The Far Side is a popular one-panel comic created
by Gary Larson. Its surrealistic humor is often
based on uncomfortable social situations,
improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the
world, logical fallacies, impending bizarre
disasters, or the search for meaning in life. The
strip ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1,
1995, when it was retired (there were a few
sabbaticals and vacations along the way). The
series was preceded by a similar panel called
Nature's Way, also by Larson.

Around the world, The Far Side is perhaps better
known for the compilation books and merchandise
(especially calendars, T-shirts and mugs) than it
is for its original incarnation as a daily
newspaper feature.
 
Recurring themes
Far Side cartoons, though diverse in their humor,
often rely on certain familiar situations. These
include:

Life on the farm, featuring the antics of farmers
and their animals, especially cows and chickens 
Dogs and/or cats and/or other family pets 
Castaways on a desert island 
Cavemen and dinosaurs 
Scientists in labs 
Explorers and cannibals 
Nerds (with whom Larson admittedly identifies) 
Aliens from outer space 
God, complete with white hair and flowing beard,
as in Michelangelo's artworks 
Devils and life in Hell, as in folklore
stereotypes and Dante's Inferno 
Protozoa and other microscopic creatures 
Mixed metaphors of all kinds 
Far Side cartoons are also known for similarities
that appear throughout the series:

Many of the characters are overweight. 
A majority of the characters wear glasses; most
notably, the women almost always wear catseye
glasses. In situations with non-human characters,
the glasses usually indicate the character's
gender. 
When no glasses are worn, the eyes usually consist
of a simple line. 
The women usually have a beehive hairdo. 
There are always doilies on couches and living
room chairs. 
There are usually framed photos of the
character's species hanging on the wall of the
living room or dining room. 
The recurring caption Trouble Brewing appeared on
a few cartoons throughout the series, as "trouble
brewing" was always a fundamental aspect of
Larson's humor. This theme was used for the 2005
release of the Far Side calendar, with situations
like:

Ed's Dingo Farm next door to Doreen's Daycare 
A falconer meeting next to the 12th Annual Teacup
Poodle Fanciers Picnic 
An angry mob leaving a migraine headaches center
towards a marching band school, with the caption
The dam breaks, which seems to be one iota further
than Trouble Brewing. 
Crutchfield's Crocodile Farm next door to
Anderson's Sky-Diving School 
Larson's sense of humor, while original, can also
be confusing, as in a comic dubbed "Cow Tools",
which was widely misunderstood. Another famous
example requires the reader to know obscure facts
about sea life, a comic that was misunderstood by
a marine-biologist friend of Larson's.

Other times he was a little more obvious, though
some knowledge was assumed, such as the family of
spiders driving a car down the street. The point
of that fanciful situation was the car's bumper
sticker, "Have a Nice Day", featuring a smiley
face with eight eyes.

He also occasionally drew cartoons commenting on
celebrities or current events, although these are
rare. An example is a corollary to the Crutchfield
joke: What really happened to D.B. Cooper, showing
a wide-eyed parachutist, laden with extortion
money and heading down into the heart of a
Rottweiler farm.

Publishing history
Gary Larson has produced 23 Far Side books, all of
which made it to the New York Times bestseller
list. The cartoons were first collected in small
books (see list below), and some were then
republished in larger "best-of" collections (The
Far Side Galleries). Additional "best-of"
collections were published, such as The Prehistory
of The Far Side, culminating in the final, most
complete publication, The Complete Far Side.

The small collections:

09-1982 The Far Side 
08-1983 Beyond The Far Side 
08-1984 In Search Of The Far Side 
04-1985 Bride Of The Far Side 
08-1985 Valley Of The Far Side 
08-1986 It Came From The Far Side 
04-1987 Hound Of The Far Side 
10-1987 The Far Side Observer 
07-1988 Night of the Crash Test Dummies 
04-1989 Wildlife Preserves 
10-1990 Wiener Dog Art 
11-1991 Unnatural Selections 
11-1992 Cows Of Our Planet 
11-1993 The Chickens Are Restless 
11-1994 The Curse of Madame "C" 
10-1996 Last Chapter And Worse — this last
collection was published after the end of the
strip 

Other books:

11-1984 The Far Side Gallery 
10-1986 The Far Side Gallery 2 
10-1988 The Far Side Gallery 3 
01-1989 The Prehistory of the Far Side: A 10th
Anniversary Exhibit 
10-1993 The Far Side Gallery 4 
09-1995 The Far Side Gallery 5 
04-1998 There's a Hair in My Dirt! — this book is
not a collection of single panels 
08-2003 The Complete Far Side: 1980-1994 
The five Far Side Galleries are the most popular
of the books, each of them collecting together the
best cartoons from three smaller books, along with
a humorous foreword by a celebrity fan, e.g.
Stephen King, Robin Williams, or Jane Goodall (who
herself was the subject of a controversial Far
Side cartoon).

In 1989, The Prehistory Of The Far Side was
published to celebrate the tenth anniversary of
the strip. In this book, Gary Larson discussed the
development of The Far Side, the public's
reaction to it, and presented a selection of his
personal favorites from the cartoon's history, as
well as previously unpublished sketches and strips
rejected by his editor.

In 1994, Larson produced an animated special,
Tales From the Far Side, featuring his art style
and gags from the strips. He followed with a
sequel in 1997.

In 2003, The Complete Far Side was released, which
contains nearly every Far Side comic ever
published. (The collection is missing parody art
pieces from Wiener Dog Art and some The Prehistory
Of The Far Side material) The set featured two
volumes (1980-1986 and 1987-1994), a foreword by
Steve Martin, and an introduction by Larson's
long-time editor Jake Morrisey. The first-edition
hardcover boxed set weighs nineteen and a half
pounds (8.8 kilograms).

Online
It is difficult to find many Far Side cartoons
online since Larson (and/or his publishers and
lawyers) have been very effective at persuading
people to not infringe on his copyright. There is
a widely distributed letter online, attributed to
Gary Larson, in which he explains the "emotional
cost" to him of people displaying his cartoons on
their websites, and asks them to stop doing so.

External links
Gary Larson's The Far Side (official site) 
Toonopedia entry on The Far Side 

Retrieved from
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Far_Side"