Essential book for "Far Side" fans: So you've got the massive two-volume "Complete Far Side" and figure you're all set, Gary Larson-wise. If so, you're a few cows short of a herd, because you need this book to round out your collection. It's not just a collection of his comics. The book has a discussion of how his career as a cartoonist got started and has examples of his previous effort, a one-newspaper comic in the same style as "The Far Side." It goes on to show particular cartoons, with his comments on them, both positive and negative, on how they worked, where ideas came from or even the mechanics of drawing them, amongst other criteria. He also shares some sketchbook drawings, some of which led to final, published comics and some which did not. (One of the latter, about a frontiersman named Jeremiah and rhubarb, would have been a good one.) And he discusses how editing had sometimes unexpectedly changed his cartoons, and he relates the letters from people about specific cartoons, some very negative as you might imagine; for certain ones, he engages in a detailed discussion of what he tried to do, contrasting this with how others saw it upon publication. Larson also shares some UNpublished panels, some of which are hilarious. There's also a giant picture of a louse. He ends with a generous helping of his favorite panels, some in color. All in all, it's a lot of fun, and it gives a lot of insight into how Larson went about creating his famous comic that so many of us miss seeing in our newspapers daily.

The author Larson is even funnier than the cartoonist Larson, because he has more space for the humorous dramatic tension. My favorites are the purportedly childhood sketch of the Halloween "black ghost" and his comment on a friend's suggestion for a better caption: "He was right, dammit."

I loved this cartoon when it was running in the paper - it's the sort of thing that teenagers with a naturalist bent eat up. The best cartoons, like the ones that Larson includes as his favorites, are pointed commentaries on things humans take for granted, often using the animal kingdom to point out our weird view of the world. ( )

The Far Side, with its single panel format strips about cows, chickens, dorky people, and random oddity, set the standard for quirky, weird humor. This collection serves as a sort of "behind the scenes" look at the development and history of the strip, as well as including some of the funniest panels produced by Larson.

The book is divided into broad sections. The first "The Fossil Record" is, in my opinion, probably the least interesting. Larson purports to include a collection of drawings he made as a child, but they seem to me to be fairly obviously a made up collection he penned specifically for the book, which makes them funny, but not particularly so.

The book picks up speed from that point - in the next chapter Larson discusses his odd path to becoming a cartoonist, shows pages from his sketchbook and compares them with the final product that arose from the initial sketchbook idea (or which he believes arose from a particular sketchbook idea, his memory seems fuzzy on some points), and shows unused ideas his sketch book (including the infamous "Jesus risen from the dead" sketch). Finally, Larson spices up a handful of strips with some background storylines.

Larson then goes on in the next chapter to show some bizarre mistakes that cropped up in the process from artist table to editor to newsprint. He also shows some subtle elements of some strips featuring some of the drawing tricks the single panel format require him to use. He then shows a series of cartoons accompanied by the various angry letters he has received from outraged readers (usually because they were misinterpreting a strip) and a gallery of cartoons rejected by one editor or another (often accompanied by a subsequent modified version that was accepted).

The book finishes off with a large collection of Larson's favorite panels from the run of the strip. As he explains, a collection of the most popular strips would be boring, but a collection of the strips he liked best can serve to give insight into the mind of the cartoonist. And this book does that very well, from start to finish. For any fan of The Far Side reading this book is a necessity. It may not be as interesting to someone who is not a fan of the strip (I guess someone out there might fit that description, even if I haven't met them), but even for those not enamored of talking cows and evil chickens it remains a fascinating glimpse into the creative mind at work. ( )

This is a gem for any "Far Side" fan. Comic artist Gary Larsen takes us through the history of this beloved comic, from its beginnings, early sketches, many drafts, to a highlight of some of the more famous panels. My favorite part is the bloopers, where Larsen shows what went wrong along the way. He admits his own mistakes, such as the infamous one-panel head-scratcher "Cow Tools," to newspaper editors' oopsies, like when the caption to "Dennis the Menace" was switched with the caption of "the Far Side," with hilarious results.

Larsen's geeky sense of humor is prevalent throughout, and in this volume he uses it to tackle self-awareness. Readers get a taste of audience reaction, from hate mail to a certificate announcing that a bug has been named for Larsen. It's all fascinating, pure fun. ( )

If I had to recommend a single book to someone new to The Far Side, it would definitely be this one. ( )