Gary Larson and The Far Side

Great Comics Artists Series

by Kerry D. Soper

Kerry D. Soper reminds us of The Far Side's groundbreaking qualities and cultural significance in Gary Larson and "The Far Side." In the 1980s, Gary Larson (b. 1950) shook up a staid comics page by introducing a set of aesthetic devices, comedic tones, and philosophical frames that challenged and delighted many readers, even while upsetting and confusing others. His irreverent, single panels served as an alternative reality to the tame comedy of the family-friendly newspaper comics page, as well as the pervasive, button-down consumerism and conformity of the Reagan era.In this first full study of Larson's art, Soper follows the arc of the cartoonist's life and career, describing the aesthetic and comedic qualities of his work, probing the business side of his success, and exploring how The Far Side brand as a whole--with its iconic characters and accompanying set of comedic and philosophical frames--connected with its core readers. In effect, Larson reinvented his medium by creatively working within, pushing against, and often breaking past institutional, aesthetic, comedic, and philosophical parameters.Due to the comic's great success, it opened the door for additional alternative voices in comics and other popular mediums. With its intentionally awkward, minimalistic lines and its morbid humor, The Far Side expanded Americans' comedic palette and inspired up-and-coming cartoonists, comedians, and filmmakers. Soper re-creates the cultural climate and media landscape in which The Far Side first appeared and thrived, then assesses how it impacted worldviews and shaped the comedic sensibilities of a generation of cartoonists, comedy writers, and everyday fans.

Genres: Nonfiction

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 3, 2018

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is somewhat disappointing, at least for readers already very familiar with the Far Side. The history/biography stuff is mostly culled from already available public information, a lot of it in fact included in various Far Side books. The analytical components are interesting but tend to be scattered and underdeveloped. The introduction promises a "supplement" to the strip. That's accurate, I guess, but I was hoping for more.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Far Side is the greatest single-panel comic ever. There, I said it. And Kerry Soper is the perfect scholar to write a book about the iconic comic and the reclusive genius behind it.

Soper, a comics scholars who has written books about Doonesbury and Pogo in the past, does an excellent job writing about The Far Side. He addresses it from every angle, by exploring its awkward aesthetics, its subversive, edgy humor, and its strange legacy in an age of declining funnies pages.

Soper's writing is beautiful and appealing. His analysis of the comic is top-notch. I enjoyed reading this book so much, at times I couldn't read it without getting a smile on my face. Not only because of the frequent reproductions of Larson's comics in the book, but because Soper was just so darn interesting in his insights on the comic.

I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading the other books he has written.

[Harve Lemelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Watterson and Gary Larson are two of my favourite comic strip writers. The fact that, Bill Watterson, described Gary Larson as "one of the most inventive guys in comics" and both Bill and Gary were able to walk away from their creations and leave their them both relatively intact, in this age of corporate greed and hyper-commercialization is simply remarkable. Familiar with academic writing, it should be noted that Kerry D. Soper does write this analysis is a somewhat theoretical, yet still very readable fashion.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look at Gary Larson's art. The Far Side was a ground breaking comic and it gets an astute analysis in this book.

Hopefully the Far Side will become available in e books, as I'm not aware of Nook or Kindle editions of his works.

[Christopher Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw The Far Side trending on Twitter a few weeks back. After retweeting a few of them that other people had posted, I went to our library’s website and put a few of Gary Larson’s collections on hold. I also found Gary Larson and The Far Side, which examines Larson’s life, his approach to creating the daily newspaper comic that became hugely popular in the 80s and 90s, and presented an artistic analysis of his work.


I enjoy reading biographies of successful people, particularly people involved in sports or the arts. While this wasn’t an out and out biography of Gary Larson, it explored enough of his early life to give insights on why he focused on off-beat and sometimes irreverent humor. Larson was never comfortable living the life of a celebrity, which goes a long way toward explaining why he ending the strip at the height of its popularity. The books includes 2-3 dozens examples from The Far Side, exploring many of them in terms of their approaches to art and humor.

I gave Gary Larson and The Far Side four stars on Goodreads. The writing was extremely dry and academic at points.

[Trevor Atwood]

In my study of humor and the lives of groundbreaking newspaper comic authors- this book was a gem.

Understanding Far Side as the Sunday anti-sermon is something I’ll be thinking about for weeks and months to come.

Charles Schulz(Peanuts) , Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes), and Gary Larson make up a Comic strip trinity that I’ve learned much from regarding both connecting with an audience with whom one has a symbiotic relationship, perseverance through a daily grind of original but thoughtful production, and- for Watterson and Larson- a commitment to a purist art form and being unafraid to walk away when that purity is threatened (at a cost of millions of dollars).

If you aren’t a Far Side fan- I’d suggest reading an anthology before picking this one up.

[Judith Gockel · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOT What I Wanted.

From the title and presentation, I bought what I thought to be the original (reprinted) Far Side cartoon book by Gary Larson. What I got was an ANALYSIS of Gary Larson and his humor, having lost my originals in a forest fire. For $19.00, I got someone else’s opinion on Larson’s work. Humor, and it’s effect on one, cannot be analyzed for an individual. If analysis is necessary to me, I’ll do it for me. Thank you!

[Henry Cruz · Rating 3 out of 5]

very scholarly approach to a interesting man

[Eric Sokolowsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't have much patience with scholarly analyses of popular culture. This book analyzes Gary Larson's brilliant comic The Far Side, which I enjoyed immensely growing up in the 1980s. I think that this book brings out a few good points, but is mostly fluff. Gary Larson's humor stems from his ability to come up with mostly normal situations and twist them slightly into something bizarre and strange. For example, one of the panels had a mummy in a bathroom stall next to another normal person. We see a strip from the mummy's clothes hanging over to the next stall, and tragic consequences follow. The book emphasized how morbid and violent this and other strips are, but come on, it's a live mummy in a bathroom, something so completely bizarre and unrealistic that it's just funny, not morbid. Gary Larson had a gift for seeing the bizarre and letting us see a glimpse.

It's no wonder Gary Larson retired. Being creative day in and day out is draining and extremely difficult. I write software for a living which is a creative activity but at least my deadlines are not as relentless as Gary Larson's were. I don't think I could handle that level of pressure. Thank you, Gary Larson, for the Far Side.

[John “Hoss” · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Gary Larson and The Far Side, but man this was hard to get through. Felt like reading a paper from a college student who only had access to articles about Gary to write up this book. I feel that if I really want to know more about Gary and his work I should just re read his comics again and look for back issue magazines he was interviewed in. I was pretty disappointed with this one. It’s not like reading the Charles Schulz biography or the Charles Addams book.