Since why The Far Side is such a timeless and iconic comic.

That being said, The Far Side certainly features recurring ‘characters’ throughout its comic strip history, sometimes in the form of specific professions or characterizations. For instance, The Far Side has a ton of comics featuring scientists, with a number of those scientists appearing to be the same characters across multiple strips. The same can be said for detectives or even cavemen. But, the one example that’s the most notable in this case is ‘the explorer’. The Far Side has no shortage of explorers, and these 10 Far Side comics prove most of the explorers should have just stayed home.

10 T-Rex Eggs

The Far Side Introduces Two Explorers Who are About to Be Dino-Food

In this Far Side comic, two explorers have made an incredible discovery: dinosaur eggs! They conclude that the eggs belong to a T-Rex, and they are stunned by the fact that the eggs haven't been fossilized, even though they are assuredly millions of years old. But, lurking in the shadows of the cave they're in is a live T-Rex, slowly walking towards them to eat the two explorers.

These explorers made the discovery of a lifetime by finding fresh dinosaur eggs along with a live T-Rex. Unfortunately, no one else will know about their discovery, as they are both going to be eaten by the T-Rex before they get the chance to share what they have found. This discovery could have changed their lives, but it winds up ending them instead, meaning these Far Side explorers should have just stayed home.

9 Piranha Food

These Far Side Explorers are About to Become Fish Food

Three explorers are walking through a river in the rain forest, totally ignorant of the fact that they are about to be eaten by piranha. This Far Side comic is funny because readers get to see things from the piranha's perspective, with funny dialogue calling out a certain trope. However, the horror of what these explorers are about to endure cannot be understated or ignored, no matter how funny the piranha happen to be. At the end of the day, these explorers are still winding up as fish food, and no exploration is worth that torturous fate.

Indeed, these Far Side explorers would have been better off staying at home, as they clearly weren't prepared to survive the dangerous terrain of the rain forest they're exploring.

8 Delusional Dead Men

These Far Side Explorers are Victims of Natural Selection

Two explorers are preparing to enter a cave, and one of them clearly hears heavy breathing coming from within. The other explorer tells his partner, Worthington, not to worry, explaining that it's not breathing he hears, but rather the differences in air density between the air outside and inside the cave. That's why it sounds like there's something breathing inside the cave, but Worthington should rest assured that nothing is in there. And Worthington should also just look past the trash can filled with human bones, as that probably has nothing to do with a potential creature living in the cave either.

If these explorers are killed by whatever is clearly living in that cave, then they will become victims of natural selection, as anyone can clearly see how much danger they are in. Well, anyone except them, it seems. Indeed, these Far Side explorers should have just stayed home, and maybe find another profession.

7 Knife-Wielding Elephant

These Far Side Explorers are Mistaken for Poachers by an Especially Deadly Elephant

Two explorers are riding in their vehicle when they come across an elephant standing in the tall grass wielding a knife, clearly ready to murder them without hesitation. Apparently, the elephant has mistaken these explorers for poachers, but the fact that they have no weapons shown on- indicates that the elephant is, indeed, mistaken. However, this elephant seems as though it's beyond reason, as it's there to kill any human who dares enter its territory, and it's going to do so with a giant knife.

The impending deaths of these explorers have nothing to do with their own shortcomings like in the previous examples. They're not absentmindedly wading through dangerous waters, or entering a cave that clearly has a dangerous creature living inside. They're simply exploring nature, only to be attacked by a deranged knife-wielding elephant, making it clear that they should have just stayed home.

6 Terrifying Discovery

These Far Side Explorers Accidentally Make a Terrifying Discovery

In this Far Side comic, two explorers are trying to sleep in their sleeping bags, when one of them makes a terrifying discovery. A "Santarantula" is crawling on the other explorer as he's trying to sleep, and the first explorer shines his flashlight on the rare Christmas-themed spider, making the discovery. Apparently, the "Santarantula" was thought to have been only a myth, but this encounter proves that it's real after all. This is the discovery of a lifetime, but that's only if these explorers live long enough to reveal the existence of this rare spider to the world.

The "Santarantula" isn't shy about crawling on the explorer's sleeping bag, which means it's probably encountered humans before. So, why hasn't anyone discovered it? Well, one explanation is that the spider doesn't fear humans because it can kill them with a single bite, and that's exactly what these two explorers are in danger of.

5 Dangerous Territory

This Far Side Explorer Needs to Go Home While He Still Can

An explorer is wandering through the jungle when he's hit in the neck by a blow-dart. His hand immediately covers the wound, and he looks around to find out where the dart came from. He quickly sees two indigenous people native to the area, a father and son, and the father tells the explorer not to worry about the dart in his neck. He says the dart isn't poison-tipped, as it was just a practice dart that he's teaching his son with.

But that implies that there are other people in this jungle with poisoned darts who were also trained by their fathers to shoot them at unsuspecting people like the explorer. In other words, this explorer got off easy by running into a couple of people who weren't trying to kill him in a jungle filled with other people who would, and he should take that as a sign to go home immediately.

4 Jungle Apparel

One of These Far Side Explorers Should Go Home and Change His Outfit

This Far Side comic is less of a one- adventure and more of a PSA about what not to do as an explorer. It's a split-comic with an explorer wearing the correct apparel on one side, and the incorrect apparel on the other. And that incorrect apparel is just the same thing as the correct apparel, but with the addition of raw cuts of meat all over his body.

If these explorers were actually out in the wild, then the one wearing the incorrect apparel (that being the cuts of raw meat all over his body) would be in imminent danger practically anywhere he went. From dangerous predators to swarms of insects, the raw meat on his clothes would attract something that could potentially kill him. Not only would that explorer need to change outfits, but he should just go home for even thinking about wearing meat-covered apparel at all.

3 Skull Puppets

The Far Side Explains What Happens to Unlucky Explorers AFTER They’re Killed

A bear is sitting in her cave with her two cubs, telling them a story to get them to go to sleep. This mama bear is using visual aids to help make the story more exciting for her cubs, and she's doing so with human skulls that she's using as puppets. Apparently, two explorers wandered into her cave not long ago, and she killed them to protect her cubs. Now, the bears mock their stupidity by playing with and telling stories through the explorers' remains.

This Far Side comic is morbidly hilarious, but it's also incredibly chilling, as it shows what happened to a couple of explorers after they were killed (as opposed to immediately before, like some of these other comic strips).

2 Mummy’s Curse

Two Far Side Explorers are Experiencing the Horrors of a Mummy’s Curse

Two explorers are reading an ancient text within the catacombs of an Egyptian mummy, but it's clear that they are getting the message a bit too late. The explorer translating it says that the mummy the two have just uncovered was cursed, and anyone who disturbs its resting place will face the full horror of that curse. As he's reading it, the two explorers begin melting where they stand, proving that they are truly cursed.

Melting to death via mummy curse is probably the last thing these explorers thought they'd have to endure while simply doing their jobs uncovering the secrets of Ancient Egypt, meaning their last thoughts were probably "I should have stayed home today".

1 Headhunters’ Dream

This Far Side Explorer Should Know Better than to Look for Headhunters

An explorer with a giant head wanders into a tribe of headhunters during an expedition, seemingly with the goal of ing tribes that have remained secluded from the rest of the world. Honestly, this joke writes itself with the illustration alone, as these headhunters are assuredly ecstatic to see someone with such a big head to hunt, which is why this explorer will go down in this tribe's folklore forever as the ultimate prize.

But, it's fair to assume that the explorer didn't want to become famous among this tribe by being killed by them, and would have honestly rather have just stayed home, just like the rest of these Far Side explorers.