When I sat down and cracked open Gary Larson's The PreHistory of the Far Side it'd been a long time since I'd read the strip. It's as hilarious as ever. This treasury is particularly wonderful because it contains the origins of the strip, how Larson got his start, and Larson's commentary on some of the cartoons. I found particularly intriguing a chapter containing rejected cartoons, and the reasons for their rejections, and readers' letters of complaint. The book ends with a selection of the cartoonist's own favorite panels. In PreHistory, Larson shows us the bones in the Far Side soup, and its a lot of fun. ( )

Few cartoonists could do as well as Larson does. ( )

FAR too much Hardy Har Animal Cruelty along with a few good funny cartoons and commentary ( )

The PreHistory Of The Far Side; A Tenth Anniversary Exhibit (1989) by Gary Larson. How could you not love The Far Side comics. They are brilliant. Obtuse, involved, bizarre, weird, sometimes mistaken for art, sometimes mistaken for not being art, but funny to the end. If you don’t understand them all, don’t worry as Mr. Larson doesn’t understand them all either. No one understands them all, so don’t feel bad. The point is, these are meant to be funny, like it or not.
I enjoyed the view into the past. There is Pre-Far Side that talks of the artist’s youth. Then we delve into the process that brought Mr. Larson through early days and on into syndication. We can see influences, such as Gahan Wilson, on his early work. Following are panels that were mistakes and the reasons why they were considered as such. And we learn what Mr. Larson learned from that experience. We then go through a section on panels that were rejected as being too… whatever, either by editors or the artist himself.
Finally there is a large section containing many panels of Mr. Larson’s favorites, although the panel I love the most is not included. Rather it is on page 41, an untitled masterpiece.
This is a damn funny book that is only a portion of the brilliance that is the warped Mr. Larson’s gift to the world. Eat it up! ( )

This is a collection of anecdotes, sketches, and yes, cartoons too, showing the humble origins of The Far Side.

Allow me for a moooment to chew the cud, as I ruminate on the many merits of The Far Side. It makes chickens chortle. It makes goats guffaw. It makes spiders snicker. It makes T-rexes titter. It makes bovines bellow. (Certain people seem to find it funny, too.) Mooove over Garfield, because this cartoon takes the cow pie! And maybe I am milking the cow references a little much, but what the hay, right?

Five stars (because cows don't have thumbs). ( )