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Far Side Collection #5
Valley of The Far Side
The fifth in the series of best-selling collections of the syndicated cartoon that's sold more than two million books!
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
5 people are currently reading
303 people want to read
About the author
Gary Larson
138 books713 followersGary Larson was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. His parents were Vern, a car salesman, and Doris, a secretary. He attended Curtis High School before attending Washington State University and graduated in 1972 with a degree in communications. In 1987, Larson married Toni Carmichael, an archaeologist.
Larson credits his older brother Dan for his "paranoid" sense of humor. Dan would pull countless pranks on Gary, taking advantage of his phobia of monsters under the bed by, for example, waiting in the closet for the right moment to pounce out at Gary. Dan is also credited with giving Gary his love of science. They caught animals in Puget Sound and placed them in terrariums in the basement; even making a small desert ecosystem, which their parents apparently did not mind. His adept use of snakes in his cartoons stems from his long-standing interest in herpetology.
Since retiring from the Far Side, Larson has occasionally done some cartooning work, such as magazine illustrations and promotional artwork for Far Side merchandise.
In 1998, Larson published his first post-Far Side book, There's a Hair in My Dirt!: A Worm's Story, an illustrated story with the unmistakable Far Side mindset.
Larson credits his older brother Dan for his "paranoid" sense of humor. Dan would pull countless pranks on Gary, taking advantage of his phobia of monsters under the bed by, for example, waiting in the closet for the right moment to pounce out at Gary. Dan is also credited with giving Gary his love of science. They caught animals in Puget Sound and placed them in terrariums in the basement; even making a small desert ecosystem, which their parents apparently did not mind. His adept use of snakes in his cartoons stems from his long-standing interest in herpetology.
Since retiring from the Far Side, Larson has occasionally done some cartooning work, such as magazine illustrations and promotional artwork for Far Side merchandise.
In 1998, Larson published his first post-Far Side book, There's a Hair in My Dirt!: A Worm's Story, an illustrated story with the unmistakable Far Side mindset.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
August 17, 2013
Rereading...rereading...(snort)...rereading...(giggle)... Yup, these still hold up!
Part punny, part social commentary and part plain ol' silly for silly's sake, Gary Larson's one-off panels were a mainstay of the comics page in any U.S. newspaper back in the 1980s. For me, it was one of the few reasons worth turning to that section. Larson was actually saying something, at least part of the time, whereas most of the other strips had nothing to say and couldn't even wrangle up a laugh...unless you were the sort of person who spent your days pounding fenceposts into the ground with your forehead.
Like his entire body of work, not every one of the panels in Valley of the Far Side is a laugh riot. Occasionally you're left scratching your head, sometimes because you felt the breeze of something pass directly over it and sometimes because there's nothing much to get. I'm still not sure what, if any, deeper meaning makes King Kong landing on a poodle's owner funny, besides the fact that King Kong landed on a poodle's owner. If anyone knows the one I'm talking about and can explain it to me, please do! And then I will undoubtedly say... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27YiP...
Whereas some comic strips are nothing but sight gags with text to drive the point home to the truly stupid and some include illustrations with their heavy dose of text only because they're on the "funnies" page and feel obliged to have a drawing (I'm looking at you, Doonesbury!), usually Larson used the illustration and its caption symbiotically to generate the full laugh.
Larson always placed the caption at the bottom, which means the reader's eye is naturally drawn to the illustration first. I think on a few occasions it would've been better served to put the caption at the top: (See cartoon in link to this newspaper's site: http://news.nnyln.net/adirondack-ente...)
Nonetheless, this collection from 1985 is a good 'un and still quite worth a revisit! My favorite being...
Part punny, part social commentary and part plain ol' silly for silly's sake, Gary Larson's one-off panels were a mainstay of the comics page in any U.S. newspaper back in the 1980s. For me, it was one of the few reasons worth turning to that section. Larson was actually saying something, at least part of the time, whereas most of the other strips had nothing to say and couldn't even wrangle up a laugh...unless you were the sort of person who spent your days pounding fenceposts into the ground with your forehead.
Like his entire body of work, not every one of the panels in Valley of the Far Side is a laugh riot. Occasionally you're left scratching your head, sometimes because you felt the breeze of something pass directly over it and sometimes because there's nothing much to get. I'm still not sure what, if any, deeper meaning makes King Kong landing on a poodle's owner funny, besides the fact that King Kong landed on a poodle's owner. If anyone knows the one I'm talking about and can explain it to me, please do! And then I will undoubtedly say... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27YiP...
Whereas some comic strips are nothing but sight gags with text to drive the point home to the truly stupid and some include illustrations with their heavy dose of text only because they're on the "funnies" page and feel obliged to have a drawing (I'm looking at you, Doonesbury!), usually Larson used the illustration and its caption symbiotically to generate the full laugh.
Larson always placed the caption at the bottom, which means the reader's eye is naturally drawn to the illustration first. I think on a few occasions it would've been better served to put the caption at the top: (See cartoon in link to this newspaper's site: http://news.nnyln.net/adirondack-ente...)
Nonetheless, this collection from 1985 is a good 'un and still quite worth a revisit! My favorite being...
August 28, 2020
Gary Larson has a wonderfully twisted sense of humour. Humans behaving like animals, or as at least one character in this collection, as insects. Animals behaving like humans. A hen following a cake mix recipe sees that it requires an egg. It takes a special kind of humour to come up with things like that. Larson refers to all sorts of cultural phenomena, Frankenstein, Godzilla, etc. and occasionally I think I'm missing something because I'm not getting the reference, but all in all it's quite funny.
October 6, 2018
Just like the woman on the cover, Gary Larson had hit his stride by the time he created the cartoons for this fifth FAR SIDE book.
December 3, 2011
This book will have you laughing until your sides hurt.
July 27, 2021
3 1/2 stars
October 14, 2020
Published in 1985, this one is of the many works that has been written and collected from Larson's entertaining cartoons, this time from 1984 and 1985. And as is the case with other volumes of his cartoons, there are consistent themes and approaches that carried on throughout his entire body of work that are well worth appreciating and that are very entertaining to the reader who is familiar with his work and with his approach. Odd animals and people, cavemen and their ways, and explorations into odd and absurd situations abound in these pages and this is a work that, if one is fond of the Far Side (and what other reason would you be reading this book), you will find much to enjoy here. Although it was obviously not a gig that could last forever, as it is probably immensely hard to cultivate new and odd ideas for so many years as a cartoonist, these drawings show Larson in his prime and able to provoke thought and reflection as well as plenty of laughs. And if you are a fan of the Far Side and are not as familiar with the author's earlier work, this book is an easy way to make oneself familiar with that work
As might be expected, this book shows the author engaged in the sort of work that he became very familiar with, and already by the mid 1980's he was already a very well-known and well-beloved cartoonist for his quirky drawings in one box of ridiculous but entertaining scenarios. Puns, clowns, desert islands, cavemen exploring the invention of dessert, musical performers, all are fodder for the author's odd worldview. It would be nice to know where it is that the author got his ideas from. It is quite likely that aside from having an active imagination that Larson was apt at taking inspiration from reading--and it is clear that he read widely and imaginatively as well--as well as from social observation. With a fondness for awkward people, animals, and situations, the humor in this book is anything but subtle but comes with a warmth of interest in animals and people as beings with dreams and hopes and frustrations and lots of quirks that can be exploited for laughs, as they are here to such good effect. The odds are high if you are reading this book that you know and appreciate the effect of a good laugh from an absurd Far Side cartoon.
As might be expected, this book shows the author engaged in the sort of work that he became very familiar with, and already by the mid 1980's he was already a very well-known and well-beloved cartoonist for his quirky drawings in one box of ridiculous but entertaining scenarios. Puns, clowns, desert islands, cavemen exploring the invention of dessert, musical performers, all are fodder for the author's odd worldview. It would be nice to know where it is that the author got his ideas from. It is quite likely that aside from having an active imagination that Larson was apt at taking inspiration from reading--and it is clear that he read widely and imaginatively as well--as well as from social observation. With a fondness for awkward people, animals, and situations, the humor in this book is anything but subtle but comes with a warmth of interest in animals and people as beings with dreams and hopes and frustrations and lots of quirks that can be exploited for laughs, as they are here to such good effect. The odds are high if you are reading this book that you know and appreciate the effect of a good laugh from an absurd Far Side cartoon.
November 28, 2022
This is the fifth Far Side collection (originally published in the UK in 1987 - I read the 1991 Futura edition), featuring cartoons from 1980 through to 1984. It starts well, with the Holsteins at the Grand Canyon and my favourites include piano in the parachute, how birds see the world, “all the little black dots”, vultures improperly circling, cheetah wheelies, cool Birds of Prey, vampire accidents, cat fud and “He’s going to reach the water/Oh no, he’s not”. A brilliant collection and a fantastic read, I highly recommend this.
November 30, 2023
Lots of 'wild animal' humor in this one, which I especially enjoy. And, of course, I like when the focus is on a specific type of bird and not just a generalized one. (Larson often includes vultures or birds of prey, seldom owls or water birds.)
December 29, 2024
I bought this book almost thirty years ago, and it's been on my shelf ever since. I'm sure I've read the whole thing before, but I just finished it again, and apparently I've never entered it.
It's Gary Larson, and it's prime Far Side. What else needs to be said?
It's Gary Larson, and it's prime Far Side. What else needs to be said?
May 5, 2017
I never used to be a huge fan of the Far Side, but it does bring a smile to my face and the occasional chuckle, which is something I can always use.
February 8, 2018
A great collection of Far Side cartoons. Entertaining as always.
April 22, 2018
A 25 cent purchase at a library book sale and money well spent.
July 21, 2018
Some pretty good ones in here.
December 21, 2018
Funny Stuff!!
December 25, 2018
Very typically Gary Larson.
December 31, 2018
some, if not all , of these cartoons have been printed elsewhere
January 4, 2019
Looking for great humor and fun illustrations, grab this book or any of this author's far side adventure.
June 21, 2020
The Far Side never disappoints.
July 31, 2020
Classic panels. Still funny today!
October 11, 2020
The Far side is simply awesome.
December 31, 2020
A collection of comic panels. Enjoyed them.
February 8, 2021
What a great book love Gary Larson
September 6, 2021
The humor stands the test of time.
January 28, 2022
Came across this when cleaning up our bookshelves recently so revisited a childhood favourite. Always a good laugh but this compilation is not as good as many of Larson's others.
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May 19, 2022Ha. Ha. HA. HA. HA! :)
January 6, 2023
Gary Larson is still great in these re-reads. total absurdity. I love it.
November 29, 2024
This was fine. Short readable and with some of my favorites. But it was only fine. Maybe because it was too familiar. Maybe it felt more of the same. Not bad. Just not super compelling. 3.5 of 5
August 18, 2025
The laugh to panel ratio wasn't what I hoped for, but I was able to give 4 stars based on the quality of laughs that occurred.
January 13, 2026
Not my type of humor I guess
October 3, 2013
When I was working in any of the many bookstores where I was employed and I did not want (or have the time) to read my current book, I would grab one of these collections to read on my too short break. I slowly but surely worked my way through several series. These are great time killers and will usually improve your mood no matter how hectic the day. Laughter can be the best solution to dealing with the public.
Far Side was always interesting. Many would make you laugh out loud. Others would make you scratch your head in wonder. Naturally you would run to your friends or family to show them the newest one either to share the laugh or to hopefully get them to explain it so you can laugh at it.(Hopefully without having to admit that you needed the help in the first place.) It was a sad day That Gary Larson retired the series but on the other hand, I am glad that he stopped before the strip started to get old and stale. These one panel strips still stand up and will always be one of the comic strip classics.
Far Side was always interesting. Many would make you laugh out loud. Others would make you scratch your head in wonder. Naturally you would run to your friends or family to show them the newest one either to share the laugh or to hopefully get them to explain it so you can laugh at it.(Hopefully without having to admit that you needed the help in the first place.) It was a sad day That Gary Larson retired the series but on the other hand, I am glad that he stopped before the strip started to get old and stale. These one panel strips still stand up and will always be one of the comic strip classics.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews