some of The front side Lesser known recurring elements deserve recognition alongside the strip’s ubiquitous cows, and its constant jokes centered around canines – Case in point, the regular appearances of Igor, the mad scientist’s assistant, who has featured in many hilarious panels over the yearsIn which he routinely stole the interest.
Frankenstein has been a common subject of Gary Larson’s pop culture humor, and Igor naturally shares many panels with both the infamous Doctor, and his monster. However, there are a surprising number of cartoons in which Igor goes solo, and some of them represent Larson’s funniest use of the character.
The front side Igor panels also offer a window into how ideas tended to stick in Gary Larson’s mind, causing him to return to them over and over, in order to find the perfect formulation of a joke, even if it took years.
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Igor’s first far side appearance finds him freelancing
First published: May 26, 1980
Although they are most commonly associated with one another – in pop culture and The front side – Dr. Frankenstein and Igor actually debuted separately in the strip. Frankenstein and his monster first appeared a little over a month before Igor appeared in the panel, in which he, somewhat surprisingly, was not working for his usual employer.
Or at least, it can be deduced that this is not Frankenstein from the fact that the unnamed frustrated scientist – Who sends Igor to the store for “two size D flashlight batteries” when their remote control dies – is not working on reanimating the dead, but rather on a giant city-destroying robot. In any case, it’s clear that Gary Larson considered Igor the prototypical mad scientist’s assistant, making it a no-brainer that he would be used to help make the punchline more accessible to readers.
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The first of many mix-ups and mishaps for the Far Side’s Igor
First published: January 14, 1983
In this panel, Gary Larson establishes a premise that he would revisit in multiple panels with Igor, in which he is depicted as perennially unhappy and set-up by his manic boss. People are shouting at Igor, limited after he brings the wrong-sized slide to Dr. Frankenstein, who is frantically working on his monster.
This characterization is the crux of the joke in this panel; while some For side Readers may think they’re missing something here, rather than being too subtle, the cartoon is almost too obvious. That is, the punchline relies a little too heavily on readers to find the dynamic between the characters already amusing. Nevertheless, the look on Igor’s face in this comic is enough to get at least a solid chuckle from many fans.
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A classic misunderstanding has Igor in trouble again
First published: November 18, 1983
Without a doubt, this is one of The front side Funniest Igor appearances, as well as one of Gary Larson’s most outrageous pieces of wordplay. It’s also a marvel of composition on the level of painting, which works flawlessly with the caption to deliver a laugh-out-loud punchline.
As Dr. Frankenstein stands with his hands on his hips, Complaining about how long he had to wait for Igor to “Bring back a simple little brain“, Igor appeared at the top of the stairs with a train. The humor of this panel has an almost slapstick quality to it, while the funniest part by far is the look on Igor’s face when he overhears the mad scientist’s grumbling and realizes that he completely misunderstood the assignment.
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It doesn’t take a lot of common sense to understand what makes the far side’s Igor strange
First published: September 19, 1985
Once more, the underlying premise of this For side Igor’s panel involves the character being sent out into the world to obtain a brain for his boss’s experiment. In this case, it seems as if his job is easier than ever, As he walks down a city street past multiple brain shops, including “cerebellum city,” “forgive me” “world of mind,“and even”Bucket of Brains.”
Of course, readers must ask whether the pleasantly goofy look on Igor’s face is a result of the abundance of brain-selling establishments that he has to choose from, or if it is a sign that he is oblivious to walking right past all the stores. Each option serves to similarly highlight the irreverent, outright goofy nature of The front side Incarnation of Igor.
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Sometimes Igor was too strange from the outside even for Doctor Frankenstein
First published: December 17, 1985
Another laugh For side Igor Wits, this one stands out for the way that it “lampshades” the weirdness of Gary Larson’s humor. In other words, this self-aware punchline calls attention to its own strangeness, As Dr. Frankenstein barks at Igor to stop sticking his wolfman doll in the monster’s face, he adds, “Boy, sometimes you really are weird.“
Hilariously, this aside from No Less Than a Mad Scientist has the feel of Gary Larson addressing himself—not just in a moment of personal reflection, but as if he’s stepped completely outside himself and, even for a brief moment, into the shoes of The average reader. Without a doubt, many members of Larson’s audience would have told him exactly what Frankenstein tells Igor here.
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Igor blows off some steam, as Gary Larson finds an innovative use for it
First published: January 8, 1987
In this case The front side Run, Gary Larson already got some solid laughs with the idea of Igor as the constantly put-on and put-down assistant; Here he finds a fresh new angle for the same joke, as Igor sits in a crowded bar and complains about how he is undervalued at work.
“My boss doesn’t respect me either“Igor gripes, and in the process, Gary Larson turns him into a proxy for any reader who might be dissatisfied with their job, or feel stuck in their career.Or find themselves at odds with their boss. By taking the character from the laboratory and placing him in a public setting, Larson is able to inject new life into the premise, and the result is incredibly funny.
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A wild departure from the Igor readers became familiar with
First published: November 7, 1987
In one of Gary Larson’s patented wild swings, this For side The panel does not have Igor proper, so to speak, but instead delivers a ridiculous extrapolation of the concept of the Igor character. It does this through describes “A camel named Igor“- the joke is that the camel has an inverted hump, or an anti-bump, in contrast to the human Igor’s traditional depiction as a hump on his backSomething that Larson routinely leans into with his iteration of the character.
Although more smile-inducing than laughter-provoking, this panel is a sharp example of Larson’s style of observational humor: first, observe something, in the case that Igor is commonly associated with a hump, and then find a way to overcome it, Here by taking the most recognizable humpback animals of the animal kingdom and imagining that their version of Igor would have a valley on his back, rather than a peak.
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Back to basics for this far side Igor appearance
First published: February 11, 1988
This For side Igor Cartoon goes back to the sound, but it does so in order to provide a high-caliber version of a familiar joke. Dr. Frankenstein once again writes Igor for costly mistakes in the laboratory. “First there’s that screw up with the wrong brain business“The scientist complains, then goes on to say, “And now you let your head go through the wash in your pants pocket“As he holds a tiny version of the monster’s head in the palm of his hand.
Composition, this is almost perfect For side funny. From the flash of lightning through the window at the top of the frame, to the hue of the panel—which evokes a classic black-and-white film—to the look on Igor’s face, everything about this cartoon adds up to a joke. Which is effective at every stage of its setup and execution.
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The front page features Igor’s origin story
First published: August 2, 1988
“A young Igor starts on his way to crime“ in this For side cartoon, How the slippery slope to helping a mad scientist reanimate the dead with pilfered body parts starts with an impressive Igor convinced to go”Grave Borrowing.” The panel hilariously depicts Igor’s “friend” standing over a grave as he excavates it, laughing and drinking.
While this is certainly funny, it also carries a strong note of sympathy for Igor. While this was implicit in many of his panels, it is more overt here; As the title makes clear, Igor is tempted to dig a grave, and readers who know that it will become more than just a hobby for him, but a career, are likely to empathize with the inadvertent start to his path in life.
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This far side flashback depicts Igor during his glory days
First published: April 29, 1993
Fittingly, Igor’s last For side Appearance finds him in an unfamiliar position – fitting in and having fun, rather than being cast out and castigated. “Back in his college days“, the caption explains, “Igor was known as the HBOC“; The acronym traditionally stood for “head boy on campus,” and here, it’s not-so-subtle doubles for that, as well as a reference to Igor’s body.
However, the strangest thing in the panel, once again, is Igor’s expression, and the look on the faces of a group of college girls eager to turn around; He is depicted holding a football as he holds court, with another male student walking nearby, looking on with envy. In fact, it’s a great way for Gary Larson to have left The front side Version of Igor, as fans were privy to one of the funniest and most unique appearances of the character in his latest cartoon.