Dan Schwent's Reviews > The Complete Far Side, 1980–1994

The Complete Far Side - Book One collects Far Side comics from January 1980 to June 1984.

I had this on my wishlist forever, waiting for it to fall into my cheapness zone. Fortunately, my wife bought it for me sometime after the collapse of society. It may have been an effort to stave off cabin fever for another week or two or perhaps a Father's Day gift.

Anyway, The Far Side is one of those legendary comic strips. I was a little young for the humor during its initial run so I had an ambition to reread it. I'm sure Gary Larson never intended for anyone to read four and a half years of his strip in less than 24 hours but this was a great read.

The strip is a little rocky at first as Larson finds his footing but things heat up pretty quickly. Some of the humor is a lot darker than I remember. I wouldn't say any of the strips had me laughing out loud but I grinned or smirked quite a bit. Some of them were thinkers and others flew over my head altogether.

While the strip was just getting rolling, all the pieces were in place, from the absurdist humor to the bumbling scientists to those damn cows that are in one strip out every six. The temptation for me to compare this to Calvin and Hobbes is strong but that's like comparing apples and oranges. The Far Side is more like the Family Circus and it beats the living shit out of the Family Circus on every conceivable level. Fuck the Family Circus.

While I consumed it in a way far faster than nature and Gary Larson intended, The Complete Far Side - Book One was an amusing read. Bring on the next four year chunk! Four out of five cows.

Merged review:

The Complete Far Side - Book Two collects Far Side comics from July 1984 to June 1988.

Man probably wasn't meant to digest this much dark, absurdist humor in such a short time span but I seem to be okay. Anyway, The Far Side was hitting its stride at this time. The artwork is a notch better than the first volume and Larson certainly found his groove. I actually laughed out loud a few times and made my wife read some of the best cartoons. Such as...





The humor skews a little darker than the first volume so it was right up my alley. The angry letters to Far Side printed in this collection show that a lot of people didn't have much of a sense of humor even in the pre-Internet days. I don't really know what else to say. It's a collection of funny newspaper strips.

The Complete Far Side - Book Two: Witness one of the greatest newspaper strips of all time in its prime. Five out of five stars.




Merged review:

The Complete Far Side - Book Three collects the Far Side strips from July 1988 to the end in December 1994.

Well, all good things must come to an end. I have to say that Gary Larson went out on top, much like Bill Watterson. The Far Side was in top form when Gary ended the strip. After wolfing down the entire run of the strip in five days, I have to say there's nothing the Far Side in regard to witty observations and dark absurdist humor. Five out of five cow tools.