The Far Side - Design Overview

Design Overview

Most The Far Side cartoons are a single rectangular panel, occasionally split into small sections of four, six, or eight for the purposes of a storyline. A caption or dialogue usually appears under the panel as typed text, although word-balloons are sometimes used for conversations. Sunday comics were double-sized, done in watercolor or colored pencils, with captions handwritten in Larson's own cursive.

Most of Larson's comics relied on some combination of a visual and verbal gag, rather than just one or the other. Some recurring themes in the comic include people being stranded on desert islands, aliens, heaven, hell and the life of cavemen. Many cartoons focused on animals, especially cows, bears, dogs, flies and ducks. Notably, virtually all human characters portrayed in the comic were overweight or obese, and usually wearing glasses.

Larson was recognized for his work on the strip with the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1985 and 1988, and their Reuben Award for 1990 and 1994.

The Complete Far Side and The Prehistory of The Far Side include letters from angry readers alongside the comics. The letters were written to newspaper publishers and often demanded the removal of The Far Side. Despite these protests, The Far Side remained popular and continued to run in many newspapers. Larson himself often laughs at the controversies as evidenced in The Prehistory of The Far Side, in which he writes that the people complaining have usually misunderstood the cartoon.