The Far Sidewas famous – and as a result of several panels, even infamous – for making countless cow jokes over the years, andaccording to creator Gary Larson, these livestock characters offer the perfect illustration of how his skills as an artist developedduring his fifteen-year tenure as a professional cartoonist.
InThe Complete Far Side Volume Two, Larson cited the progression of his cow drawings while ruminating on how cartoonists develop their skills. Given thatThe Far Sidewas the product of a singular style, it is worth exploring in more detail how and why such an iconic, idiosyncratic sense of humor took shape.
From the ultimate head-scratcher –the “Cow Tools” comic widely consideredThe Far Side’smost confusingof all time – to more banal bovine depictions, the evolution of both Larson’s humor and his artistic acuity can be traced by studying his use of cows as subjects.
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Gary Larson On How His Cows Reflect The Evolution Of The Far Side’s Art Style
First Published: July 22, 2025
Taking a closer look at the cows in question, readers will discover there is an unsteady, almost uncertain quality to them.
According to Gary Larson, there is a quantifiable difference between the quality of his art at the start ofThe Far Side’srun in publication, vs. the work he was capable of producing at the end of its run. With the exception of several extended breaks, Larson worked on theFar Sideyear-round for the entirety of the 1980s, through the mid-90s, amounting to thousands of cartoons in total. In other words, he certainly put in the “10,000 hours” of hard work often cited as the threshold for becoming an expert at something, and then some.
InThe Complete Far Side Volume Two, Larson noted that his growth as an artist was evident in the contrast between his early cows and their later equivalents. He wrote:
My first cow would have made a bad cave painting. My last cow was up there with a best Neanderthal artist you could throw at me.
Of course, Larson’s commentary on his own work inThe Complete Far Sideis saturated with his characteristic humor – but at every turn, there are gold-like nuggets of truth buried in the soil of irreverence that the artist packs into every sentence. In this case, it is worth comparing and contrasting his earliest and latest cow comics to understand what separates the two.
Larson’s first cow comic is a riff on real history: a pair of cows watch in satisfaction as the Great Chicago fire rages, the caption revealing they orchestrated the catastrophe, famously caused when a cow knocked over a lantern. Taking a closer look at the cows in question, readers will discover there is an unsteady, almost uncertain quality to them. While Gary Larson’s artwork was rarely entirely pristine, or flawless – nor did it need to be –in contrast with his later cows, it becomes clearThe Far Side’screator was still finding his footing early on.
The Far Side’s Cows' Final Appearance Shows How Far Gary Larson Came As An Artist
First Published: July 26, 2025
The cows in 1980’s “Great Chicago Fire” cartoon can best be described as uneven; here, they are smooth, sleek even. There is a sense of fullness to this image that the earlier cartoon lacks.
ThoughThe Far Side’sartistic style is widely recognizable, it is important to note that Gary Larson employed several distinct techniques from panel-to-panel. Larson alternated between full-color panels in the style of paintings and black-and-white pencil sketches. A progression of his abilities can be traced through both of these kinds ofFar Sidecartoon, though it is fitting – at least, for the sake of comparison – that the strip’s cows began and ended in the same vein. This makes the differences between the depiction of the bovines even more apparent.
Depicting a scene on Noah’s ark, this lateFar Sidecartoon offers pairs of animals including giraffes, elephants, sheep, horses – and of course, cows. The cows in 1980’s “Great Chicago Fire” cartoon can best be described as uneven; here, they are smooth, sleek even. There is a sense of fullness to this image that the earlier cartoon lacks. In a sense,this embodies the level of confidence that Gary Larson felt at the end of his career, as opposed to when he was first starting out.
Crucially, Gary Larson’s art was not an end-in-itself, but rather one half of a two-part delivery system for his humor. In other words, the function ofThe Far Side’simagery was always as important as its form. However, this is where the two effectively become one and the same – to Larson, detail was of supreme importance to creating a successfulFar Sidecomic, and so it was vital that he improve on the form of his art, so as to elevate its function.
The Far Side Complete Collection
Fans of the far side can’t pass up this master collection of Gary Larson’s finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
Cows proliferated inThe Far Sidebecause, like all the comic’s recurring elements, they fascinated and amused Gary Larson. Further, their proximity to human society made them the perfect proxies for lampooning human behavior.
Gary Larson’s reflection on how his cow illustrations developed over time came in the context ofThe Far Sidecreator sharing his view on the way artists improve – that is, through voluminous repetition.Rather than setting out to refine how he drew cows, Larson simply kept drawing cows, and over time his version of cows became more dialed-in, more specific, and more visually interesting. As he put it, this was more of a natural process of growth, instead of an enforced learning curve.
Cows proliferated inThe Far Sidebecause, like all the comic’s recurring elements, they fascinated and amused Gary Larson; he found them to be an endlessly funny variable to insert into a punchline. Further, their proximity to human society made them the perfect proxies for lampooning human behavior. Though their relationship to humanity is in one sense radically different from that of, say, another canine mainstay, dogs, cows are nevertheless just as essential to society, and have since practically the dawn of civilization –another perennial fascination of Larson’s.
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For aFar Sidereader, a cow is an immediate touchstone, a waypoint by which they can attempt to triangulate the panel’s punchline if they get lost on the way there.
From the timeThe Far Sideentered publication in 1980, Gary Larson quickly developed a reputation for obscure, and overly-subtle humor, something that became more pronounced, rather than diminishing, as he became more confident as an artist and a humorist.If there was one thing that mitigated this tendency, which Larson did to make his comics easier for readers to access, it was the use of familiar recurring elements that readers quickly learned to grab hold ofand cling to for dear life, as if they were one ofThe Far Side’smany characters lost at sea.
Larson’s cows remain among the most immediately recognizable examples of that – to the point where they may even precipitate a smile before the cartoon’s joke has even registered. For aFar Sidereader, a cow is an immediate touchstone, a waypoint by which they can attempt to triangulate the panel’s punchline if they get lost on the way there. Over time, Gary Larson’s skill at drawing cows certainly progressed, but this vital function, once established, became a fixed feature ofThe Far Side.
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.
