The Far Side

Gary Larson's The Far Side is a single-panel comic strip that ran in newspapers from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995, when Larson retired from cartooning. The strip's surreal humor often springs from uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, and an anthropomorphic view of the world, where cows plot, scientists meet bizarre ends, and nature's creatures act all too human. Larson, who studied biology in college, frequently populated his panels with animals and natural phenomena, giving the comic a distinctive blend of wit and scientific curiosity. At its peak, The Far Side appeared in more than 1,900 daily newspapers, was translated into 17 languages, and spawned 23 compilation books, along with calendars and greeting cards. Reruns continued in many papers for years, and after a 25-year hiatus, Larson returned to drawing new strips in July 2020, now available on the comic's official website.

The strip earned Larson the National Cartoonist Society's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award in 1985 and 1988, as well as the Reuben Award in 1990 and 1994. In 2020, The Far Side won the Webby People's Voice Award for Humor. The Far Side remains a touchstone of American humor, its offbeat panels still shared and quoted decades after their original publication. [edit]