“This Is Something I Swore I Would Never Reveal”: Gary Larson Accidentally Included a Risqué Secret in 1 Far Side Comic (& Was Terrified It Would Be Discovered)

Despite its surreal sense of humor and morbid fascination with death, Gary Larson’s The Far Side is squarely acknowledged as perfectly acceptable, family-friendly humor. However, it might not have achieved that reputation if fans had noticed one detail that Larson was terrified would one day be exposed. This very inappropriate (but totally accidental) detail was so worrying to the Far Side creator, he describes discovering it as “the worst day of my cartooning career.”

In The Complete Far Side: Volume One, Larson reveals that he’s been sitting on a secret his entire career. That secret is the cover to his collection In Search of The Far Side, with Larson revealing that he was terrified someone would notice a potentially career-ending mistake. Indeed, Larson notes only one fan ever brought the issue up, but that they were so young, he was able to feign ignorance and brush off their questions.

Larson recounts being pleased with the cover until the night of a dinner party, when some friends came around and checked out his advance copies of the collection. Larson recalls the horrible moment one guest looked up at him and remarked, “Isn’t this woman sort of, uh … phallic-looking?”

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Larson’s Friend Saw an Unintended Detail in His In Search of The Far Side Cover

On Being Told, Larson Recalls “I Curled Into a Fetal Position”

In The Complete Far Side: Volume One, Larson reveals that he often had a whistle-stop involvement in his collected anthologies, stating that “I literally could get a phone call on Monday from someone in the production department telling me she needed a book title and a cover on Friday.” In the case of In Search of The Far Side, Larson combined two recurring elements of his comic strips – a stereotypical jungle adventurer, and his frequent character-type the beehive-haired woman. Larson then sent off the image, with his publishers accepting it without complaint and moving forward with production. Larson notes that the effect wasn’t apparent before the art was colored, and that on having it pointed out, “I curled into a fetal position on the floor of my studio (my usual reaction to adversity) and stayed there until the urge to die had passed.”

The Far Side Did Get Hate Mail Over Similar Misunderstandings

However, Larson’s Most Feared Risqué Detail Was Never Uncovered

Larson notes that he had vowed never to talk about the error, only breaking that rule in The Complete Far Side – while also confirming he actually likes the cover and its intended gag. What’s particularly funny about this unfortunate incident is that Larson has gotten a lot more heat for far less. His 1988 comic depicting a dog finally catching a car was assumed by many to have sexual connotations. In The Pre-History of The Far Side, Larson shares some of the resulting hate mail, in which concerned readers opine that the comic “exceeded being ‘sick’ and became offensive” and “goes so far beyond the bounds of decency I’m at a loss for words to describe it.” Given this reaction, it’s clear why Larson thought In Search of The Far Side might end up genuinely impacting his career.

Thankfully, Larson does note that his editor Donna Martin removed a lot of his panic by simply responding “So?” when he confessed, suggesting that the furor if it was discovered wouldn’t be as intense as he’d assumed. However, Larson still made a point never to speak about the image until The Far Side‘s place in comic history was well and truly assured.