If there's one animal The Far Side is obsessed with, it's cows - but if there's another, it's chickens! Gary Larson's comic never met a gag that couldn't be improved by including poultry, whether satirizing the Wild West, parodying classic horror movies, or simply adding a down-to-Earth touch to the comic's surreal perspective.

Here are the 13 funniest Far Side comics starring chickens, including a few bonus inclusions where Larson pulls off the same core joke in different ways. However, fair warning: The Far Side never shied away from "nature, red in tooth and claw," and where chickens are concerned, the comic is very aware that for the world's most eaten bird, life comes cheap.

13 Dinner on Elm Street

A classic The Far Side strip mocking an iconic movie, this comic is all the more surreal thanks to having very little to do with 1985's Freddy Krueger-starring Nightmare on Elm Street. In a classic example of Larson allowing a much-eaten animal the chance to get some payback on its main predators, poor Fifi gets dragged into the chicken vs human battle of wills, providing not just dinner but - by implication - the raw materials for the chicken's 'costume.'

12 Lord, We Thank Thee

Another comic in which chickens win out against their human oppressors, the joy here is partly how uninvolved the poultry are in avoiding their fate - and the fact that they know it. In the accompanying strips, chickens get a LOT more involved with fending off farmers, first with boiling oil and second with an aborted coup (which fails to place on its own merits thanks to an incredibly groan-worthy pun.) Larson's animal comics tend to play fair - smarts, forward planning, or just plain luck mean animal vs human can go to either side.

11 Wishing Well

An early comic - and an example of The Far Side being great without any dialogue - sees the unfortunate of a wishing well returning to warn off anyone else who might spend 5¢ on their fondest wish and instead become a chicken/elephant/human hybird. The low cost makes this unfortunate transformation even funnier, while details like the wilting hat show Larson's instincts for a great image way before many of his most acclaimed strips.

10 Reign of Terror

Like his fascination with cows as hilariously blameless animals, Larson often draws humor simply from placing a chicken into a situation that makes no sense. Here, a brave cowpoke has brought down a vicious chicken villain whose misdeeds have racked up a healthy bounty. The comic also subtly shows off Larson's skill at using a single to impart different levels of information, as the 'WANTED' poster in the foreground offers context to the scene in the background - indeed, this is one of several The Far Side strips that don't technically need their accompanying narration.

9 God Makes a Chicken

This strip is interesting (and funny) for a variety of reasons. The premise of God getting up to speed on His powers of creation is a funny bit, as is the logic that getting a chicken slightly wrong would lead to such a huge explosion. However, it's surprising that Larson was ever able to publish a comic of God making a 'mistake.' In The Pre-History of The Far Side, Larson reveals that for the accompanying comic of God crushing Norman at trivia, he was careful not to give the Almighty's opponent even 10 points, as that would imply God had made a mistake. Even despite this mark of respect, Larson its that he felt he was pushing it with the chicken comic, and that:

I started to feel like I was bucking for a lightning bolt to come out of the sky and turn me into something like the kid here.

8 Chicken Soup

Larson's skill isn't just about surrealism, but about creating a truly bizarre world that still feels mundane and lived-in. The idea of chickens feeling conflicted over eating chicken soup when ill is a fun but predictable joke, however the specificity of "it's nobody we know" shows why The Far Side remains the top of the pile even when grabbing for low-hanging fruit. The accompanying comic follows the same logic - the idea of chickens going without their feathers on a nudist beach is an easy joke, but "No ducks" makes it specific in a way that enhances the gag.

7 I'm Leaving You, Frank

Of course, The Far Side is also marked by uncompromizing surrealism, such as in this snapshot of a broken relationship where Frank's partner has a lot of problems with him - with the fact he has the head of a chicken being really low down on the list. The Far Side is unparalleled at creating humor from unseen moments implied before and after the actual . How exactly did Frank and his partner get together when his chicken head is an issue for her? What kind of world is this where a chicken head is possible, but still worth mentioning on your way out the door?

This freaky logic is also present in the accompanying comic, where a man who lives in a world where pigs and chickens frequent diners still unthinkingly orders ham and eggs. The 'chicken head' comic also showcases The Far Side's judgment on when to name its characters to drive the joke home - a habit that many comics have imitated since without half the understanding of when it actually works.

6 Chicken Fortunes

Larson's chicken jokes often zero in on their brief life expectancy, and this comic is the best example of The Far Side doing a lot with that simple implication. Usually opting for minimalist phrasing, Larson has the chicken fortune-teller wax lyrical about her unlucky clients' fates, with their staring eyes making it clear they were hoping for better news. The accompanying comic provides a more comforting coda, confirming that at least one chicken was smart enough to skip town before his dark fate came to .

5 Chicken of Depression

In many ways, The Far Side predicted today's millennial humor, with a taste for surreal vignettes and a nihilistic resignation to an often cruel world. This joke is simply bizarre, but the detail that really makes it sing is the chicken's clear lack of malice - it doesn't mean Ned any harm, it just... is. While 'the blue bird of happiness' may not be as current of a reference as when this strip was published, "the chicken of depression" is an idea that could easily find a second life in 2023.

4 Tall Chickens

The Far Side does pure 'weird' better than any comic out there, and that's what's on show here. The casual namedrop of "a longcow" is surreal genius, while the ungainly tall chickens are a visual gag that sits in the corner, calmly waiting for the reader's attention. In The Pre-History of The Far Side, Larson reveals that some of his comics start life as short stories, before he narrows down the single moment that will work best as a snapshot, and a tale of two farmers outdoing each other with ridiculous animals would surely be worth reading. However, Larson doesn't rest on the laurels of the concept - Farmer Sutton's huge grin and the shocked onlookers make this strip way funnier than its premise.