(His longtime editor Jake Morrissey's long introduction is a must read on The Far Side's story).ĭespite no central characters, it's easy to spot patterns in Larson's wild and wacky cartoons.
Most wonderful is the first essay on how the comic started. Before each year's cartoons, Larson provides insight with essays about his childhood, various travels, occupational hazards, and his official rules for dealing with bedtime monsters (which often turned out to be his older brother).
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Though few explanations are provided (Larson personally supplies merely one, plus a single apology), this collection helps answer the inevitable "how do you think up these things" conundrum. Set in rough chronological order, the comics share pages with occasional letters from fans, detractors, editors, folks made famous by a particular cartoon, and those begging for explanations. Gary Larson calls The Complete Far Side, the massive two-volume collection of his Far Side cartoons, an "18-pound hernia giver." Sure to give any coffee table a solid workout, the handsome and heavy 1,272-page "legacy book" is a must for fervent fans over 4,300 single-panel comics with more than half in color and 1,100 that have not appeared in any book form before (the popular-and far less weighty-paperback collections).
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. His second animated film, Gary Larson's Tales from The Far Side II, premiered in 1997 in the United States at the Telluride Film Festival and in Europe at the Venice International Film Festival. In 1995, Larson's animated film Gary Larson's Tales from The Far Side won the Grand Prix at the Annecy International Festival in Annecy, France. In 1993, The Far Side was awarded the Max and Moritz Prize for Best International Comic Strip/Panel by the International Comics Salon. The National Cartoonists Society also named The Far Side Best Syndicated Panel in 19. It spawned 22 books and has been translated into a total of 17 different languages.įor his work with The Far Side, Gary Larson received the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonists Society in both 19. Actor, author, and comedian Steve Martin offers his pithy thoughts in a foreword, and Gary Larson's former editor describes what it was like to be "the guy who could explain every Far Side cartoon."ĭuring its 14-year run, The Far Side was syndicated internationally to over 1,900 daily newspapers. Complaint letters, fan letters, and queries from puzzled readers appear alongside some of the more provocative or elusive panels.
Creator Gary Larson offers a rare glimpse into the mind of The Far Side in quirky and thoughtful introductions to each of the 14 chapters. Also included are additional Far Side cartoons Larson created after his retirement: 13 that appeared in the last Far Side book, Last Chapter and Worse, and six cartoons that periodically ran as a special feature in the New York Times Science Times section as The Far Side of Science. The Complete Far Side celebrates Gary's twisted, irreverent genius in this ultimate Far Side book, a lavish production which takes its place alongside collector's-edition art books.Ī masterpiece of comic brilliance, The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever syndicated-over 4,000 if you must know-presented in (more or less) chronological order by year of publication, with more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book. ?"-inspiring cartoon ever, The Far Side debuted in January 1980 and enjoyed an illustrious 14 years on the world's comics pages until Gary Larson's retirement in 1994.
Revered by its fans as the funniest, most original, most "What the. It was only later, when perhaps I received an angry letter from someone, that it struck me: Hey! Someone's been reading my diary!" -Gary Larson, from the preface to The Complete Far Side And, for better or worse, I 'jotted' them down. "Every one of these cartoons is just something that drifted into my head when I was alone with my thoughts.