with the character today, it only became so thanks to a weird pop culture accident.

In the original DC comics, Superman doesn’t make any particular habit of changing in phone booths. While it happened a couple of times, it was in the context of Superman using a large number of different places to quickly switch persona, with no particular emphasis as a meaningful image. That changed with 1941’s The Mechanical Monsters, which happened to adapt one of the comic stories where Superman had used a phonebooth.

Once the image was up on the big screen, it became a pop culture reference point for the hero, with various references and parodies popping up in the movie’s wake. Eventually, enough people associated changing in a phone booth with Superman that the comics started using it as a recurring image, and future movies and TV shows followed suit. From 1993’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman to 2006’s Smallville, most Superman adaptations now include some reference to this iconic image that was never meant to be iconic.

Far Side Never Shied Away from Parodying Pop Culture

Gary Larson Had a Great Instinct for What Would Stand the Test of Time

It’s no surprise that Larson zeroed in on the phone booth idea when parodying Superman. Not only is it an incredibly popular image, but Larson had an impressive instinct for what details in pop culture would stand the test of time. While The Far Side‘s bread and butter is making fun of nature and reckless scientists, Larson created plenty of comics taking aim at iconic movies and TV, with references to The Lone Ranger, The Godfather, Star Trek, The Sound of Music, Lassie and more.

In each case, Larson zeroes in on an image or moment that audiences would never forget, from Psycho‘s shower scene to The Brady Bunch‘s iconic opening. While there are a few pop culture references that aren’t immediately familiar to the modern reader in Larson’s comic, he uniformly identified moments that would be just as resonant 45 years later. Another example of this are Larson’s many comics parodying classic Disney movies, putting a dark twist on characters including Dumbo, the Seven Dwarves, and Pinocchio.

Larson had a similar eagle eye for celebrities, taking aim at icons like Elvis, Stephen King and Madonna. Many of The Far Side‘s contemporaries like Peanuts feel like a time capsule in the pop culture and real people they reference, but The Far Side‘s careful approach to its references leave it genuinely hilarious even today.

With a new Superman movie coming from James Gunn in 2025, the Man of Steel is as relevant today as he’s ever been. The Far Side‘s Gary Larson made the right bet on the character remaining relevant decades later, allowing a whole new generation of fans to enjoy these comics today.