Part of what he did The Far Side The success was that it did more than just make readers laugh: Gary Larson's comics sometimes surprised readers and even shocked them, playing with a variety of feelings over the years to get people's reactions. According to Larson, this is what The Far Side it was all about.
As the author explained in The complete other sidehe always intended his work to have an immediate reaction. While the most recognizable immediate reaction is laughter, Larson also cited what he called “What?” and “My God!”reflexes as targets for Far Side panels to get right.
Just as the reaction to a truly funny joke is spontaneous, Gary Larson wanted fan responses to even his strangest or most controversial Far Side cartoons, to be an immediate bodily sensation.
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The Other Side Quickly Established How Dark Gary Larson Was Willing to Go
First published: January 11, 1980
One of the first ten Far Side cartoons, this panel has the distinction of being the first murder in the strip's history, while a man's pet parrot reports him for killing his wife, right in front of the police. The first year of The Far Side was all about setting precedents, and this panel established that Gary Larson was willing to go to absolutely dark places with his humor.
The important thing to note about a “My God!“response to a Far Side The comical thing is that it can happen along with laughter, often despite the person's good taste. In either case, whether the reader laughs at this grim scenario in spite of himself or is simply shocked and dismayed, it certainly elicits the desired reaction from Larson.
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Gary Larson experiments with visceral imagery in this surrealist panel from the opposite side
First published: February 22, 1980
Sometimes, The Far Side “What?” and “My God!“reactions can overlap. That's certainly the case with this cartoon, which features a trio of men coded as bums sitting near a dumpster; one is smoking a cigar, which he is humorously criticized about by two guys who are literally melting, because they are drinking some unspecified substance out of scientific-looking glasses.
The joke of it Far Side comics rely on irony, but that's an intellectual response that will follow for readers after the instant reaction to the panel images subsides. Readers will be unsettled or even disgusted by the drawing of the two men, which means it was a solid creative choice by Gary Larson.
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The Other Side flips the script on a classic fairy tale – which has become a Gary Larson staple
First published: March 20, 1980
This cartoon is an early example of Gary Larson's talent for inverting, subverting and distorting fairy tales and children's songs in general. The Far Side. This would become a staple of the comic, and this panel illustrates why, as a real estate agent shows prospective buyers the witch from Hansel and Gretel's house, explaining that “some young punks vandalized the place and cooked the owner.”
Here, the “My God!“reaction can be considered a short form of”My God, when you talk like that!“, as the recontextualization of the classic survival story as a shocking crime is sure to leave many readers surprised, at least for a moment.
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The other side was not afraid to portray taboos to provoke a response
First published: April 16, 1980
The Far Side can be called “confrontational” in the sense that it confronted social norms and used social taboos as fodder for comedy. This is a much more ubiquitous trait in modern humor, but in the early 1980s – especially in local daily newspapers – jokes about murder and, even more shockingly, suicide, definitely led to so many “My God!“reactions like laughs, if not more.
Here, a woman is heartbroken after her plant takes its own lifeas she sobs, “I was talking to him yesterday.” Whether Gary Larson manages to shed light on one of life's darkest topics is up to individual readers to decide, but what is undeniable is that the cartoon provokes a reaction, even if it is outrage.
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Something as simple as a beautiful sunny day can be dangerous for the characters on the other side.
First published: May 15, 1980
That Far Side cartoon omits a caption, meaning some readers may not “get” the joke right away, leading to a “What?“reaction instead of”My God!“response this joke deserves. In the panel, a woman opens the windows of her high-rise apartment to get some fresh air – and knocks a window washer off his scaffolding, causing him to fall to his death.
Death was a constant presence The Far Sideand this cartoon is a reminder of how quickly that can happen for any character. This is also representative of Gary Larson's “aftermath” technique – that is, telling a joke moments after something shocking or out of the ordinary has happened.
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The Far Side reminds readers to always check where they stick their toes — even their own shoes
First published: June 3, 1980
One of The Far Side The biggest trick was to present a recognizable setting from an unfamiliar or alien perspective. Sometimes Gary Larson used real aliens to achieve this. Just as often, he used animals, insects, and even objects as POV characters, to emphasize how strange humans and the world around them are.
Here, a scorpion is freaking out, because the shoe he slept in was abruptly invaded by “this horrible thing with five heads“- that is, the foot to which the shoe belongs. Darkly, the barefoot man is shown lying face down in the background, suggesting that the scorpion's sting was fatal, or at least severe enough to render the human unconscious.
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One of the rare humans on the other side who appreciated nature – and paid for it
First published: July 22, 1980
In this wordless dark Far Side comic, a climber arrives at a precipice and, overwhelmed by the breadth of nature, feels compelled to scream”hellooooooooo” – only to be immediately knocked off the cliff by a rockslide, caused by his screams.
As mentioned, death often came out of nowhere for unfortunate reasons. Far Side characters, but in this case, that's not exactly true, as Gary Larson sketches the rocks that will bring down the climber in the upper right corner of the comic's split panel. In any case, the character's abrupt death will lead to his share of “My God!“reactions, especially with your”hellooooo“captaining in a series of”there” in the lower left corner of the panel.
5
The animals and humans on the other side had unconventional relationships
First published: August 12, 1980
In this panel, a human woman covered in severe-looking welts and a porcupine break up over drinks, with one of them – presumably the woman, although it remains open to interpretation – saying that they “I don't feel like the relationship is working” with the obvious reasons why not being politely stated.
Once again, Gary Larson tackles a taboo with this Far Side cartoon, which will collect “My God!“reactions from its very premise, and even more so with the illustration of the woman covered in porcupine bites. As far as The Far Side was “edgy”, this cartoon helped shape that reputation and remains one that is likely to elicit a strong response from readers.
4
The bears on the other side have eaten well over the years
First published: September 3, 1980
Not only were bears common Far Side seen, but humans being eaten by bears was apparently a favorite recurring joke of Gary Larson. In fact, bears may have the highest body count in Far Side history, beyond nature itself, and cruel, random twists of fate that routinely befall Larson's characters.
Here, a man cowers in a tree while a mother bear shakes him like a piece of fruit, while her cubs jump for joyas she asks”who wants dark meat and who wants white meat?” The mood of the panel and its “My God!“The reaction comes from the same place in this case, as both stem from the looks of joy on the bears' faces, in contrast to the terror of their human prey.
3
The executions were a casual affair on the other side
First published: October 9, 1980
The Far Side it often depicted the moment after a character's shocking death – but it also regularly found comedy in the moments before. In this case, the shock is literal, as a man prepares to be executed in the electric chair, although both the cartoon's horror and humor derive from the same source. In other words, the expectation for this to happen, which is postponed, as prison officers press the button a few times, without success.
“Contact points must be dirty“, says one of them, without bothering about the delay, while the condemned man sweatshis life spanned a few more moments of existential dread, the sight of which will make many sympathetic readers say “My God!“
2
Without a doubt, this is one of the darkest Far Side comics Gary Larson has ever published
First published: November 10, 1980
In this panel, two pairs of legs are pictured raised into the air, with the chairs facing up, while a man sits on the other side of the table holding a smoking shotgunlooking at him with dismay. “That settles it, Carl,” his wife warns him, after he has surprised his guests, “From now on you will only drink decaf coffee.”
Admittedly, the shocking quality of this joke is deeply rooted in the effectiveness of its humor, but even with that in mind, this is certainly one of Gary Larson's darkest jokes, as a dinner party faux pas is taken to the homicidal extreme, from a way that few others Far Side fully combined comics over the years.
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The other side often balanced precariously on the edge of the offensive
First published: December 27, 1980
To be fair, The Far Side it offended many people during its run, but in retrospect this seems to have mostly been a product of Gary Larson's humor clashing with the readers' sensibilities. That is, even though The Far Side it was out to shock readers, it was never intended to openly offend – that would have caused it to be removed from the newspapers.
That said, he managed to follow that line, in terms of the “edgy” humor that his editors were willing to publish, by juxtaposing his jokes on taboo topics with absurdity and, often, outright silliness. This is the case with this panel, in which a woman calls 911 to report that a kangaroo is on the ledge of her high-rise building, and he “it really looks like he's going to jump.” Once again, this Far Side It might turn readers off by making jokes about such a serious subject, but it was a calculated risk to get their attention and, more importantly, get a reaction.