In 1994, Gary Larson decided to call it quits as a cartoonist, bringing an abrupt end to The Far Side while he was still at the very top of his game. The final year of Larson’s career features many of The Far Side’s most out-there, outrageous, and outstanding panels, yet a lot of them continue to fly under the radar to this day, even for avowed fans of the comic.

This list celebrates some absolute classics from The Far Side’s last year, comics that embody everything that was great about Gary Larson’s sense of humor, which also make it clear that he still had creative gas left in the tank.

Unfortunately, Larson subscribed to the age-old show business maxim, “always leave them wanting more,” and as such, when he started to worry that The Far Side was becoming too derivative of itself, he opted to close up shop. Given the way his creative legacy continues to evolve three decades later, it seems Larson made the right call.

10

“The Sandwich Mafia”: The Far Side’s Lineage Of Mobster Gags Ends On A High Note

First Published: March 16, 1994

The Far Side lightly poked fun at the Mafia repeatedly over the years; not enough to get Gary Larson whacked, thankfully, but still, jokes about mobsters and mobster-types popped up surprisingly often over the course of the comic’s run. Larson’s favorite trope was riffing on the “sleep with the fishes” scene from The Godfather, which he did practically once per year throughout The Far Side’s run.

This is the last of those cartoons, and perhaps the most unhinged. It features a sandwich plummeting from the ceiling of a middle-school cafeteria in the midst of lunch period, with a caption explaining that “the sandwich Mafia sends Luigi to sleep with the fourth-graders.” It is a hilariously hyperbolic elaboration on this iconic scene, reminding readers Larson had nothing left to lose as the end of his career loomed.

9

Late Entries In The Vote For The Far Side’s “Most Dense Characters,” But Strong Contenders

First Published: April 17, 1994

The Far Side’s humor is often called obtuse, but in this cartoon at least, it is the characters themselves that are thick-headed, as two tourists are depicted standing before the idols of a pair of indigenous gods, unable to distinguish for themselves the “one who was all-knowing” from “the one who is all-seeing,” despite the fact that one statue has an excessively large skull, and the other has one massive eye for a head.

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Pulling the humor of the caption and the illustration together is the way Gary Larson illustrates the “all-knowing” statue with a wide-eyed look on its face, a subtle cue to readers that the humor of the panel relies on incredulity at the stupidity of these tourists.

8

“For The Time Being”: The Far Side Sets Up An Epic Confrontation With No Intention Of Paying It Off

First Published: May 26, 1994

“For the time being, the monster wasn’t in Ricky’s closet” the caption of this Far Side cartoon reads, “for the time being.” The illustration depicts Ricky peering into his closet, having seemingly worked up the courage to confront the monster, only to swing open the closet door and only find trace evidence that it was there, in the form of a bag of chips, a reading lamp, and some monster magazines scattered on the floor.

This is the kind of deliberately open-ended Far Side gag that readers wish had a sequel, and while that was seldom, if ever, Gary Larson’s style to begin with, it is made all the more potent by its proximity to the end of the artist’s career; had The Far Side continued, fans could have at least held out hope at finding out Ricky’s fate.

7

“Recipe For Disaster”: It’s Hard To Believe It Took Gary Larson So Long To Get Here

First Published: June 20, 1994

Right up until he retired, Gary Larson continued to produce certified classic Far Side comics. This is one of his best captionless Far Side panels, featuring a thoroughly wrecked kitchen, with a knocked-out woman lying half out of frame, having made the mistake of cooking from the “Recipe for Disaster” book.

This joke delivers a literal play on the familiar figurative saying, one of Larson’s most tried and true comedic techniques. If anything, Far Side fans will marvel at the fact that it actually took almost fifteen years for the creator to come up with this idea, and that, in fact, he almost got to the very end of The Far Side’s run before producing this comic, which deserves more recognition as an all-time great panel.

6

“You Don’t Even Have A Funny Bone”: Gary Larson’s Sad Clown Gets Bad News From Modern Medicine

First Published: July 28, 1994

Clowns are another Far Side staple, and Gary Larson wasn’t going to go gentle into that good night without delivering a few more iconic clown comics, such as this one, in which a clown’s doctor points at his X-rays and delivers the tragic prognosis: “It’s worse than I first suspected, Mr. Binkley…you don’t even have a funny bone.”

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Again, Larson makes the metaphorical literal here, to outstanding comedic effect. However, what elevates this cartoon are the details The Far Side’s author develop around the premise, like silliness of the clown’s name, or the way his loud attire stands out against the muted tones of the doctor’s office. The Far Side always excelled at depicting characters out of sync with their environment, and there is also an element of that here which adds dimension to the overall effect of the joke.

5

“But You Can’t Make Him Walk On It”: The Far Side Reminds Readers Even Jesus Needed To Hear Words Of Wisdom Sometimes

First Published: September 23, 1994​​​​​​​

Sacrilege was a source of humor for Gary Larson, and while some readers certainly found The Far Side’s jokes about God and Jesus to be in poor taste, even his critics ought to give him some credit for the cleverness of this cartoon. Here, the Almighty’s voice booms from the clouds, reminding his son, “Jesus, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him walk on it” just in time to save the savior from drowning his steed.

Larson’s mesh of folk wisdom and Biblical lore is a perfect blend of smart and silly humor, but what truly makes this Far Side hilarious once more rests in the way the artist draws character’s faces, particularly eyes. In this case, it is the concerned look in the eyes of the horse, its head just barely above water, as Jesus leads it out into the depths.

4

“That’s Why We Have Wolves”: Gary Larson’s Dark Suburban Humor Reaches Its Apex

First Published: October 11, 1994

“I know you miss the Wainwrights, Bobby,” a man tells his son as they peer over their white picket fence, watching a pack of wolves run through the house next door, “but they were weak and stupid people.” It is a hilariously blunt Far Side punchline, one in which Gary Larson offers little of his trademark ambiguity.

Instead, the implication is obvious: the wolves ate the Wainwrights, and their neighbor approves of this, because he held them in low esteem. It is a surprisingly dark Far Side joke, given the way it evokes an air of social Darwinism; of course, readers familiar with Larson and his work will know he is lampooning this view of humanity, and in truth, it makes for an effectively shocking gag.

3

“Ace Dueling Pistols”: The Far Side’s Desert Island Trope Goes Out With A Bang

First Published: October 25, 1994​​​​​​​

Desert island jokes were one of The Far Side’s most reliable tropes; often, the “action” of these cartoons involved a crate washing up on the shore of an island where shipwreck survivors are stranded, with the contents of the crate predictably being less than helpful.

Larson pulls off one of his greatest versions of this gag here, with a cartoon that features two men stuck together on a tiny island, evidently in the midst of an argument, as a box labeled “Ace dueling pistols” floats straight toward them. The caption “the gods play with Ted and Jerry” adds an amusing touch to the joke, but truth be told, this could be just as funny as one of The Far Side’s captionless comics.

2

Gary Larson’s Career Might Have Ended, But Thankfully His Work Has Been Preserved

First Published: November 1, 1994

This is, in fact, an all-time great Far Side captionless comic; no caption is necessary, because between the “action” of the illustration, the “Mrs. Gibson’s Preserves” logo on the side of the truck careening over the side of a cliff, and the sign informing readers the truck is falling into the “La Brea Tar Pits,” the panel provides everything needed to get the joke.

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That is, the La Brea Tar Pits are famous for preserving fossils from Earth’s prehistoric eras, and now a truck full of preserves, in the culinary sense of the word, is about to join them. Meaning, more than just a hysterical irony, this is also a classic bit of Gary Larson wordplay.

1

“I Can’t Tell Harriet”: The Far Side’s Final Duck Cartoon Is An Underrated Classic

First Published: December 27, 1994

“I can’t tell Harriet,” a duck with a bandaged head and wing, and cast on its leg, says to a friend while having a stiff drink, reasoning that “she’s going to ask…what I was doing checkin’ out a decoy,” making it clear that the duck was shot by a hunter and barely escaped with its life. Now, however, it is more concerned with what its wife is going to do when it gets home.

The Far Side featured many funny bar scenes over the years, and this was more than just the last one, it was also among the most ridiculous, by far. It was also one of the last Far Side cartoons, proving that he produced classics right up until the very end of its run.

Writer

Gary Larson

Colorist

Gary Larson