Gary Larson has produced thousands of Far Side comic strips during his illustrious career, but the cartoonist shared the one comic that made him want to "crawl into a hole somewhere and die." Larson once revealed that the reaction to his infamous Cow Tools comic, which confused readers upon its release, is one that haunts him for the rest of his life - as he didn't expect the strip to cause the stir that it did.
In The PreHistory of The Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit by Gary Larson, the legendary author and artist shared his feelings on some of his most iconic comics, dropping anecdotes about some of his greatest Far Side strips. When discussing the reaction to his infamous Cow Tools comic, featuring a cow standing above ineffective tools, Larson itted that the strip caused mass confusion among readers, adding it was an "exercise in silliness." After getting bogged down in fan mail and being forced to release a statement on Cow Tools, Larson later wrote the entire episode would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.
Larson's Far Side Has Caused Confusion and Controversy Before
Gary Larson's Larson having to apologize for calling out a movie he'd never seen, Far Side has been newsworthy for the wrong reasons. However, the Cow Tools incident remains one of the strangest moments of Larson's career.
At first glance, the Cow Tools comic from Far Side is entirely harmless. A cow standing above poorly made tools isn't all that controversial. However, with readers not understanding what message Gary Larson was trying to convey, which was supposedly just the absurd nature of the situation and intelligence of cows, the comic ended up causing a considerable kerfuffle. So much so that a week after seeing the response to Cow Tools, Larson wanted to "crawl into a hole" and die.
Given the fan reaction, Larson still being haunted by the comic is fair. When he penned the Cow Tools comic, there's no way that he ever could have expected the strip to generate as much discussion and fan mail as it did. As a result, Cow Tools haunted (and possibly still haunts) Gary Larson, as the Far Side cartoonist understandably didn't enjoy the unnecessary headache it caused in his career.
