About

The Far Side is a single-panel comic series written and illustrated by Gary Larson. The comic featured surreal and satirical situations populated by oddball characters and anthropomorphic animals. Debuting in 1980, The Far Side established a strong cult following until it effectively ended in 1995.

History

On December 31st, 1979, The San Francisco Chronicle published the first Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson in the television pages (shown below, left).^[1] The following day, the Chronicle published the second installment (shown below, right).

Two years later, Larson published the first The Far Side collection. Over the next 14 years, more than 15 collections would be published.

In 1987, the Smithsonian's Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. held a special exhibition for the comic.^[2]

On January 1st, 1995, Larson retired from the strip, publishing a final comic in the San Francisco Chronicle (shown below).

Other Media

Tales from the Far Side

On October 26th, 1994, CBS aired a 30-minute animated special based on the comic strip called Tales from the Far Side (shown below, left). In 1997, a sequel to the special aired (shown below, right).

Website

On December 17th, 2019, a new Far Side website launched, publishing daily comics. collections and art from Larson's sketchbooks.^[3] Larson also told the New York Times that some new Far Side comics may also appear on the site. He said, "I’m looking forward to slipping in some new things every so often."

Fandom

On February 20th, 2010, the subreddit ^[4] /r/TheFarSide launched, connecting fans of the comic. As of 2020, the subreddit has more than 12,000 readers.

On October 11th, 2018, a Facebook ^[5] group "The Far Side – and beyond" launched. Within two years, more than 36,000 people have joined the group.

Search Interest

External References