Gary Larson’s The Far Side and Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury may share the first names of their respective creators, but beyond that, they represent radically different approaches to the comic strip medium. A comparative analysis of Larson and Trudeau’s work offers fascinating insights into how each forged an essential legacy in the history of syndicated comic strips.

Larson’s work was absurdist and existentialist; each Far Side panel is a complete, self-contained world unto itself, able to be interpreted and appreciated independent of the rest. Doonesbury, meanwhile, is a realist portrayal of American life, one that has featured largely the same cast of characters for more than half a century.

Over the years, readers have witnessed Doonesbury’s characters grow up, adapting and changing along the way. They have lived and died, gotten married and divorced, had children and grandchildren, and all along the way, faced the tumult of American life as proxies for the audience.

Doonesbury Has Been Telling An Ongoing Narrative For Over Fifty Years

A Sprawling Serial Tale

Doonesbury began inauspiciously enough, but soon established itself as a popular and critically lauded newspaper comic strip, known for its socially relevant subject matter. Though it began as a straightforward account of the eponymous Michael Doonesbury’s life as a college undergraduate, Garry Trudeau’s strip quickly began to offer commentary on real-world politics and current affairs. More crucially, Doonesbury continued to expand its cast of recurring characters – many of whom would continue to appear for decades, living increasingly complicated and dramatic lives, chronicled in extensive detail by Trudeau and his creative collaborators.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Doonesbury is the fact that, since the 1980s, the strip has occurred largely in real time – meaning its earliest characters, such as Mike Doonesbury, B.D., and Zonker Harris – have aged roughly fifty years since they were first introduced. More than just getting older, however, the strip’s characters have evolved through the decades. Mike Doonesbury, for example, charted a path familiar in American politics, beginning as a Democrat-supporting liberal in the 1970s, and over time becoming more conservative, eventually joining the Republican party.

Doonesbury readers have watched Mike get married, divorced, and remarried; they have followed along as he changed careers and navigated his changing worldview – and he is just one of dozens of regular characters Garry Trudeau’s series has to offer. While not the only syndicated comic strip to feature ongoing storylines, Doonesbury is one of the most prominent examples. Throughout the years, it has proven to be the most rewarding aspect of the comic – and has allowed the strip to do things that less ambitious uses of the medium have stopped short of.

The Far Side Had Many Recurring Gags, But No Overarching Plot

Every Panel Was Self-Contained

Though its run in syndicated was relatively short, by comparison to Doonesbury – or other giants of the medium, such as Charles Schulz’ Peanuts and Jim Davis’ Garfield – Gary Larson’s The Far Side is among the most innovative comic strips of the 20th century. In his work, Larson avoided the use of recurring characters, and never indulged in ongoing storylines. Over fifteen years, thousands of Far Side installments were published; every single one of these exists in isolation, and can be enjoyed by the reader independent of the strip’s history.

As an artist, with every single Far Side strip, Gary Larson’s primary goal was to provoke a reaction from his readers. To do this, he often took things that were familiar to the audience and warped them to fit his idiosyncratic perspective. Though Larson’s work was, in a way, a catalog of his obsessions and interests, it was ultimately a reflection of an eclectic individual, with what materialized on the page varying wildly from day-to-day. While Larson’s work certainly contained social commentary, it was almost always delivered under a veil of dark humor, or outright silliness.

Gary Larson’s work eschewed prolonged reflection on any given idea, in favor of chasing the immediate reaction of the reader. He largely rejected the pursuit of deeper meaning in his cartoons – an artistic stance placing The Far Side in diametric opposition to Garry Trudeau’s work in Doonesbury. In a way, Trudeau’s realism and Larson’s surrealism represent two extreme poles of the newspaper comic, in terms of how each pushed the limits of the medium in very different directions, for very different reasons.

Doonesbury And The Far Side Are Both Great – For Very Different Reasons

Pushing The Boundaries Of The Medium

As Doonesbury has progressed, it has introduced subsequent generations of characters, who have continued to allow for fresh perspectives and contemporary ideas to enter the story. This is essential to any long-form narrative; Doonesbury makes for a particularly worthwhile study, because of its unique place in the history of the medium. At times, it has been soap operatic, while at other times it has served almost as a political treatise. In its handling of its characters’ private lives, as well as how it confronts the country’s public affairs, Doonesbury is truly a sprawling American saga.

By contrast, The Far Side – by design – captured the ephemeral feeling of live music, reflecting the human experience in a series of impressionistic moments, rather than attempting to chart a coherent picture of 20th century American life. Both of these projects are incredibly valuable artistic ends, each actualized by Garry Trudeau and Gary Larson’s respective creative means, as each was an incredibly talented creator in their own right. As vastly different as they are, it is worth comparing Doonesbury and The Far Side, given how their differences emphasize what makes them both vital pieces of contemporary art.

The Far Side, in a way, offered its readers an escapist form of humor, while Doonesbury used a slice-of-life style, which found humor in even the more arduous facts of the modern human experience. Each proved to be deeply engaging, enduring works, which helped shape popular and political culture, as much as they responded to it. Though they have wildly different styles, and appeal to divergent tastes, Doonesbury and The Far Side share the distinction of being must-read monoliths in the history of syndicated newspaper comics.