During its roughly fifteen-year run, The Far Side became well acquainted with controversy. Known for its dark sense of humor and willingness to push boundaries, the comic strip found itself in hot water with readers more often than one might expect.

The absurd nature of The Far Side often added to its outrageous reputation. For some, this was a source of iration; for others, a source of frequent complaints. Many fans embraced Gary Larson’s dark and often nonsensical take on society, while critics were less forgiving. Throughout its original run, The Far Side consistently drew a steady stream of complaint letters, highlighting the polarizing effect of Larson's unique humor. Here are ten of The Far Side's most controversial strips.

10 "How Many Major Appliances Can You Find?"

Originally Published: November 1, 1987

In this comic, several household appliances, many of them large, are conspicuously hidden throughout different parts of the woods for kids to try and count. In the corner, there's an answer key for the puzzle, claiming there are 127 appliances in the image, a number that doesn’t match what’s actually visible. Gary Larson created the comic as a joke about the absurdity of scavenger hunt puzzles, with the mismatched answer key being entirely intentional.

Some parents, however, took the puzzle at face value and had their children complete it. When their kids were left confused and frustrated, those same parents voiced their complaints to Larson, despite the comic never being meant as an actual children's activity in the first place.

9 "When Car Chasers Dream"

Originally Published: January 25, 1988

A dog sleeps, dreaming pleasant dreams. In the dream, the doggy protagonist of this Far Side comic howls victoriously on top of an overturned car, one he presumably just finished chasing. He has finally succeeded in his lifelong canine aspiration. It sounds like a pretty good-natured, wholesome comic strip for the most part, right? That turned out not to be the case due to a misunderstanding by some readers.

Based on the dog's position, with his body placed in a rather questionable spot on the car, many assumed it was meant to be a sexual joke. Outraged at the implication that a dog was having relations with a car, readers voiced their displeasure to Gary Larson. The innuendo, however, was never Larson's intention. This became yet another example of public outrage directed at The Far Side, despite the creator's completely innocent design.

8 "Cow Tools"

Originally Published: October 28, 1982

A cow stands in front of a table laid out with a selection of tools made specifically for his species and his species alone. Apparently, these items are called, what else, cow tools. That is the entire comic strip. The joke, centered around what kind of tools a cow might have, did not land for many readers. Some did not understand the gag, while others simply did not find it funny.

In more extreme cases, readers became outright angry with the comic and its creator, Gary Larson. The confusion caused by this single strip was unexpectedly intense, with Larson receiving far more emotionally charged mail than anyone could have expected. In an effort to calm the backlash, Gary Larson eventually published a letter explaining the cartoon.

7 "Big Bird Shot"

Originally Published: February 26, 1991

A tragic case that calls for police presence occurs in The Far Side when a big bird, the actual Big Bird, is found dead with a wound that prompts the police to suspect that some fowl, or rather, foul play may have occurred. The Far Side is no stranger to including pop culture characters in its comic strips, so the appearance of the classic Sesame Street character is not entirely out of the ordinary for the outrageous series.

However, using a character primarily associated with children in such a dark situation drew the ire of parents who feared their kids might see the comic strip and witness their favorite bird lying dead in an apartment. Some readers found the comic inappropriate, given that it used a child-friendly character in a context that was anything but.

6 "You Sure Can't Make A Good Cup Of Coffee"

Originally Published: February 2, 1987

When two torturers sit on their break with a cup of coffee, one of them compliments his fellow torturer, Russell, saying that he is absolutely great at his job and can get a person to scream in record time. However, he adds that as good a torturer as Russell is, he has no talent whatsoever when it comes to making a cup of coffee. A future as a barista does not seem likely for Russell, but his career as a torturer appears to be going pretty well regardless.

Any time torture appears in The Far Side comic strips, things tend to get a little touchy, with some readers disliking the dungeon setting and the depiction of victims. In this case, two men are being stretched on racks in the background behind the two torturers. Some found it in poor taste to joke about something as serious as torture, especially with visual aids, and the comic strip ended up rubbing certain readers the wrong way.

5 "That Jane Goodall Tramp"

Originally Published: August 26, 1987

A wife chimpanzee cleans her husband's hair, as apes tend to do on a leisurely day, and finds another blonde hair. She is not having any of this and angrily confronts her husband, accusing him of conducting some research with a tramp who just so happens to go by the name Jane Goodall. For those who may be unaware, Jane Goodall is a very famous and renowned zoologist and conservationist, best known for her research on apes and primates, particularly chimpanzees.

Given the immense respect Jane Goodall has from both her peers and the public at large, many took offense to this The Far Side strip. In fact, the Jane Goodall Institute sent Gary Larson and any newspaper that published this comic an angry letter, scolding them for creating such a disrespectful joke. Ironically, Jane Goodall herself, the woman at the center of the comic strip drama, found it quite funny and did not take it seriously at all.

4 "Beats Me How They Did It"

Originally Published: February 12, 1988

One man gazes at his new garage sale find, which he only paid five dollars for, and that shockingly low price even includes the stand it came with. He confides to his buddy that he has no idea how they were able to make such an item. The item in question is shockingly, and absurdly a baby squished into a glass bottle on a stand, intended for display.

Comparing the baby stuffed in a bottle to a ship in a bottle, The Far Side creates a very bizarre comic strip that resulted in an off-putting response from its audience. In fact, the reaction was more extreme than off-putting, with some readers even claiming that the comic strip was abusive to children. Do they realize it’s just a comic strip, which tends to be fictional? Regardless, some readers were not happy with this comic strip or with Gary Larson.

3 "A Wastebasket?!"

Originally Published: February 17, 1983

An elephant, walking with a crutch after losing one of his feet, goes to a payphone to receive some important and ultimately distressing information. He is told that the foot that was taken from him has been used to make a wastebasket, which greatly angers the elephant. The loss of his foot is bad enough, but to add insult to injury, his body part is being used as a trash receptacle, which deeply disturbs him.

Many readers took issue with this comic strip because they felt it made light of the serious issue of elephant poaching for ivory. Elephants have been an endangered species since the '80s, and this fact made many people angry at the comic strip.

2 "Goodbye World"

Originally Published: October 23, 1981

The classic children's novel Charlotte's Web by E.B. White has been a beloved story for many kids. It follows a very clever spider, Charlotte, who spells words in her webs that praise the pig Wilbur in order to save his life. Charlotte weaves messages like "Some pig" and "Terrific," amazing spectators from all over. The Far Side imagines a much darker version of these events, where Charlotte spells words that are not complimentary and are actually very sensitive, focusing on life and death.

The Far Side takes a widely beloved children's book character and places her in an extremely dark scenario, balancing between dark humor and dampening a cherished cultural figure. The fact that the character comes from a children's book makes the comic strip even more outrageous, which can be seen as either good or bad, depending on the reader.

1 "Bobbing For Poodles"

Originally Published: December 9, 1986

A house party is taking place in The Far Side, which is not a one-off occasion. What is a bit rarer, however, in The Far Side is an alligator house party where the main party activity is to bob for poodles, just as humans would bob for apples. It is a dark comic strip, for sure, especially for animal lovers.

Readers were livid at this comic strip because it promoted the unsanitary, germ-spreading activity of bobbing for items... just kidding! In reality, people were upset about this comic strip because they found it offensive to pet owners. The Far Side creator even received hate letters for this comic strip, with one irate reader suggesting that he should go on a different career path, but not before calling the strip "garbage" on top of it.

Gary Larson's response to the angry letter suggesting he embrace a different occupation was, "Thank god I didn't go with my first caption, 'Bobbing for babies.'"