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Far Side comic is making a come back!!!
Last edited Mon Sep 23, 2019, 08:49 PM - Edit history (1)
In the dark, barbaric days (1980-1995) before a steady gush of anonymous memes soaked our brains, Gary Larson’s comic The Far Side was lord and master of the single-panel zinger. A quarter-century after inking his last strip in 1995, Larson may be coming out of retirement to show a new generation how it’s done.
The beloved cartoon was the original proto-meme: a bizarre mashup of science, dark humor and anthropomorphic animals that pointed out the absurdity of human behavior and life in general. Now The Far Side website is teasing new content with a cartoon of a man thawing out several iconic Far Side characters trapped in a glacier. The caption reads “uncommon, unreal, and (soon-to-be) unfrozen. A new online era of The Far Side is coming!”
I used to skip over the other crappy Sunday comics to read The Far Side. The compact, absurd punchlines delivered by simpleton characters offered a hilarious glimpse into a Gonzo world where cows stand on their back feet and only drop down to graze on all fours when there’s a car coming. One panel shows a Viking rowing ship with brawny Celts on the left, and scrawny ones on the right. “I’ve got it too, Omar,” says one ship commander to the other, “a strange feeling like we’ve just been going in circles.” In another, a karate class watches aliens made of bricks and wood blocks pile out of a spaceship: “The class abruptly stopped practicing. Here was an opportunity to not only employ their skills, but also to save the entire town.”
The buzz is loud for a comic that’s been out of the public eye for a quarter-century. Fred Armisen played the ultimate Far Side fanboy in “Searching for Mr. Larson,” the Documentary Now! Parody of “Dear Mr. Watterson.” Director Joel Schroeder’s 2013 passion project/road trip to explore the appeal of Calvin and Hobbes through fan interviews became more of a vanity project about Schroeder’s own personal journey. Armisen is only mocking the documentary trend of filmmakers wedging themselves narcissistically into their hero’s story, but it’s clear that Far Side fans are just as invested and expectant for Larson’s output.
The beloved cartoon was the original proto-meme: a bizarre mashup of science, dark humor and anthropomorphic animals that pointed out the absurdity of human behavior and life in general. Now The Far Side website is teasing new content with a cartoon of a man thawing out several iconic Far Side characters trapped in a glacier. The caption reads “uncommon, unreal, and (soon-to-be) unfrozen. A new online era of The Far Side is coming!”
I used to skip over the other crappy Sunday comics to read The Far Side. The compact, absurd punchlines delivered by simpleton characters offered a hilarious glimpse into a Gonzo world where cows stand on their back feet and only drop down to graze on all fours when there’s a car coming. One panel shows a Viking rowing ship with brawny Celts on the left, and scrawny ones on the right. “I’ve got it too, Omar,” says one ship commander to the other, “a strange feeling like we’ve just been going in circles.” In another, a karate class watches aliens made of bricks and wood blocks pile out of a spaceship: “The class abruptly stopped practicing. Here was an opportunity to not only employ their skills, but also to save the entire town.”
The buzz is loud for a comic that’s been out of the public eye for a quarter-century. Fred Armisen played the ultimate Far Side fanboy in “Searching for Mr. Larson,” the Documentary Now! Parody of “Dear Mr. Watterson.” Director Joel Schroeder’s 2013 passion project/road trip to explore the appeal of Calvin and Hobbes through fan interviews became more of a vanity project about Schroeder’s own personal journey. Armisen is only mocking the documentary trend of filmmakers wedging themselves narcissistically into their hero’s story, but it’s clear that Far Side fans are just as invested and expectant for Larson’s output.
https://bookandfilmglobe.com/comics/the-far-side-is-coming-back/
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