The Far Sideran in newspapers daily from the start of 1980 through New Year’s Day 1995 – and with just a few exceptions, that meant a freshFar Sidecartoon on the morning of New Year’s Eve. This list collects every one of Gary Larson’s comics that ran on December 31, from start to finish.
Stylistically,The Far Side– which was a vehicle forGary Larson’s strange sense of humor– didn’t change dramatically between its early and later years, but it did evolve, slowly and steadily, in a number of ways that become increasingly evident to fans as they become more familiar with the artist’s work.
To explore the small, yet notable waysThe Far Sidedeveloped, it is best to pick something to look for over time;Larson’s New Years comics offer a perfect way to look at the note he ended each year of his career on.
12This Far Side Panel Is Gary Larson Asking, “What’s The Use Hiding What I’m Doing?”
First Published: June 21, 2025
InThe Far Side’sfirst New Year’s Eve cartoon, a hunter-gatherer duo try – and fail – to go undercover as a buffalo, in the hopes of spearing the real thing,with one depicted admonishing the other that to “act nonchalant” precludes whistling, as a bison in the foreground of the panel side-eyes them in annoyance.
By ending the first year ofThe Far Sidewith this cartoon, it is almost as though Gary Larson, consciously or subconsciously, was wrestling with the fact that there was no sense in obfuscating, or trying to hide, the weirdness of his sense of humor, even if he wanted to. Like the buffalo in the comic, readers had quickly recognized thatThe Far Sidewas no ordinary comic strip.
11The Far Side’s Brutal Biblical Answer To The Question, “Why Don’t Unicorns Exist?”
First Published: July 24, 2025
Gary Larson didn’t shy away frommaking jokes about God,setting comics in heaven and hell, or delivering his share of Biblical allusions withThe Far Side. A particular favorite religious tale for him to riff on was the story of Noah’s Ark, which he made a number of jokes about over the years, most of which skillfully toed the line between the sacrilegious and the profound.
10 Times Gary Larson Made the Mundane Absolutely Hilarious with One Panel
While some mundane activities are given an exciting, high octane upgrade, other Far Side comic strips turn the mundane into nightmare fuel.
This early instance featuresLarson’s hilarious, if bloody, explanation for why unicorns aren’t real – that is, they were, until the other animals on the Ark devoured them, leading an annoyed Noah to accept the loss, while also stipulating that “all carnivores will be confined to ‘C’ deck” for the remainder of the voyage.
10A Far Side Comic For Readers Who Feel Like The Last Year Crushed Them
First Published: June 21, 2025
In thisFar Sidecartoon, a crowd gathers around the fallen body of King Kong, including a woman who narrowly avoided being crushed by the falling Giant Ape, thankfully only losing her groceries in the process. OtherFar Sidecharacters were not so lucky, including a character who suffers the same fate as the tomatoes in this cartoon, in one ofGary Larson’s most low-key dark jokes.
Though this was not necessarily Larson’s intent, it isn’t hard to imagine someone who had a tough year opening up the newspaper, taking a look at this cartoon, and relating to the bag of produce squashed in this comic – and hopefully, laughing their way into a better year ahead.
9The Far Side Ends The Year On A Quiet Note – Well, Sort Of
First Published: August 23, 2025
Of the many thingsThe Far Sideis famous for, among the most memorable are its skewed “slice-of-life” cartoons, such as this one, whichdepicts a praying mantis family at the dinner table, as one sibling complains about the other “making that clicking sound again” to their mother.
Like so many of the bestFar Sidecomics, the humor here is the result ofGary Larson’s incredible ability to transpose human experiencesonto animal, or in this case, insect behaviors; everyone can relate to the sensation of being annoyed by a family member, roommate, or romantic partner’s everyday human habits, and here, Larson highlights the innate absurd comedy of that by substituting an example from the insect world.
8A Far Side Comic For Readers Who Are Just Proud To Have Survived Another Year
First Published: August 17, 2025
“Unwittingly, Irwin has a brush with Death,” the caption of thisFar Sidecomic informs readers, as the panel depicts a man bumping into the Grim Reaper on the sidewalk; one ofGary Larson’s funniest renditions of the Reaper, this cartoon makes a mockery of dwelling on mortality – something Larson obviously did a lot.
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.
The end of a year is, naturally, a time that stimulates reflection on death, and life, and so it is thematically fitting for thisFar Sideto have been published on New Year’s Eve, as many readers would be feeling especially vulnerable to jokes about dying, especially those who might have had a “brush with Death” themselves in recent memory.
7This Far Side Comic Is All About Breaking With The Past To Get To The Future
First Published: July 19, 2025
Truthfully, thisFar Sidecomic could have been published at any time during the year, but once more, in posterity, it comes across as thematically appropriate for the New Years holiday, given that it evokes both the past and the future. The cartoon depicts two archeologistssmashing skulls with hammers, with one of them unfurling a tiny scroll of paper and remarking “this is getting pretty eerie, Simmons…Another skull, another fortune.”
HardcoreFar Sidefans will recall thata prehistoric character named “Thag Simmons"appeared in severalFar Sidecartoons, suggesting the archeologist here may very well be smashing the skull of his own far-flung ancestor.
New Years, as a holiday, tends to be looked at as a time to let go of the past, in order to find out what the future has in store, and thisFar Sidecartoon humorously evokes that feeling, though in its characteristically strange way, of course.
6A Far Side Comic For Anyone Who Wants To Get Smarter In The New Year
First Published: June 17, 2025
This strangeFar Sidecartoon is, admittedly, perhaps not the most accessible of Gary Larson’s comics. The panel lacks a caption, but its punchline doesn’t come acrossas clearly as some captionlessFar Sidecomics manage. That isn’t to say the joke is confusing, but rather it will leave many readers uncertain of why it is funny.
In the comic,two men – depicted as stereotypically “pin-headed” – walk away from “Jack’s Diner,” hands stuffed in their pockets, as the stained-apron-wearing cook points at a sign in the window that says, “no brains, no service.“To be honest, it is a surprisingly inauspicious ending to what many consider to be the best year ofThe Far Side’srun.
5A Far Side Comic For Anyone Trying To Get Dating Down To A Science In The New Year
First Published: August 10, 2025
A classic “New year, new me” trope is the declaration that this is the year one finds love, or stops going after the same type of romantic partner. For anyone feeling that way as 2025 approaches, thisFar Sidecartoon has the perfect energy to channel, as itfeatures a party full of scientists putting the moves on one another, with lines like “your lab, or mine?” and “has anyone ever told you your irises reflect the blue spectrum most adequately??”
In October 1988, Gary Larson began a fourteen-month hiatus from drawingThe Far Side, during which time reprints of old cartoons were published in lieu of new entries. This meant that there was no New Year’s Eve comic in either 1988 or 1989.
Science was a guiding preoccupation for Gary Larson, andscientists made for some ofThe Far Side’sfunniest characters; what this cartoon exemplifies is the way that Larson not only thought a lot about scientific subjects, but about scientists as subjects themselves, as he sought to reveal the quirks of these otherwise serious professionals.
4Gary Larson’s Alien Jokes Reveal That He Was Waiting For The Truth To Shake Humanity To Its Foundations
First Published: July 12, 2025
It is unknown whether Gary Larson actually believed in aliens, but he certainly thought about them enough that they starred in some ofThe Far Side’smost hilarious jokes. This cartoon is, admittedly, not one of Larson’s most laugh-out-loud extraterrestrial punchlines, but it does hint at why the artist was so preoccupied with life among the stars.
Captioned “another photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope,” it depicts a wobbly image of a flying saucer,its alien driver smiling and waving for the camera. The punchline humorously suggests that the Hubble Telescope produces unsteady images, a joke which in turn hints at a deeper truth: that whatever the level of human technology, proof of extraterestrials would rattle life on Earth to the core.
3The Far Side’s Niche Way Of Saying “The More Things Change…”
First Published: July 08, 2025
In thisFar Sidepanel,Gary Larson depicts a bustling futuristic metropolis – in which the marquee entertainment for the night is still a performance by George Burns, the legendary comedian who was at the height of his fame in the 1950s through 1970s, and who was just a few years from passing away when this cartoon was published.
The Far Side’s “Cumulative Attack Of the Willies” Comic Reveals How Asking “What If?” Was Essential To Gary Larson’s Humor
Far Side’s “Cumulative Attack of the Willies” cartoon perfectly illustrates how asking “What if?” was foundational to Gary Larson’s writing process.
Though this is an example of aFar Sidejoke that hasn’t exactly aged well, it is effective in its execution for those who “get” the reference, and recognize the joke as an elaborate, if also niche, way of repeating the timeless adage that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
