Far Side creator Gary Larson launches website with promise of new work

Beloved cartoons, which had been retired for 24 years without any official internet presence, now have an archive site with new work in the pipeline

Alison Flood

Tue 17 Dec 2019 12.51 ESTLast modified on Tue 17 Dec 2019 14.50 EST

There will be cows, undoubtedly; there will probably also be dinosaurs. The Far Side creator Gary Larson is set to release his first new work in 24 years, it was announced on Tuesday.

A “new online era” of Larson’s beloved, surreal comic creations had been promised on the cartoonist’s website in September. His publishers Andrews McMeel have now officially launched TheFarSide.com. They said the site would feature previously unseen sketches and doodles from Larson’s sketchbooks, a daily selection of cartoons from The Far Side – previously unavailable online – as well as the “periodic unveiling of new work by Larson” from next year. “In truth, we really have no idea what might show up. But, on the other hand, what’s changed?” they said.

Syndicated in almost 1,900 daily newspapers from 1980 to 1995, Larson retired The Far Side in 1995, citing “simple fatigue and a fear that if I continue for many more years my work will begin to suffer or at the very least ease into the Graveyard of Mediocre Cartoons”. He has worked to keep his cartoons from being reproduced digitally, because of what he called the “emotional cost” of having his work “offered up in cyberspace beyond my control”.

Marking the launch, Larson thanked fans for their patience, and set out to explain “why I’m so late to this party”. Larson admitted to “some ambivalence about officially entering the online world” but said that security and graphics are both better today, and there has also been some evolution in his own thinking. “I’m finally here,” said Larson. “And I could use a drink.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/17/far-side-creator-gary-larson-launches-website-with-promise-of-new-work