Larson's tendency to embrace the macabre was certainly at the root of his most infamous, outrage-inducing s, yet it is worth noting that the "controversy" around certain Far Side comics was more often a result of readers misinterpreting the joke, or at least "taking it the wrong way."

That said, Gary Larson did court controversy to the extent that he didn't shy away from sensitive topics; rather, he confronted them through humor, even if his intentions were misconstrued by plenty of fans and critics alike over the years.

10 This Early Far Side Joke Signaled To Readers That The Far Side Was Willing To "Go There"

First Published: April 16, 1980

In this Far Side cartoon, a woman's houseplant has taken its own life, leaving her to sit in an armchair and sob, "I was just talking to him yesterday!" as an early example of Gary Larson's trench-coat wearing detective rests a comforting hand on her shoulder. Remarkably, this takes an extremely dark route toward delivering what is actually a silly punchline, playing off of the idea of people talking to their plants in order to stimulate their growth.

Published just several months into The Far Side's publication, this was early proof that fledgling artist Gary Larson was willing to make fun of the darkest possible subjects. While it certainly put off some readers at the time, it also proved that there was an appetite for humor like this among at least some portions of the newspaper-reading audience.

9 The First Appearance Of A Perennial Sore Spot For Some Far Side Readers

First Published: October 14, 1980

A later Far Side comic that uses torture as part of its punchline would notoriously get Gary Larson in a bit of hot water, but as this shows, the dungeon was a recurring bit for the cartoon since nearly the beginning. Here, a hooded torturer tours his parents around his workplace, offering to demonstrate "The Rack" for them on an unfortunate victim.

What many readers understandably find distasteful about this strain of Far Side jokes is the way that it uses human suffering to enable its punchline, which like many of Larson's joke stems from a "What if?" question – that is, what if the world's most terrifying profession was treated like any other job. Once again, this cartoon is notable for the way it helped shape readers' expectations for The Far Side during its first year.

8 Gary Larson's Twisted Take On A Classic Childrens Story

First Published: October 23, 1981

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This bleak Far Side cartoon is all the more jarring given how immediately recognizable it is as a reference to "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White. In this , a spider writes "goodbye world" with its web, before seemingly hanging itself with its own webbing. While any joke about suicide should rightly be questioned, the connection to a beloved children's story is what truly makes this one of Gary Larson's most controversial jokes.

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In the Preface to The Complete Far Side: Volume One, Gary Larson provided a fascinating insight into when and where he wrote his wildest comics.

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As he often did, Larson "crosses the wires" of hard-edged dark humor and a playful pop culture reference here. Some Far Side jokes were unquestionably dark, and others unequivocally lighthearted – this one strikes a skillful balance between, though whether it will get a laugh out , or an expression of dismay, will depend on the personal taste of individual readers.

7 Gary Larson's God Jokes Made The Far Side Literally Iconoclastic

First Published: September 10, 1984

Though this cartoon – in which God competes on a gameshow, totally outperforming his mere mortal opponent in the process – is innocuous in its own right, it is representative of a whole category of Far Side cartoons featuring the Almighty and other religious iconography, for which Gary Larson routinely garnered criticism from religious readers over the years.

How and why to depict deities in art is often a thorny subject, and making fun of God is as much of a shortcut to controversy as there is. Gary Larson shirked many social conventions with his Far Side jokes over the years, and his willingness to make jokes about religion were perhaps the most concise example of that, as rather than generating controversy, these strips were the equivalent of Larson jumping in the deep end of a longrunning debate.

6 This Far Side Comic Was Almost Even More Outrageous – But It Still Ended Up Angering Readers

First Published: December 9, 1986

This Far Side cartoon features a group of grinning gators surrounded a barrel, with the caption explaining that they are "bobbing for poodles." According to Gary Larson, the original caption for the was even more gruesome, but in any case, the end result was a cavalcade of criticism.

The Far Side Complete Collection

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Fans of the far side can't up this master collection of Gary Larson's finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired. 

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Readers were shocked by the straightforward nature of the joke's brutality – which was, of course, the point of the punchline, which is moreso designed to shock than to evoke a laugh-out-loud reaction. Love it or hate it, this remains one of the most memorable Far Side cartoons, because of its uncompromisingly dark nature, rather than in spite of it, emphasizing that controversy was often the key to making the cartoon stand out from its contemporaries in newspaper funny pages.

5 As The Far Side Gained More Fans, It Also Drew More Criticism

First Published: February 2, 1987

1987 was the mid-point of The Far Side's run, and it can also arguably be described as the peak of the comic's popularity – or at least, the start of it. With more readers, however, came more critical attention, leading to Gary Larson drawing the ire of a greater number of of his audience. Throughout the two-volume set of The Complete Far Side, there are excerpts from letters sent to editors criticizing the inclusion of Far Side comics in their newspapers.

Case in point: "the so-called artist must be sick," one concerned reader wrote about this cartoon, which returns to the dungeon setting, featuring two torturers having a casual conversation during their coffee break, with suffering characters stretched out on the rack and chained to the wall behind them.

4 Gary Larson Once Angered The Jane Goodall Institute – But Not The Famous Scientist Herself

First Published: August 26, 1987

The Far Side made more than one joke about famous primate researcher Jane Goodall, but this cartoon in particular – featuring a gorilla wife implying that her husband had a too-close encounter with the human scientist – caused a particular fervor at the Jane Goodall Institute, who dashed off an angry letter rebuking Gary Larson and the newspapers that carried his work.

Hilariously, Goodall herself was not only unperturbed by the joke, she found it funny; still, the backlash stands out as the most prominent example of The Far Side coming under fire for a joke about an actual person, even if it was from representatives of that person, rather than the individual herself. Had Jane Goodall been bothered by the comic, the response might have been even more impactful, though ultimately, little more came of it other than a memorable story to be included in The Complete Far Side.

3 A Moment Of Levity Among The Far Side's Darkest Jokes

First Published: November 1, 1987​​​​​​​

The Far Side didn't always need to be dark to generate debate among readers, as the response to this cartoon emphasizes. The drawing features household appliances blatantly sticking out from a forest landscape, along with text that reads: "Kids, how many major appliances can you find?" – with a hyperbolic answer of "127" tucked away, upside down, in the bottom right corner.

Amusingly, The Complete Far Side includes a letter from a fifth grade class, who were apparently perplexed by the "answer," when they could only evidently find eight appliances in the picture. Gary Larson's longtime editor Jake Morrissey replied, noting:

Gary's cartoon was a parody of those puzzles that are full of hidden pictures. His cartoon had such clumsily hidden objects (kitchen appliances) and such an outrageous answer (127) that it was not meant to be taken seriously.

Interestingly, the mistake of taking a Far Side joke too seriously was not unique to school children, but was in fact an error of interpretation made by countless readers of all ages – one that often led to frustration, or outrage, when it wasn't actually necessary.

2 Nothing Was Sacred On The Far Side – To The Dismay Of Many Readers

First Published: February 12, 1988​​​​​​​

In this surreal Far Side , a man shows off the "baby in a bottle" on his mantle, over his fireplace, telling a friend that he "got the whole thing at a garage sale for five bucks." The Complete Far Side includes several letters from readers who had a visceral reaction to the comic, including one which described it as "most abusive to children and most distasteful to those who view human life in all forms as sacred."

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Despite the Far Side's reputation for sowing confusion, Gary Larson's humor was often overly literal, as his "Chicken of Depression" comic shows.

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Of course, nothing was sacrosanct when it came to Gary Larson's sense of humor, and while he never truly vaulted too far past the boundaries of shocking humor, he tested those limits enough to bother a portion of his audience. Sometimes The Far Side unwittingly offended, but with cartoons like this, it is clear that Larson was purposefully seeking an outsized reaction.

1 This Late Far Side Cartoon Might Actually Be Gary Larson's Most Distasteful Joke

First Published: October 18, 1994

Published in the perhaps a Roman naval ship, with a piece of paper on a post in the foreground, showing that the captives' entire day consists of rowing, except for a half hour of aerobics between 6:30 and 7PM.

As always, the potential backlash to this is as much subject to the reader's sensibilities as anything, but this punchline is arguably undercut by the weight of the subject material, as much as any in Far Side history. At the same time, it is a further example of Gary Larson's unflinching willingness to attempt to extract humor from darkness, which for better or worse is what made The Far Side equally beloved and infamous.

The Far Side

Writer

Gary Larson

Colorist

Gary Larson

The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.

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