The real explanation is a lot of far side strips just suck
Eh, this strip makes plenty of sense when put in to context, which @[email protected] did above and @[email protected] did below. Let’s also not forget that Larson was in a whole genre by himself back in 1982, and (IMO) was still experimenting and refining his style, with almost zero direct competition at the time. I do think this strip makes perfect sense back in the day in a sort of mild ‘haha, that’s a bit crazy’ way, and it was certainly unique and ‘good enough’ to be published in 1982.
But… what’s interesting to me is that from my reading of his stuff, Larson got a lot sharper and hit a peak of brilliance from roughly the mid-80’s to the end of the decade, then fell off a cliff after that, meaning IMO his stuff really did suck on the whole, in to the nineties. The way I see it, he’d basically exhausted most of his premises of humor, and IIRC new strips began to pop up occupying the same realm, which were arguably funnier and more inventive.
Not trying to put down Larson at all (I love the Far Side), but I can completely understand that after doing thousands of strips, many of them genre-defining, he ran out of gas / inspiration / dedication. So yeah, for sure some of his stuff “sucks.”
Sure, but I meant in the response to the commenter above saying “a lot of Far Side strips just suck” that ‘sometimes that’s true, but not THIS one, really.’
Probably just caused confusion by tagging you and the other bloke; sorry about that, and lesson learned.
The real explanation is a lot of far side strips just suck
Eh, this strip makes plenty of sense when put in to context, which @[email protected] did above and @[email protected] did below. Let’s also not forget that Larson was in a whole genre by himself back in 1982, and (IMO) was still experimenting and refining his style, with almost zero direct competition at the time. I do think this strip makes perfect sense back in the day in a sort of mild ‘haha, that’s a bit crazy’ way, and it was certainly unique and ‘good enough’ to be published in 1982.
But… what’s interesting to me is that from my reading of his stuff, Larson got a lot sharper and hit a peak of brilliance from roughly the mid-80’s to the end of the decade, then fell off a cliff after that, meaning IMO his stuff really did suck on the whole, in to the nineties. The way I see it, he’d basically exhausted most of his premises of humor, and IIRC new strips began to pop up occupying the same realm, which were arguably funnier and more inventive.
Not trying to put down Larson at all (I love the Far Side), but I can completely understand that after doing thousands of strips, many of them genre-defining, he ran out of gas / inspiration / dedication. So yeah, for sure some of his stuff “sucks.”
Bah, didn’t mean to write an essay. :S
I think you mean @[email protected] but I like the explanation @[email protected] gave much better.
Sure, but I meant in the response to the commenter above saying “a lot of Far Side strips just suck” that ‘sometimes that’s true, but not THIS one, really.’
Probably just caused confusion by tagging you and the other bloke; sorry about that, and lesson learned.