Kevin's Watch

Okay, he's not fantasy..he's technically not even an author.
But he's the funniest Cartoonist who ever was, as far as I'm concerned.
He's dark, sophisticated, and Hillarious all rolled up into one.
it's s shame that he's retired, but better to do it too late, than too early.
Any other Far Side fans out here?

The Far Side is great!

No argument here: the Far Side is one of the funniest, most brilliant cartoons ever created! I've got the Last Chapter and Worse volume.

Last Chapter and Worse is great!!
The Curse of Madame C is even better..it starts out with a comic book style autobiography about how a roaming gypsy Cow encouraged him to start drawing cartoons.

Count me in:) Larson's Farside and Bill Waterson's Calvin Hobbes are my two favortie comic strips.

Bill waterson was Gary Larson's favortie Cartoonist I once read!!
I like how they both retired before they stopped being funny.

Yes, Watterson and Larson knew when to quit. Going out while on top and leaving people wanting more is better than hanging around and letting the quality of your work slide to the point where apathy sets in, but it takes guts to leave your fans behind. If I had a successful cartoon that I knew millions of people enjoyed, and I was paid well for it, I'm not sure I'd have the moxie to just walk away.

Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County is another example of a terrific cartoon strip (and another huge personal favorite) that avoided outstaying its welcome: it had a great run during the 80's and finished in style.

Unfortunately, Breathed then tried resurrecting characters from Bloom County in the strip Outland but it flopped. He's now trying again with our favorite penguin Opus in his own strip, but I admit I haven't been reading it. Still, I'm cheering for Breathed--and Opus.

Acctually, I like OUtland better than Bloom county. I thought The cat (I can't remember his name) was Hillarious.

Has anyone ever seen the Gary Larson book, where he talks about why he drew specific cartoons? I thumbed through it once at a book store, but alas have never seen it again...It gave a fair bit of insight into what drove him.

I'll tell you one cartoon I Hate : For Better or for Worse.
How did this strip stay in print for like 30 years?

Oooh, this is turning into a comics you love/comics you hate thread. Let the trash talk begin!

For Better or For Worse...I was no fan of it either. I thought it was a dull and pointless comic strip: unfunny as a "funnies" strip, and uninteresting as commentary on domestic life, if that was Lynn Johnston's goal. But a lot of people obviously loved it. I have a hunch that it appealed more to a female readership than a male one, but I have no numbers to back that up.

Before someone labels me a sexist, though, I should point out that one of my all-time favorite strips happens to be Cathy, by Cathy Guisewite. Now that's a comic rich with wickedly funny commentary about domesticity, the battle of the sexes, feminism and everything.

I stopped reading the comics a long time ago, because to me they stopped being funny in general. However back in the day I loved Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes as well. I also loved Frank and Earnest for the great word play but now it's just old.

Comics that should be retireed:
Frank and Ernest
Garfeild
Family Circus (was there ever a funny one?)

Family Circus can be funny but only if one has children.

If you work in the corporate world there's nothing funnier or more accurate than Dilbert. It's my favorite comic out there. Far side is a very close second.

Brinn wrote:If you work in the corporate world there's nothing funnier or more accurate than Dilbert. It's my favorite comic out there. Far side is a very close second.

quote="dlbpharmd"]Family Circus can be funny but only if one has children.[/quote]

-Funny thing is: I Don't work in the corperate world..but I find Dilbert pretty funny.
But I do have kids, and I still don't like Family Circus.


Back onto the Far Side..What's everyone's fav?
Mine has a penguin in the middle of an Ice Plain sitting on his butt, starring at the banana peel he just slipped on.

Mine is the boy pushing on the pull-only door at the school of the gifted.

The two spiders with the web at the end of a playground slide..."If we pull this off we'll eat like kings!"

The research lab I used to work in had that one on the door of the chromatography lab.

dlbpharmd wrote:Family Circus can be funny but only if one has children.

Heh heh heh....That reminds me of this Family Circus parody I found a while back.

www.prehensile.com/does/circus.htm

Not for the easily offended, but this is hilarious.


I loved the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes. Easily two of the best strips ever published. I was bummed when they both retired, but at least they retired before they stopped being funny. I very rarely read the comics anymore because there's hardly anything in there that's good, with the exception of Opus and Fox Trot.

Oh yeah, Fox Trot is very funny! And glad Brinn mentioned Dilbert. How could I forget Dilbert? He adorns a number of our office windows here.

As for a favorite Far Side cartoon, c'mon, drew, it wouldn't be fair for me to just pick one out of so many great ones over the years. Larson was consistently good, and that's why he's one of the great ones.

Oh I agree with that, Just wondering If anyone had a personal Fav..or two or three..or..