Summary

• Gary Larson's retirement from cartooning left behind a plethora of unproduced Far Side comics, leading to occasional feelings of regret for the artist, as he asked himself: "What else didn't I draw?"
• As part of the preparation of The Complete Far Side two-volume set, Larson revisited his old notebooks, filled with jokes and drawings that never made it to publication, banished to "the Land of the Undrawn" by his decision to stop drawing the series.
• The unproduced ideas showcased by Larson offer insight into the behind-the-scenes process of The Far Side, while his feelings of sadness that these cartoons were never completed emphasizes the artist's emotional tether to his work.

Reflecting on The Far Side several years into his retirement, cartoonist Gary Larson itted that he was at times struck by the melancholy thought of the many comics that were left never to be drawn by his retirement in 1995, after over a decade as the arch-iconoclast of newspaper sections across America.

In his introduction to the final section of The Complete Far Side Volume Two, Larson noted "the one thing that haunt[ed]" him in retirement: the idea of unproduced Far Side comics.

While revisiting his work as the collection was put together, Gary Larson also delved into his old notebooks, pulling out several examples of jokes and drawings that never made it to publication. Though the artist largely remained satisfied with his decision to retire from cartooning, he acknowledged that some hint of regret about the comics he would never complete was, at times, unavoidable.

Gary Larson itted That The Thought Of Unfinished Far Side Comics Made Him Sad

The Tragedy Of The "Undrawn"

In retirement, Larson pursued his other creative ions, including jazz guitar, but the fifteen years drawing daily Far Side comics invariably left a deep, nostalgic imprint on him

When Gary Larson announced that The Far Side would cease publication at the beginning of 1995, it took many long-time fans by surprise – though actually, the artist had been warning readers that he would one day reach his limit for over a decade at that point. With the publication of the two-volume The Complete Far Side collection in 2003, Larson had the opportunity to offer a retrospective on the entirety of his career, as well as its aftermath. According to the author, he was at times struck by the impact of his departure from cartooning. As he put it:

This is just a way of divulging the one thing that haunts me now. Not every day, and sometimes, not for weeks, but sooner or later it creeps into my brain, stays awhile, and leaves a lingering sadness after it's gone. It is this: What else didn't I draw? What other ideas and characters are doomed to remain everlastingly in my inkwell, never to have The Far Side marquee hoisted over their heads, left forever to wander in The Land of the Undrawn?

Although Gary Larson was emphatic that his career as a full-time comic writer and illustrator had to come to an end, his comments about the comics he never got to draw, and the sad feelings associated with it, offer a great insight into his artistic perspective. In retirement, Larson pursued his other creative ions, including jazz guitar, but the fifteen years drawing daily Far Side comics invariably left a deep, nostalgic imprint on him, as would be expected with any artist working on a long-term project – or anyone who devoted as much time and energy to their career as he did.

Gary Larson's Unproduced Far Side Ideas Will Make Readers Yearn For More

What Could Have Been

Along with several more examples the artist shared, the never-completed Far Side ideas shared by Gary Larson will certainly have fans of his work sharing his sadness.

To emphasize his point about the sadness he associated with the Far Side comics languishing in "the Land of the Undrawn," Gary Larson offered readers further insight into his creative process, by describing several ideas from his old notebooks that never became completed s. The artist even itted that one of his own jokes, which never made it to publication, make him chuckle when he re-encountered it for the first time in many years. Larson wrote:

There's a little cartoon – a doodle, really – that I came across in my sketchbook...and despite the fact that I believe there's a rule somewhere that you're not supposed to laugh at your own work, this one caught me off guard. I confess: I laughed.

What I was looking at was a tavern scene where the customers are all praying mantises. One mantis dressed in a rumpled coat tie is sitting by himself at the bar, clutching a stiff drink. He has no head. And with a voice that emanates from somewhere down below his empty collar, he angrily blurts out just one word to the mantis bartender: "Women!"

Along with several more examples the artist shared, the never-completed Far Side ideas shared by Gary Larson will certainly have fans of his work sharing his sadness.

Further, Larson's dissection of the unproduced cartoon offers a unique insight into the behind-the-scenes process of The Far Side. Even he confessed to not being entirely sure why he never finished the "mantis bar" , stating:

It's a cartoon that never got further than my sketchbook, and I'm not sure why. I it, you would have to know something about the sex lives of mantises to recognize this thin slice of natural history buried in among all the other anthropomorphic silliness, but I doubt that would have stayed my hand.

By his own , Gary Larson's notebooks were a mix of sketches, notes-to-self, and even short vignettes, many of which he "adapted" into Far Side cartoons. In all, learning more about the early stages of Larson's creative process provides readers with greater context for those s that did reach publication.

Gary Larson Had Too Many Ideas For Far Side Punchlines To Finish Them All

Survival Of The Fittest Joke

For Gary Larson, the ping of sadness at the thought of unrealized Far Side ideas was a distant, troublesome echo of the feeling of satisfaction that came with finishing a cartoon.

Among the things that stand out the most about Gary Larson's review of unproduced Far Side jokes is how fully-realized they are. Though the artist certainly cherry-picked the funniest – and likely, the most coherent – ideas from his notebooks to share in The Complete Far Side Volume Two, it is still notable how amusing the ideas are at the conceptual level. Take his "invertebrate nightclub" idea, for example:

On another page, I found my half-doodled, half-described idea of a nightclub filled with assorted invertebrates. The dance floor is packed with creatures, all having a good time (I like the imagery already, complete with disco ball), but at a table in the foreground sits a slug couple, dressed to the nines, but – as always – compelled to wait for a slow song.

As this makes clear, the idea wasn't rejected on merit – rather, it was lost in the shuffle of producing a daily comic.

That is to say, other ideas took precedent and found their way to fruition, while the "invertebrate nightclub" was eventually forgotten, though only because of the rapid rate at which Gary Larson generated ideas for The Far Side. Coupled with the artist's self-professed tendency to get distracted, even excellent ideas could sometimes fall by the wayside. In essence, this is the key to Larson's sadness about unproduced Far Side comics; it did not come from the fact that he could still have a career, but rather from the notion that he still had so many good ideas left in him.

For readers, of course, the disappointment of having a finite number of Far Side comics to return to is a product of wanting more of a good thing. For Gary Larson, the ping of sadness at the thought of unrealized Far Side ideas was a distant, troublesome echo of the feeling of satisfaction that came with finishing a cartoon. It was the sense memory of a creator, who is no longer accessing that part of himself. In this way, it is a profound example of an artist's emotional tether to their work, even years after that work has been set aside.

Gary Larson's Unfinished Ideas Are Reminiscent Of Far Side Classics

Variations On A Theme

Even [Gary] Larson's best ideas sometimes hit a snag, or were subsumed by other ideas.

Of the three examples of unfinished Far Side comics shared by Gary Larson, the third is perhaps the funniest, and the one that could most seamlessly fit in with the artist's many memorable depictions of scientists. As Larson wrote:

And then I stumbled on my crude little sketch of the astrophysicists' convention. The scene is an auditorium, and everyone is seated as one of the guest speakers begins his presentation. Only there's apparently been a mistake. The speaker is a farmer, in overalls and brim hat, and he is giving a talk on String Bean Theory.

The punchline here is absolutely classic Gary Larson, making it the most surprising of the three to have not been completed. Once again, however, this emphasizes the fact that even Larson's best ideas sometimes hit a snag, or were subsumed by other ideas.

At the same time, it is worth considering the degree of repetition present in The Far Side. Larson approached the same form and content in many different ways over the years; though the particular jokes cited here were never finished, readers will recognize each as variations on Far Side cartoons that did appear in newspapers throughout the strip's run in publication – featuring, invariably, invertebrates, anthropomorphic animals, and mix-ups that could only happen in the world of Gary Larson and The Far Side.

Source: The Complete Far Side Volume Two