“Compared To the Next Cartoon, It’s Very Normal”: Far Side’s Longtime Editor On What Made Gary Larson’s Creative Process So Unique

According to The Far Side’s editor, Gary Larson’s creative process was more akin to that of a novelist, rather than a cartoonist – which is exactly what led him to produce such singular, irreplicable work over the course of his career. For artists, Larson’s process offers an insight into how to create work that is unmistakably their own.

In his introduction to The Complete Far Side Volume One, Larson’s long-time editor, Jake Morrissey, explained how Gary Larson differed from his peers at the process level, not just in the final product on the page. As Morrissey explained, Far Side cartoons started at the level of the premise, rather than being derived from their punchline.

That is to say, as Far Side readers will expect, while everyone went about cartooning in one conventional way, Larson swam upstream against the current, forging his own path through the industry – or, in other words, doing things in reverse.

Gary Larson Started With A Premise And Found His Way To A Punchline

The Far Side’s Editor Explains Larson’s Process

As Jake Morrissey revealed, most cartoonists actually work backwards; they create a set-up to suit the payoff that they want to deliver. Gary Larson, by contrast, began with an idea, having little or no idea of where it would take him until he started doodling. That meant that, at times, he got lost along the way – explaining, in part, why so many Far Side jokes were lost on readers throughout its run. At the same time, this process was at the heart of The Far Side’s wild and unpredictable nature, which was ultimately what made it a success.

Morrissey’s introduction to The Complete Far Side is framed around his rediscovery of old notes from Gary Larson, commenting on his own work, in which he wrote things like:

I have no idea why I drew this or what it means, but compared to the next cartoon, it’s very normal.

As much as Gary Larson’s work can be summed up in a single sentence, the artist himself has seemingly put forward the best example here. “Normal” is always subjective, but when it came to The Far Side, a comic’s “normalcy” or “weirdness” could only be determined according to an internal scale, in relation to other Far Side comics.

In any case, looking back on The Far Side, and his fruitful creative collaboration with Gary Larson, prompted Morrissey to marvel at the artist’s approach to his work, and what made it so special. The Far Side’s editor wrote:

Rereading Gary’s notes, I am struck by how open he is to his own creativity, how willing he is to be guided by it. Several mention that his initial ideas for cartoons turned into (pupated?) panels that differed markedly from their inspiration.

As described by Jake Morrissey, what made Gary Larson stand out among cartoonists was that his creative process was organic, rather than mechanical. That is to say, a Far Side cartoon grew, rather than being constructed. Far Side cartoons were a product of evolution, rather than design.

The Far Side’s Editor On What Made Gary Larson More Than A Garden-Variety Creator

A Novelist’s Approach To Cartooning

It is particularly interesting, as noted by Jake Morrissey in The Complete Far Side, how Gary Larson’s creative process was distinct from other cartoonists, especially considering its similarity to the process described by many prose authors. Morrissey went on to write:

What continues to interest me about Gary Larson the cartoonist is how his methods differ from those of his peers. Many cartoonists begin with a gag, a punchline, and write toward it. Gary begins with the seed of an idea, which often doesn’t feel traditionally funny, and then tends it a bit to take root.

Here, Morrissey employs a gardening metaphor, which often appears in discourse about writing. Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin often describes himself as a gardener, while George Saunders – arguably the king of the American short story over the last three decades – advises against rigidly plotting out stories, in favor of letting characters, plot, and themes grow naturally.

It is fair to say, then, that Gary Larson employed a novelist’s approach to cartooning, which was what made The Far Side so spectacular. That is, it was a spectacle to watch a novel’s worth of ideas play out on a day-by-day basis in the funny pages of American newspapers. As much as each Far Side was intended to be engaged with in isolation, it is inevitable for contemporary readers to consider it in total, this view of Larson’s corpus makes a study of his entire career more meaningful.

In other words, artists working in all different kinds of mediums might look to Gary Larson as inspiration, as they consider how they can approach their own work in unconventional, or unexpected ways, so that they might produce art that is as extraordinary and distinctive as The Far Side. Meaning, a study of Larson’s process might prompt prose writers to consider what they can learn from musicians, musicians what they might learn from painters, painters what they can pick up from authors, and so on.

The Far Side’s Editor Explains What Makes Gary Larson An “Exceptional” Creator

The “Subversively Exhilarating” Quality Of The Comic

As Jake Morrissey summed up, the organic quality of Gary Larson’s creative process was foundational to The Far Side’s success, and underlies what makes it enduringly fascinating to this day. Morrissey explained:

What’s so exceptional about The Far Side is that sometimes what sprouts isn’t what anyone expects, least of all Gary: He plants what he thinks is a carrot, and it turns out to be a cabbage. It is this sense of not quite knowing how something will come out that makes The Far Side subversively exhilarating.

There is another saying popular among writers: “no surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” That is precisely what Morrissey is pointing to here as an indispensable part of what makes The Far Side so great. Gary Larson’s ability to subvert his own expectations allowed him to continually swerve, surprise, and even shock readers.

Creative individuals, in particular, should take this lesson to heart. While Far Side fans will appreciate this behind-the-scenes insight into the strip, artists will hopefully find motivation to reframe their own approach to their work. For many people, “not quite knowing how something will come out” is intimidating, and represents an inhibition to producing work. That is to say, it is one root cause of writer’s block, or equivalent artistic struggles. However, if that switch can be flipped, it can become the basis of a person’s creative flourishing.

Gary Larson Deserves To Be Recognized As A Pivotal 20th Century Artist

Rethinking The Far Side’s Legacy

When the great artists of the 20th century are discussed, Gary Larson’s name might not necessarily be at the top of many people’s minds – but he absolutely should be. Given The Far Side’s position of prominence in American newspapers, his work reached a more consistent audience than all but the most successful films and TV programs; it’s not out of line to say that more people probably remember reading The Far Side than have finished the books that perennially top of list of greatest 20th century novels.

The Far Side helped to inoculate American audiences against the increasingly absurdist humor that has come to dominate culture, especially in the internet age. Larson’s work helped sharpen a generation of readers’ sense of satire, and even more foundationally, their sense of what is funny – even if that was defined by a rejection, rather than an embrace of The Far Side. As more readers continue to discover The Far Side in the future, hopefully, a more widespread appreciation of Gary Larson’s impact will take root in the popular imagination.

The Far Side

The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.