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Gary Larson's 10 Best The Far Side Comics, Ranked

Greatness is subjective, but these 10 are correct

Gary Larson's 10 Best The Far Side Comics, Ranked
What, exactly, is the measure of greatness when it comes to and Peanuts and The Far Side?

The Far Side Frog Plane Image: Gary Larson

The Far Side didn’t do deep and life-affirming stuff. Nor was Larson's comic beautiful in any conventional sense, as his characters were often grotesque to enhance the comedy. It's tempting to associate greatness with the comic strips that made the biggest impact, like the 10 Find Peter

The Far Side Peter Pan Image: Gary Larson

One of the highlights of Larson’s work was just how much he trusted his audience. Sometimes the punchlines were broad and dumb — in the best way — and sometimes his comics were like a comedic scavenger hunt. This is a great example of a joke that only pays off when you figure out which cubicle you’re supposed to look in.

9 A deconstructionist masterpiece

The Far Side sketchy Image: Gary Larson

Gary Larson didn’t do it often, but sometimes he used The Far Side to break the fourth wall with the reader — he would use a comic panel to deconstruct the art of comic strips. For example, this comic is about “sketchy” looking characters, so it features characters that are especially crudely drawn. It's really clever, but you’ve got to pay fairly close attention to get it.

8 And the complete opposite kind of masterpiece

The Far Side bowling pins Image: Gary Larson

But a Far Side didn’t require subtlety to be great. For this one, it’s funny because of the overkill. It’s obvious the man was killed with a bowling pin, and the joke is that it's still a mystery for these idiot cops, despite the fact they are surrounded by hundreds of bowling pins.

7 A clever twist

The Far Side Pinocchio Image: Gary Larson

Oftentimes, The Far Side would find a way to put a brand new spin on something very old. The Peter Pan example up top is a good one, but I’d argue this one about Pinocchio is even funnier. Pinocchio's whole thing is that he wants to be a real boy, so what’s a situation where he suddenly wouldn’t want that?

6 More deconstruction

The Far Side appliances Image: Gary Larson

Here’s another example of Larson subverting the medium, even if it’s not exactly his own medium. Along with their daily comic strips, newspapers often featured activity panels, like “spot the differences” and “hidden images.” In this Far Side, Larson is mocking hidden images comics by showing a bunch of badly hidden appliances in a forest. The punchline is the best part, as it says there are 127 appliances here, which there obviously aren’t.

5 Find the punchline

The Far Side fly woman Image: Gary Larson

This is another great example of a scavenger hunt for the punchline. The first thing your eye sees is the giant fly woman, then you go to the woman the artist is painting. Finally, you see what’s on the artist’s glasses.

4 Reconstruct the punchline

The Far Side Window Washer Image: Gary Larson

This comic takes the “find the punchline” thing even further. Here, it takes a few seconds before you realize that the joke is that there was a window washer, before the woman opened the window.

3 Snakes

The Far Side snakes Image: Gary Larson

While Larson never really went deep on the meaning of existence, he sometimes tackled the silliness of it all in really funny ways. The idea that God made snakes the same way a kid does with Play-Doh is such a clever idea that sort of trivializes all of existence.

2 Love triangle

The Far Side island Image: Gary Larson

Like the bowling pin comic, this joke's cleverness comes from the characters' lack of cleverness.

1 Smoking dinosaurs

The Far Side Dinosaurs Smoking Image: Gary Larson

This is a really famous Far Side, but not because it changed dinosaur history. It’s beloved because it shows off a lot of wonderful Larson traits all in one place. Larson loved comics with dinosaurs. He also loved to make really dark, morbid jokes. On its surface, the image of dinosaurs smoking cigarettes is hilariously lowbrow, but the idea that they went extinct from smoking is incredibly clever. That’s why this is Larson’s best-ever Far Side, because it’s a whole lot of Larson all in one little rectangle.

Polygon Verified Source

Reported by Brian VanHooker · Syndicated via official news feed

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