First ‘Far Side’ Comic Published in 25 Years But Now We Want More

January 1, 1995, was a bad day. If you were alive in the ’90s and you were anything like us, you eagerly awaited the new Far Side comic strip every weekend in the newspaper. Creator and illustrator Gary Larson had brought us his humorous outlook of the world for 15 years. On the first of January in 1995, all that ended. That’s the date Larson’s last comic was published, and he retired. Sure, we still had books chock full of his comics as well as wall and desk calendars. But, for 25 years, we didn’t hear from Larson. He was retired and, as the years went by, any thought of seeing a new comic seemed very unlikely. But, out of nowhere, he released a new cartoon.

On July 7, Larson dropped the first new comic strip in 25 years. But, it wasn’t in the comic section of your local newspaper. It was on his website. Previously, the cartoonist made all of his cartoons with pen and paper, but in 2020, he’s branched out to the digital world.

“I don’t want to mislead anyone here,” he wrote in an open letter on his site. “This corner of the website … is not a resurrection of The Far Side daily cartoons. (Well, not exactly, anyway—like the proverbial tiger and its stripes, I’m pretty much stuck with my sense of humor. Aren’t we all?).”

Even though he’s been retired for 25 years, he still drew a Christmas card every year.

“Once a year, I’d sit myself down to take on Santa, and every year it began with the same ritual: me cursing at, and then cleaning out, my clogged pen,” he wrote.

He wrote that a few years ago, he got tired of his a pen and decided to try his hand at digital illustrating.

“I knew nothing about these devices but hoped it would just get me through my annual Christmas card ordeal. I got one, fired it up, and lo and behold, something totally unexpected happened: within moments, I was having fun drawing again.”

It’s great that modern technology has rekindled Larson’s love for humoring all of us. Since that day in July, he’s posted three comics. One involved a person in the middle of a city attempting to hail a “taxi-dermist” cab full of stuffed animals, bears enjoying a cub scout dinner, and alien hunters talking about the rules of “probe and release.” These comics have only whet our appetite and we can’t wait to see what Larson comes up with next.

Photo: Gary Larson/FarWorks, Inc.

Meanwhile in Florida: Man Trapped on Property With 200 Parrots, Neighbors Send Condolences to the Parrots

Weird News: Michigan Library Wants People To Stop Microwaving Books, Please and Thank You

Visit the Mandatory Shop for great deals on your very own Mandatory merch.

Follow Mandatory on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.