Summary
Reflecting onThe Far Sideseveral years into his retirement,cartoonist Gary Larson admitted that he was at times struck by the melancholy thought of the many comics that were left never to be drawn by his retirement in 1995, after over a decade as the arch-iconoclast of newspaper sections across America.
In his introduction to the final section ofThe Complete Far Side Volume Two, Larson noted “the one thing that haunt[ed]” him in retirement: the idea of unproducedFar Sidecomics.
While revisiting his work as the collection was put together,Gary Larson also delved intohis old notebooks, pulling out several examples of jokes and drawings that never made it to publication. Though the artist largely remained satisfied with his decision to retire from cartooning, he acknowledged that some hint of regret about the comics he would never complete was, at times, unavoidable.
This Recurring Far Side Joke Is the Perfect Metaphor For Gary Larson’s Humor
Though it didn’t appear with the frequency of the comic’s infamous dogs, ducks, cats, & chickens, one repeat gag perfectly sums up The Far Side.
Gary Larson Admitted That The Thought Of Unfinished Far Side Comics Made Him Sad
The Tragedy Of The “Undrawn”
In retirement, Larson pursued his other creative passions, including jazz guitar, but the fifteen years drawing dailyFar Sidecomics invariably left a deep, nostalgic imprint on him
When Gary Larson announced thatThe Far Sidewould cease publication at the beginning of 1995, it took many long-time fans by surprise – though actually, the artist had been warning readersthat he would one day reach his limit for over a decade at that point. With the publication of the two-volumeThe Complete Far Sidecollection in 2003, Larson had the opportunity to offer a retrospective on the entirety of his career, as well as its aftermath. According to the author, he was at times struck by the impact of his departure from cartooning. As he put it:
This is just a way of divulging the one thing that haunts me now. Not every day, and sometimes, not for weeks, but sooner or later it creeps into my brain, stays awhile, and leaves a lingering sadness after it’s gone. It is this: What else didn’t I draw? What other ideas and characters are doomed to remain everlastingly in my inkwell, never to haveThe Far Sidemarquee hoisted over their heads, left forever to wander in The Land of the Undrawn?
Although Gary Larson was emphatic that his career as a full-time comic writer and illustrator had to come to an end,his comments about the comics he never got to draw, and the sad feelings associated with it, offer a great insight into his artistic perspective.In retirement,Larson pursued his other creative passions, including jazz guitar, but the fifteen years drawing dailyFar Sidecomics invariably left a deep, nostalgic imprint on him, as would be expected with any artist working on a long-term project – or anyone who devoted as much time and energy to their career as he did.
The Far Side Complete Collection
Fans of the far side can’t pass up this master collection of Gary Larson’s finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
Gary Larson’s Unproduced Far Side Ideas Will Make Readers Yearn For More
What Could Have Been
Along with several more examples the artist shared, the never-completedFar Sideideas shared by Gary Larson will certainly have fans of his work sharing his sadness.
To emphasize his point about the sadness he associated with theFar Sidecomics languishing in “the Land of the Undrawn,” Gary Larson offered readers further insight into his creative process, by describing several ideas from his old notebooks that never became completed panels.The artist even admitted that one of his own jokes, which never made it to publication, make him chuckle when he re-encountered itfor the first time in many years. Larson wrote:
There’s a little cartoon – a doodle, really – that I came across in my sketchbook…and despite the fact that I believe there’s a rule somewhere that you’re not supposed to laugh at your own work, this one caught me off guard. I confess: I laughed.
What I was looking at was a tavern scene where the customers are all praying mantises. One mantis dressed in a rumpled coat tie is sitting by himself at the bar, clutching a stiff drink. He has no head. And with a voice that emanates from somewhere down below his empty collar, he angrily blurts out just one word to the mantis bartender: “Women!”
Further, Larson’s dissection of the unproduced cartoon offers a unique insight intothe behind-the-scenes process ofThe Far Side. Even he confessed to not being entirely sure why he never finished the “mantis bar” panel, stating:
It’s a cartoon that never got further than my sketchbook, and I’m not sure why. I admit, you would have to know something about the sex lives of mantises to recognize this thin slice of natural history buried in among all the other anthropomorphic silliness, but I doubt that would have stayed my hand.
By his own account, Gary Larson’s notebooks were a mix of sketches, notes-to-self, and even short vignettes, many of whichhe “adapted” intoFar Sidecartoons. In all, learning more about the early stages of Larson’s creative process provides readers with greater context for those panels that did reach publication.
“The Worst Cartoon I Ever Drew”: Gary Larson Hates This Far Side Comic So Much, He Can’t Read It Without Cringing
Gary Larson considers this strip The Far Side’s worst comic, saying that it still makes him cringe to read. But is it really that bad?
Survival Of The Fittest Joke
For Gary Larson, the ping of sadness at the thought of unrealizedFar Sideideas was a distant, troublesome echo of the feeling of satisfaction that came with finishing a cartoon.
Among the things that stand out the most about Gary Larson’s review of unproducedFar Sidejokes is how fully-realized they are. Though the artist certainly cherry-picked the funniest – and likely, the most coherent – ideas from his notebooks to share inThe Complete Far Side Volume Two, it is still notable how amusing the ideas are at the conceptual level. Take his “invertebrate nightclub” idea, for example:
On another page, I found my half-doodled, half-described idea of a nightclub filled with assorted invertebrates. The dance floor is packed with creatures, all having a good time (I like the imagery already, complete with disco ball), but at a table in the foreground sits a slug couple, dressed to the nines, but – as always – compelled to wait for a slow song.
As this makes clear, the idea wasn’t rejected on merit – rather, it was lost in the shuffle of producing a daily comic.
That is to say, other ideas took precedent and found their way to fruition, while the “invertebrate nightclub” was eventually forgotten, though only because of the rapid rate at whichGary Larson generated ideas forThe Far Side. Coupled with the artist’s self-professed tendency to get distracted, even excellent ideas could sometimes fall by the wayside. In essence, this is the key to Larson’s sadness about unproducedFar Sidecomics;it did not come from the fact that he could still have a career, but rather from the notion that he still had so many good ideas left in him.
For readers, of course, the disappointment of having afinite number ofFar Sidecomicsto return to is a product of wanting more of a good thing. For Gary Larson, the ping of sadness at the thought of unrealizedFar Sideideas was a distant, troublesome echo of the feeling of satisfaction that came with finishing a cartoon. It was the sense memory of a creator, who is no longer accessing that part of himself. In this way, it is a profound example of an artist’s emotional tether to their work, even years after that work has been set aside.
Gary Larson’s Unfinished Ideas Are Reminiscent Of Far Side Classics
Variations On A Theme
Even [Gary] Larson’s best ideas sometimes hit a snag, or were subsumed by other ideas.
Of the three examples of unfinishedFar Sidecomics shared by Gary Larson, the third is perhaps the funniest, and the one that could most seamlessly fit in withthe artist’s many memorable depictions of scientists. As Larson wrote:
And then I stumbled on my crude little sketch of the astrophysicists' convention. The scene is an auditorium, and everyone is seated as one of the guest speakers begins his presentation. Only there’s apparently been a mistake. The speaker is a farmer, in overalls and brim hat, and he is giving a talk on String Bean Theory.
The punchline here is absolutely classic Gary Larson, making it the most surprising of the three to have not been completed. Once again, however, this emphasizes the fact that even Larson’s best ideas sometimes hit a snag, or were subsumed by other ideas.
At the same time, it is worth considering the degree of repetition present inThe Far Side. Larson approached the same form and content in many different ways over the years;though the particular jokes cited here were never finished, readers will recognize each as variations onFar Sidecartoons that did appear in newspapersthroughout the strip’s run in publication – featuring, invariably, invertebrates,anthropomorphic animals, and mix-ups that could only happen in the world of Gary LarsonandThe Far Side.
Source:The Complete Far Side Volume Two
The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
