The Complete Far Side: 1980-1994
"Every one of these cartoons is just something that drifted into my head when I was alone with my thoughts. And, for better or worse, I 'jotted' them down. 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
Revered by its fans as the funniest, most original, most "What the ... ?"-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. 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.
A 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. 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. 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. Complaint letters, fan letters, and queries from puzzled readers appear alongside some of the more provocative or elusive panels. 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."
During its 14-year run, The Far Side was syndicated internationally to over 1,900 daily newspapers. It spawned 22 books and has been translated into a total of 17 different languages.
For 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 1991 and 1994. The National Cartoonists Society also named The Far Side Best Syndicated Panel in 1985 and 1987. In 1993, The Far Side was awarded the Max and Moritz Prize for Best International Comic Strip/Panel by the International Comics Salon. 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. 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.
Reviews (202)
I love Larson and owed it to him to buy this, but I suspect the paperback version will get my 5-stars.
This review is for the HARDCOVER version of The Complete Far Side. I am such a fan of Gary Larson. I can honestly say that The Far Side has made my life better, and I'm a firm believer that people should be paid for entertainment, and art... which is why I bought this, even though I've bought all the other books, in paperback... over the years. If you're reading this, I'm not telling you anything you don't know about the brilliance that is, The Far Side. Well... so why 4 stars? Why not 5? I'm going to offer some honest opinions that I think will help you decide between this version, The Complete Far Side IN HARDCOVER vs the very same, in paperback. No need to draw out this review, but depending on who you are buying this for... the WEIGHT is a factor. Wow... 20lbs! Each volume of course, is just under 10lbs. These are books that you set on a table to read... or leave open on a coffee table, or somewhere that a person can leaf through a couple pages briefly. I had no idea they would be so... big! Big is good, but inside, the individual comics have a lot of space around them. These books could have been 3" shorter while keeping the comics the same size... I'd have been thrilled (full 5-stars) if the comics were enlarged to fill more of each page. When I pick up the book I can't help wondering why I'm lifting 3-4lbs of blank paper. At the spine of the book, I can appreciate a good margin so the comics aren't draining in, but beyond that, I appreciate a bigger picture (or less book). My old paperbacks that I've bought through the years, as they were released, have sentimental value for me... as they made for a nice break in high-school, but they are starting to smell like old books... and hopefully some charity will appreciate them, so I guess I'll ALSO be buying the paperback "complete" version... just for a more user-friendly experience. (and "fresh" comics to re-read) I think The Complete Far Side might very well be the thing that would make me buy a Kindle or similar, if it were available in that format. I bought this from seeing TFS posted online... and realizing that, again, Gary should be paid for his work rather than have it "shared" for free... however, that's also why the publishers should make a paid version to enjoy TFS on a tablet.
Cartoons are too small
I love the Far Side, the cartoons are great, some of the best literary work of the last 50 years. However, this collection makes me furious because somebody decided to be cute with the formatting and leave mostly blank pages. When I first got it my thought was, "Are you kidding me?" Because every cartoon can be about 25% larger. I'm 43 now and thanks to this collection I'm starting to realize I need glasses. Any cartoon that has hand scrawled print in the frame is nearly impossible to read. But lo and behold, there's plenty of blank white space surrounding each cartoon! What the heck man! Slap the designer upside the head, I didn't pay for a book of empty blank space. Come out with a new collection please!
A Must-Have For Larson Fans
If you're a Gary Larson fan, this is a must-have collection of all of his work. The hard cover edition is beautiful, but it weighs a ton. Definitely solely a coffee table item or for keeping as a collector's item. The paperback edition is no lightweight either, but it can be held and read without too much effort. Not as "glorious" as the hard cover, but it's beautiful in its own right and, most importantly, also contains all of Larson's work, many in color, most in b&w, as originally printed back in the day. If you love The Far Side, this is for you. Makes a great gift for Larson fans. Either edition is worth owning, they're both put together well and will provide years of enjoyment and laughter. I LOVE The Far Side and was so happy when I stumbled across this. I just HAD to have it. When the hard cover proved to be too much to read while relaxing in my favorite chair, I went ahead and bought the paperback, too. I can't think of any other work for which I'd spring for two editions. I like Gary Larson that much :)
Outstanding Quality - Hardcover Version
The quality of this hardcover set is amazing! I read the reviews of how heavy this is, but you don't realize just how heavy until you try to hold it on your lap. You need a pillow or lap desk to hold it's weight. This set is for people who truly appreciate quality, and the quality of this far exceeds the cost. Of course The Far Side itself needs no explanation; it's brilliant.
Hours and hours of side-splitting laughter awaits you!
Can't go wrong with Far Side cartoons. My only wish is that the cartoons would have been bigger on the pages, as in when they published the single books. It is funny to read the letters that are inserted within the pages of each book, as Gary Larson or the papers that carried his cartoons received many letters. It really does make you realize that truth is stranger than fiction when you read these letters from very upset people who are either offended, don't get the joke he was trying to make, or in one case the writer of the letter wanted him to withdraw the cartoon because it undermined the evolutionist's theory of how life evolved! His mother got a phone call from a reporter over a cartoon that no one seemed to understand and so they thought if anyone knew what Gary was trying to say, mom would know. Sadly, mom didn't get the joke either so Gary had to give a big explanation as to what was going through his mind when he drew it. Can't make this stuff up! This is a great present (I got it for my birthday). I'm having to purposely only allow myself so many pages of amusement at a time as I could sit there for hours, having a good laugh.
Fantastic set of Larson's drawings!
I received this from my Wife & Daughter for Christmas, fantastic gift and greatly appreciated! I've always been a fan of Larson's work, just too funny! This is a heavy set of books but it is the complete works so go figure. Once I make my way through the whole collection I will repeat the process, probably many times! I've already seen quite a number of his drawings that I never saw before, great stuff.
Hardcover Review
We purchased the Hardcover set of these books. The set weighs in at 20 lbs and the two books are boxed and beautifully bound. The Box Set as a whole measures 10 1/8” x 14 1/8” x 4”. I’m giving these dimensions so you know just how large these books are. Each book is quite a lap full when you’re reading them, but I didn’t have any difficulty in reading or turning the pages. If weight and size is an concern, you might want to stick with the paperback set. I have several of the individual paperback versions I’d purchased years ago...but owning the complete hardcover set so beautifully done, I feel like a kid at Christmas and I can’t stop smiling. One side note about the box set is the box the books set in has two large illustrations, one on either side of the box. Just really well done. They ship the set alone in a large box with a few bubble bags. The shipping box and the box set arrived with no damaged at all.
Fantastic Collection from a Genius
The entire Gary Larson collection! This was a great gift for myself. I say this collection is ALMOST perfect. The books are softcover. Wish they were hardcover but I'm willing to let that slide. The one thing that did bother me was that for each page, they showed four pieces of art (with the occasional full page colored piece) that were kinda small on the page. There was a lot of white space around it. Solution: enlarge EACH picture and try to fill it up as much as possible.
does what it says on the tin
I have coveted this set since it came out in 2003, perused it in bookstores a few times, and finally decided to cough up the money for it upon becoming worried that it was out of print and going to be unavailable soon. It appears my fears were misplaced, as my copy is from an 11th (!) printing from July 2018. The physical presentation is acceptable. The binding of the large hardbacks is a little cheaply done; careful handling seems appropriate, although they aren't falling apart either. I feel like the quality of the volumes doesn't support the list price of almost $200 -- I would expect some archival-quality stuff at that premium -- but is acceptable at the price I paid. As others have pointed out, the layout compares a little unfavorably to the classic paperback Far Side collections; the cartoons are laid out in a weird staggered format with tons of whitespace, inconsistently sized, and the printed size on the page is almost always smaller than how these originally appeared in the print collections. However, the resolution of the printing is good enough to maintain the legibility of the cartoons. There is a lot of new foreword-type material in these volumes, but I would have liked to see more commentary and background information amidst the cartoons themselves a la
One of the Best Cartoon Strips Ever Created
I have long been a fan of the Far Side, but I was always disappointed by the fact Gary Larson's humor was spread out across multiple volumes, and that even if you were willing to purchase all of those books, there was no guarantee you had every one of his cartoons. When the complete collection came out in hardback, I was sorely tempted to purchase it, but its high price and my college student-sized budget deterred me from placing an order. Now that I have graduated and it is available in paperback for half the price, I readily shelled out my money for a copy. To be clear, this is an edition well worth its cost. Even though in paperback, the binding is firm and the cartoons are printed on a high quality, glossy paper. It also comes with a nice slipcase to fit the volumes in. There are three volumes in total: the first volume covers the cartoon's first strips in 1980 through 1984, the second is from 1984 to 1988, and the final third covers 1988 to the series' conclusion in 1994. Each volume is approximately four hundred pages in length. Needless to say, the strips are printed in chronological order, typically three or four to a page. Each year is also divided by a little essay by Larson explaining the evolution of a particular drawing or telling a humorous story relating to his craft. Because I have seen only a few interviews by him, I felt this gave the book a personal sense of the author. Also, in the earliest strips Larson would frequently draw in black-and-white (with the occasional color Sunday strip), but as time went on the cartoons increasingly became color almost every day. As for the cartoons themselves, it is nice to finally have an official complete version. Often on the Internet there are cartoons that are visually similar to Larson and claim him as their progenitor, but if you do not see it in this book, then it is safe to assume it is a fake. The same goes for some of the cartoons that have altered coloring to try and escape copyright enforcement by Mr. Larson's attorneys. The humor of Mr. Larson is obviously somewhat "far out" and has probably warped my own worldview, but there were many occasions in these books when I found myself laughing out loud. Mr. Larson does not aim for the lowest common denominator, so while some cartoons' punchlines are immediately understandable, a few leave you saying, "What the...?" for a few moments before figuring it out. On one or two rare occasions, I simply had to admit defeat and move on to the next one. Fortunately, however, those occasions are rare and Mr. Larson actually includes little explanations (and sometimes hate mail) for some of his most challenging pieces. As a side note, while Mr. Larson's humor is bizarre, I think these are actually good books for children. Mr. Larson respects his audience and uses relatively advanced scientific and historical topics as the basis for jokes on some occasions, and he avoids any vulgarity (it is a newspaper comic, after all) that would worry parents of younger kids. Most of the cartoons match the size of the originals, but a few are very slightly smaller. As a final note, the forward mentions there are over four thousand strips in this book, and you would expect the editors to have missed a few. Apparently, however, they are all there except for a few small pieces from Larson's collection Wiener Dog Art. If you are looking to interest a young person in cartooning, or simply looking to find a nice gift for a close friend, this is an excellent collection to buy that will guarantee its reader hours of laughs.
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