The PreHistory of The Far Side:: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit

Funny and Interesting

This is a great book. Amusing and interesting. You get to see Gary Larson’s sketch of an idea and the published cartoon. You get to read his thoughts about his comics and what he was trying to communicate. Gary Larson’s comics are funny because they aren’t obvious. They touch upon a concept such as how most human beings have a fear of being the oddball / not fitting in and he draws a cartoon with showing a conference and one audience member’s thoughts about how he feels weird because he’s the only one at the conference without a duck (you need to see the cartoon to get it). Or he draws a cartoon showing what it would be like if dogs drove cars and it shows all the dogs driving or riding public transportation with their head hanging out the window because dogs like to take car rides and stick their head out the window (I know, it’s unsafe and not recommended, but you get the joke). He has quite a few cartoons about hunting / nature where you can read the thoughts of the deer or the bear. I don’t get some of his cartoons, especially the ones that involve space aliens. This is a good book; get it and feel amused. Note Bene: Growing up, I was a Garfield fan. I would also read “Cathy” as a third grader and think, “This is such fiction! There’s no actual woman who is constantly frazzled, stressed out, has a love/hate relationship with food, and who can’t find Mr. Right…” and then I turned 40 and realized, “I am Cathy with a cat.” Read more