8 ‘Far Side’ Comics That Prove Gary Larson Is a Genius, Ranked

2 weeks ago 17

Published Sep 26, 2026, 11:39 PM EDT

Shawn Van Horn is a Senior Author for Collider. He's watched way too many slasher movies over the decades, which makes him an aficionado on all things Halloween and Friday the 13th. Don't ask him to choose between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees because he can't do it. He grew up in the 90s, when Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and TGIF were his life, and still watches them religiously to this day. Larry David is his spirit animal. His love for entertainment spreads to the written word as well. He has written two novels and is neck deep in the querying trenches. He is also a short story maker upper and poet with a dozen publishing credits to his name. He lives in small town Ohio, where he likes to watch professional wrestling and movies.

In the 1980s and 1990s, when newspaper comic strips were at their peak, the "funnies" were often quick workplace or family stories meant to elicit a chuckle before we moved on to the next and nothing more.

Some comics, however, were incredibly smart and caused the reader to pause and think more about the themes past the initial laugh. Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes was great at this. So was Gary Larson's The Far Side, which had the challenge of saying so much with just one panel. These eight examples prove just how brilliant the cartoonist was.

8 Monsters on Top of the Bed

Monsters fear the kid on top of the bed in 'The Far Side'

For generations, every kid has feared the monster under the bed. We know there's nothing under there during the day, and our parents can come in and check at night, but it doesn't diminish the fear of the unknown. It's so common that Pixar made Monsters, Inc. about those monsters and what they do away from their night job of scaring children. In this Far Side panel, the twist is that the monsters under the bed aren't there to scare anyone — they're there because this is where they sleep. Even they have their fears as well. What waits on top of the bed creeps them out. According to Gary Larson, everyone fears what they cannot see.

7 A Dry Fish Basement

The Earth is three-quarters water. As humans, we only pay attention to the dry land we live on, where water, if it's not in a pool or body of water as a place of relaxation, is often a problem, especially in the home. We've all had to deal with the annoyance of some sort of water leak, and nothing is worse than when water gets in and ruins a basement. In this panel, Larson sees fish as being just like us, living in their own homes. In their opposite world, water is, of course, needed and ruins nothing. What would be an issue in a fish world is a place of dryness. Here, the entire basement is flooded with dry. Now poor John is going to have to deal with it.

6 Superman and the Lighthouse

Superman flies around a lighthouse in 'The Far Side'

Summer is the favorite season for many. Still, as fun as it can be, there's one part every person hates about it. Go outside at night and turn on a porch light, and you're sure to be besieged by mosquitoes and other bugs that are pulled to the light, zooming around it constantly. In this strip, two lighthouse operators, like a massive porch light for ships in the night, are besieged by their own annoyance: Superman. Even the Man of Steel, as strong as he is, can't resist the pull and hypnotizing effect of an electric light in the darkness. Murray better get that light turned off quick!

Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

👑Game of Thrones

🖖Star Trek

FIND YOUR UNIVERSE →

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.

ABeing part of something larger than myself — a cause, a rebellion, a fight for freedom that outlasts me. BThe journey itself — the places I'll go, the companions beside me, the world I'll discover on the way. CLearning — unlocking what I'm capable of, understanding the world's hidden mechanics, growing into something more. DLegacy — the name I leave behind, the power I build, the mark I make before the world moves on without me. EUnderstanding — exploring what exists beyond the horizon and asking what it means to be alive in a universe this vast.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.

AA galaxy of planets, each with its own culture — connected by conflict, trade, and the Force. BAncient lands of breathtaking beauty, deep history, and a creeping darkness at the edges. CA world hidden inside our own — full of wonder, community, and magic waiting to be learned. DA brutal, beautiful continent where power is everything and every alliance is a calculation. EA future where humanity has reached the stars — and must decide what kind of species it wants to be.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul.

AThrough sacrifice and courage — someone has to make the impossible choice so others don't have to. BThrough fellowship — the impossible becomes possible when the right people walk the same road. CThrough growth — confronting what you fear, understanding what you lack, and becoming equal to the challenge. DThrough strategy — outthinking, outmaneuvering, positioning yourself so the outcome was never in doubt. EThrough dialogue — finding the third option, the peaceful resolution, the answer that doesn't require a body count.

NEXT QUESTION →

Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.

AA small crew — a pilot, a rogue, a warrior — each broken in their own way, unbeatable together. BA fellowship of different kinds of people, bound by purpose and deepened by the long road. CFriends who grew up alongside me — who knew me before I knew myself, and stayed anyway. DAllies whose loyalty I've earned — and tested — and whose ambitions align with mine, for now. EA crew of brilliant, curious, principled people from every corner of known space.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.

AI want to use it to protect — and I'm terrified of what I might become if I'm not careful. BI distrust it. The most important power in this story is the courage to give it up. CI want to earn it — through knowledge, through effort, through becoming someone worthy of it. DI want to wield it. Preferably before someone else decides to wield it against me. EI want to understand it — its structures, its limits, its ethical dimensions. Power without accountability is the real threat.

NEXT QUESTION →

How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.

AThere is a dark side and a light side — and the choice between them is always present, always personal. BEvil is real and ancient and patient — and goodness, however small, is the only thing that can undo it. CGood and evil are real, but they live inside people — and people are complicated, always capable of both. DGood and evil are mostly a matter of perspective and proximity. Power is the only honest currency. EEvil is usually the result of ignorance, fear, or broken systems — and understanding it is the first step to solving it.

NEXT QUESTION →

What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?

AThe reluctant hero — ordinary origins, extraordinary moment, changed forever by the choice to act. BThe unlikely carrier — the one nobody expected to matter most, quietly bearing the weight of everything. CThe student — not yet who I'll become, learning through every mistake, growing into something the world needs. DThe player — sharp enough to see the game for what it is, ambitious enough to try to win it. EThe explorer — drawn to the unknown, driven by curiosity, most alive when standing somewhere no one has stood before.

NEXT QUESTION →

What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.

AThat hope is real — that even in the darkest galaxy, a new hope is always possible. CThat even the smallest person can change the course of the future, if they have the courage to try. CThat love and friendship and doing what's right will matter in the end, even when everything says otherwise. DThat the wheel keeps turning — that power shifts, winters end, and what endures is those willing to fight for it. EThat humanity — or whatever we become — is capable of extraordinary things, if we choose to be.

REVEAL MY UNIVERSE →

Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

5 Painting the Fly Woman

An artist paints a woman in 'The Far Side'

Gary Larson forces the reader to really pay attention to this Far Side strip, with the punch line not so immediately easy to find. In it, an artist paints a portrait of a woman. There's nothing funny about this. But why in the world is her head half human and half giant fly on the canvas when she looks completely normal in reality? Look closer, and it becomes clear. There is a fly sitting on the lens of the painter's glasses. He's so invested in his work and painting everything he sees in his vision that he's combined his near and far sights into one terrifying painting.

4 Peter Pan Grows Up

Peter Pan grows up and gets an office job in 'The Far Side'

J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan has been adapted many times over the last century plus, from a popular animated Disney film to stage plays. The themes of wanting to stay a child forever and the loss of innocence as we grow up have stuck with generations. But what if Peter Pan, the boy from Neverland who refuses to grow up, actually did just that? Steven Spielberg's 1991 Hook imagined this, with Robin Williams as an adult Peter Pan working a normal life as a lawyer. In this similar Far Side strip, however, there's no saving the day. A grown-up Peter Pan has it all with a wife and kids, but as he sits at his dull office job, even he can't escape the pull of wanting to go back and live as a kid again.

A boss fires an employee in 'The Far Side'

It doesn't get much smarter than meta-humor, as a form of art steps outside itself and looks in, exploring the themes behind its creation. Wes Craven started an entire franchise out of this idea with Scream in 1996 by creating a slasher movie that winked knowingly at the rules of the genre. Comic strips have their own rules, too. Because it's still life, with no movement or sound, when a character speaks or thinks, their words are shown in a dialogue or thought bubble above their head for us to read. In this strip, there's no escape. These characters know they live inside a comic strip, so when Lewis' boss catches his employee having negative thoughts about him, it's game over for Lewis, who will now have to think about getting another job.

2 God Creates Jerks

Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? These are the questions that have troubled humanity since the beginning of time. In a search for answers, many of us turn to religion and the idea of god. Whether you're a believer or not, it can't be denied that the idea of a creator has soothed billions of people. In this Far Side strip, Larson imagines God as a chef, with Earth a creation being concocted in his kitchen. In the background, God has boxes and jars for bugs and reptiles and different colors of skin for humans. If there is a god, though, why are there bad people who do bad things? Here, it's simple. God wants to make things interesting, so he dumps in some jerks. Sorry, God, but you may have put in too many.

1 Midvale School for the Gifted

A kid pushes a door that says pull at the Midvale School for the Gifted in 'The Far Side'

Arguably The Far Side's most famous strip, this one is so simple and easily brilliant. The Midvale School for the Gifted takes only the brightest and most gifted students, yet here's this kid pushing on an exterior door to the school even though there is a sign that obviously says "PULL" in big letters. This boy's actually not so gifted after all. Is this school a joke where anyone can get in, including this idiot? Or maybe Larson is trying to say something else. No matter how smart we are, all of us are the same. No one has escaped having a mindless moment where they've attempted to push their way in through a door that needs to be pulled open. It's embarrassing.