A new comic from Gary Larson’s beloved The Far Side tackles a subject that would have been off-limits during the strip’s original run in newspapers across America. Known for its surreal outlook and morbid sense of humor – as well as an obsession with the animal kingdom – The Far Side has always been offbeat, but few would call it edgy, especially by the standards of today.
The Far Side‘s original run in newspapers lasted from 1979 to 1995, ending with Larson’s retirement. However, after a few years no longer working to a deadline, the writer/artist returned to creating comics in 2020, sharing new work sporadically on TheFarSide.com. The website is updated with new content as and when Larson has something to share, with the latest new comic going up December 7, and showing dung beetles shopping for Christmas.
A classic Far Side that projects human qualities onto animals, the strip also engages in some fun wordplay with Le Poopery – a dung store “for the discerning dung beetle.” Larson has revealed his new comics are a way to experiment with digital art, trying new things at his own pace. On the site, Larson writes:
The “New Stuff” that you’ll see here is the result of my journey into the world of digital art. Believe me, this has been a bit of a learning curve for me. I hail from a world of pen and ink, and suddenly I was feeling like I was sitting at the controls of a 747. (True, I don’t get out much.) But as overwhelmed as I was, there was still something familiar there – a sense of adventure. That had always been at the core of what I enjoyed most when I was drawing The Far Side, that sense of exploring, reaching for something, taking some risks, sometimes hitting a home run and sometimes coming up with “Cow tools.” (Let’s not get into that.)
However, new tools aren’t the only reason this comic couldn’t have been published in the comic’s original run, since it tackles a topic Larson has explained would have been rejected immediately.
The Far Side Was Banned from Depicting Dung Beetles
References to Outhouses and Scatological Humor Were Originally Forbidden
In The Pre-History of The Far Side, Larson dedicates a chapter to rejected cartoons, most of which depict animals or babies in some kind of peril – for example, a newborn having its umbilical cord cut, then flying off around the room like a balloon. However, he also notes that at least in the strip’s early days, any kind of toilet humor was forbidden – especially dung beetles. While Larson does share a dung beetle comic he drew in the book, it’s one he never even submitted to editors, as he knew it would never be allowed to run. Larson says:
I’ve spent the last ten years dying to do a cartoon about dung beetles (hasn’t everyone?) but I’ve always known their very name would present editorial problems – let alone what I’d have them doing.
Larson had to wait a long time to finally live this ‘dream,’ however he has more reason than most to love bugs. Due to having so many fans in the scientific community, Larson has had multiple types of insects named after him – including the louse species strigiphilus garylarsoni. Larson’s love of nature and science shines through in The Far Side, and he even accidentally provided the now-accepted name for the spikes on a stegosaurus’ tail, thanks to one iconic caveman strip.
However, it wasn’t just dung beetles Larson was banned from including in his comics – outhouses were also an incredibly sensitive topic. Larson notes that “in the first years of drawing The Far Side, in fact, I wasn’t even allowed to show an outhouse, regardless of how it was handled.” As the strip’s popularity grew, this restriction lessened, but it was still a major concern for editors – Larson reveals he drew a whole new version of the ‘Ice Age’ comic above, just to close the outhouse door by “a few more inches.”
Despite Content Restrictions, Far Side Still Managed to Be Controversial
Seen as Family-Friendly Today, Far Side Has Often Courted Outrage
While editors were incredibly reluctant to allow any kind of scatological humor, it didn’t keep The Far Side totally out of trouble. Larson has had many controversies over the years, and credits his editors with keeping his career alive by refusing risky subject matter. Most times when The Far Side received hate mail, it was as a result of depicting or suggesting violence towards children and animals. Indeed, the reaction to the ‘Tethercat’ comic above was so extreme, Larson believed it would end his career. There was also a major misunderstanding regarding a comic where a dog dreams of finally catching a car, where some irate readers perceived a sexual implication that was never actually intended.
However, there have been some far weirder controversies when it comes to The Far Side. The strip actually got in hot water with Human Rights organization Amnesty International, after a strip depicting a torture dungeon in a cartoonish light. The most famous furor came from a strip implying that researcher and activist Jane Goodall had gotten a little too close to the chimps she spent years studying, leading the Jane Goodall Institute to call out Larson, branding the strip “an atrocity.” The row only died down when the comic was brought to the attention of Goodall herself, who found it so amusing that she later struck up a friendship with Larson, eventually writing the introduction to The Far Side Gallery 5.
However, there’s one controversial comic that Larson stands by unreservedly – a strip in which two parents return home to find that their witch babysitter has eaten their children. Despite the hate mail newspapers received over the comic, Larson says in Pre-History of The Far Side that it remains “one of my personal favorites.”
Gary Larson Has a Definitive Response for Far Side’s Critics
However, Larson Credits His Editors for Saving His Career
While Larson isn’t particularly defensive about outraged responses to his work or editorial refusals, he does offer a final answer to critics in The Pre-History of The Far Side in the form of a cartoon showing him pulling a face at the reader, with the legend, “my response to all those who took time to register their complaints.”
From a modern perspective, it’s hard to believe that Larson spent over a decade unable to get a dung beetle comic published, especially given his obvious (albeit inexplicable) enthusiasm for doing so. Today, The Far Side is considered family fare, and Larson’s humorous instincts beyond doubt. Putting a suitably gross twist on the Christmas spirit, it’s obvious that the comic belongs along The Far Side‘s best, and is hopefully just the latest in Larson’s ever-growing body of work.
