Engrossed Reader's Reviews> The Far Side Gallery

If you've never seen a Gary Larson cartoon then where have you been?

Reading them 10, 15 years ago, they were laugh out loud. Now, it's more of a mild, wry amusement.

They are slightly surreal, almost timeless bar the no pc ones regarding stereotypes of cowboys, Native Americans, dumb scientists, nagging wives, and stupid husbands. Actually the list of featured stereotypes goes on and on.

Really a significant number wouldn't be published now as they are wide of the mark and would be easily taken out of context. For instance, lynching will never be funny for certain groups because of the connotations of black murder and personal experience or generational hurt. Despite the fact that in one cartoon the thrust of the joke is the busibody wife, who is berating the menfolk for being unprepared.

These cartoons frequently feature animals in compromising and unusual set ups having first anthropomorphised them.
But all that notwithstanding, these cartoons are still entertaining. There's annoying neighbours, odd first dates, vengeful animals, aliens from their perspective and much more.

Read on in the knowledge that you may not find every panel interesting or tasteful but that doesn't mean they shouldn't exist or be cancelled.