Ho..ly..crap! *OR* Who misses the Far Side?

[Miss Anthrope]

You know, maybe the apocalypse IS coming...I just read a funny "Close to Home" comic strip in last Sunday's comic pages. For anyone who doesn't know, "close to home" is a comic by John McPherson which is sort of the "replacement" for "The Far Side", at least in my local paper's Sunday comic section. Ever since Gary Larson stopped doing "The Far Side", "Close to Home" has served as a weekly reminder of how much I miss the Far Side. If there's anything I count on, it's that Close to Home will disappoint me every week.

But not this week! A wife is on an excercise bike saying that she feels like all her working out is making a difference. In the foreground, we see a mischievous husband holdinga box that says "Novelty Bathroom Scale - Shatters into hundreds of pieces when stepped upon!" Not high humor, but funy enough that rather than the look of utter disgust that I give the comic every week, I actually chuckled.

But still, I miss the Far Side! The comic has so much significance in ways you might not even think: Back when i was a kid being bored out of my mind every week by church, there was the good old Far Side, making me laugh constantly while also sneakily teaching me about concepts like evolution. Gary Larson was very influential in my young life, and still is today. Anyone else here a fan?

I've actually been working off and on on a Far Side-like strip to eventually submit to syndicates, you can see two of them here if you'd like:

Click!

And here's a page from a story from my site's title comic that has an appearance by everyone's favorite diety:

Click again!

EDIT: Don't want to go crazy here, but I was just reading through some of the stuff on my site, and I always liked the the last panel of this page:

Click yet again! Don't worry, I'm done!

[curiosityandthecat]

Haha, love the first ones. Very nice.

[McQ]

Yes, I miss the Far Side. Yes, there have been a few less-than-capable comics that have tried to fill Larson's shoes.

And YES! Your stuff is really good!

I mean Really....like this...........................................................................................................much, good!

You are extremely talented. These comics are better than most of the stuff I've seen over the decades. For Pete's sake, man, get published!!!  

[joeactor]

Loved Farside... classic stuff.

I used to read Dr. Fun, but it's hit and miss (they stopped making it in 2006)

Farside Faves:
Birthmark
Crisis Clinic
Airplane Intercom
School for the Gifted

[Miss Anthrope]

Haha, love the first ones. Very nice.

Thank you! Also, thanks for the add on twitter (I know "add" is a MySpace term, but I just can't get used to saying "Thanks for watching me on Twitter!")
Best wished with the move! I'm sure it will be exciting; I'm actually a little jealous! I've been denying my wanderlust for years.

Yes, I miss the Far Side. Yes, there have been a few less-than-capable comics that have tried to fill Larson's shoes.

And YES! Your stuff is really good!

I mean Really....like this...........................................................................................................much, good!

You are extremely talented. These comics are better than most of the stuff I've seen over the decades. For Pete's sake, man, get published!!!

Yeah, I also miss Calvin & Hobbes, another comic that still hasn't seen a true spiritual successor. There are a lot of good webcomics, though, problem is that there is often 1) A lack of quality control and 2) Sometimes the "uncensored" nature of the internet takes way from some forms of humor; not that I'm against R-rated humor, I just mean that it can be very funny, such as with the dark humor of Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes, to see how far the cartoonist can push the envelope and get past censors. Restrictions can lead to more creativity.

Thank you, too, for the kind words! I am definitly sending in my submission within the next couple of months; the main stumbling block has been my freelance work, which often requires me use other styles, and so over the past couple years there's been this process of that affecting the consistency of my strips (and consistency is the MAIN thing the syndicates look for...look at the most unfunny, unartistic comics, and one thing you'll notice is they are consistently unartistic and unfunny), so I've actually had to re-draw many of my comics repeatedly while trying to get a large batch together that all "go together". I'm almost there, though, just have a few more to finish up once I'm done with my current freelance gigs.

Loved Farside... classic stuff.

I used to read Dr. Fun, but it's hit and miss (they stopped making it in 2006)

Farside Faves:
Birthmark
Crisis Clinic
Airplane Intercom
School for the Gifted

I checked out Dr. Fun, a lot of them are pretty funny, though a bit hit and miss (though, really, even the Far Side had hits and misses, its unavoidable; i think with the Far Side, though, there was just such a pervading weirdness that mixed with his understated illustration style; to put it simply, he did the misses "right", and so even the weaker gags seemed funny)

Birthmark, that's the one with deer, right? That was a great one. School for the gifted was classic, I think about it everytime i try to open a door the wrong way!

Anyone who loves the Far Side should get the book "Pre-history of the Far Side", its very common, I've seen it for as low as 2 bucks on Ebay. Gary larson documents his history as a cartoonist (even some crayon drawings from his childhood about his family; they're not actually drawings he did as a kid, so you can imagine what they're like). It's not only a funny, interesting read, but its loaded with unpublished pre-Far Side comics, Far Side comics that the censors rejected, sketches of comics that he didn't even try to get by the censors, and his personallly selected favorites. Highly recommended.

Also, becasue of my desire to get syndicated I'm avoiding putting up too many of my strips on-line, but if anyone here wishes to read more of them, just PM me and i will gladly e-mail a bunch to you.

[Twiddler]

I'm pretty sure it's impossible to hate the Far Side.

[Thom Phelps]

Excellent cartoons, MA! I like your style. And I like that you've actually made the effort to draw each panel.

Your stuff is better than much of what makes it into the papers these days. Not that the papers are going to be around that much longer. I hope you get picked up by a publisher and if you don't get a syndicated strip, then get a book deal.

And if it never happens, that shouldn't keep you from marketing yourself on your own. Self-publishing used to be a dirty word, but in today's Long Tail economy, it's not.

[buttercupbaby]

I lived for it when I was young.   It was absolutely the funniest thing around.   I still buy people the calendars as gifts.

[Thom Phelps]

If you haven't read it, check out "There's a Hair in My Dirt. A Worm's Story" by Larson. Circle of life sort of stuff.

[Miss Anthrope]

I'm pretty sure it's impossible to hate the Far Side.

That one's a classic!

Excellent cartoons, MA! I like your style. And I like that you've actually made the effort to draw each panel.

Your stuff is better than much of what makes it into the papers these days. Not that the papers are going to be around that much longer. I hope you get picked up by a publisher and if you don't get a syndicated strip, then get a book deal.

And if it never happens, that shouldn't keep you from marketing yourself on your own. Self-publishing used to be a dirty word, but in today's Long Tail economy, it's not.

Thank you very much! And yeah, I hope newspapers stick around for a while, but I am considering other methods like you've described.

If you haven't read it, check out "There's a Hair in My Dirt. A Worm's Story" by Larson. Circle of life sort of stuff.

You know, i've been meaning to get that book for years, and I always forget! I'm such a bad fan!

I lived for it when I was young. It was absolutely the funniest thing around. I still buy people the calendars as gifts.

Isn't the staying power of The Far Side amazing? It's been what, 10 years since it ended, and still merchandise is produced.

Like Calvin & Hobbes, it's also free of age related borders; a moderately intelligent child can enjoy it just as much as an adult. Of course, their are a great many strips that I understand more now hat I'm older.

[-43-]

The far side changed my life...no joke.

[Miss Anthrope]

The far side changed my life...no joke.

Ditto.