The Complete Far Side - Book One by Gary LarsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Complete Far Side - Book One collects Far Side comics from January 1980 to June 1984.
I had this on my wishlist forever, waiting for it to fall into my cheapness zone. Fortunately, my wife bought it for me sometime after the collapse of society. It may have been an effort to stave off cabin fever for another week or two or perhaps a Father's Day gift.
Anyway, The Far Side is one of those legendary comic strips. I was a little young for the humor during its initial run so I had an ambition to reread it. I'm sure Gary Larson never intended for anyone to read four and a half years of his strip in less than 24 hours but this was a great read.
The strip is a little rocky at first as Larson finds his footing but things heat up pretty quickly. Some of the humor is a lot darker than I remember. I wouldn't say any of the strips had me laughing out loud but I grinned or smirked quite a bit. Some of them were thinkers and others flew over my head altogether.
While the strip was just getting rolling, all the pieces were in place, from the absurdist humor to the bumbling scientists to those damn cows that are in one strip out every six. The temptation for me to compare this to Calvin and Hobbes is strong but that's like comparing apples and oranges. The Far Side is more like the Family Circus and it beats the living shit out of the Family Circus on every conceivable level. Fuck the Family Circus.
While I consumed it in a way far faster than nature and Gary Larson intended, The Complete Far Side - Book One was an amusing read. Bring on the next four year chunk! Four out of five cows.
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