Gary Larson’sThe Far Sidehas many different obsessions, from cows to Vikings to scientists, howeverthe freakiest recurring theme in Larson’s work is children getting eaten. WhileThe Far Sideis seen as family fare, Larson has always had a dark sense of humor, with strips that are just as morbid as they are surreal. It’s hard to think of a darker joke than kids being eaten by everything from lions to witches. Of course,Larson’s signature humor goes a long wayto making these comics endearing despite their subject matter.
Here are the 13 bestFar Sidecomics where kids get eaten -be sure to vote in our end-of-article pollfor your favorite of the bunch, and (as we did with Larson’s celebrity comics) we’ll publish the results and crown the best of the best.
13Witch Babysitter
Larson Loves This Controversial Classic
While this strip is just a joke combining fairy tale witches' habit of trying to eat children with a mundane ‘unreliable babysitter’ situation, it still got Larson hate mail from some readers. However, while he admits there are some strips that made mistakes,Larson is still happy to go to bat for this one, calling it"one of my personal favorites"inThe Prehistory of The Far Side. Larson states that he loves it because of how it downplays the parents' reaction, writing:
First of all, this cartoon “couple” have not hired a witch-like babysitter to watch their kids - they’ve hired a witch! Secondly, they’re not horrified at what’s occurred, as we might suspect, but mostly indignant. And lastly, they’re especially upset that the witch ate both their kids - as if to suggest one would have been pretty bad, but both is really unacceptable.
Despite the negative feedback, this wasn’t Larson’s last witch comic… or even the onlyFar Sidegag that hinges on witches eating kids.
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This Far Side comic may still make readers laugh, but it took hours to get right, with Gary Larson remembering it as “my long day in hell.”
12Ants vs Baby
This Comic Was Rejected Until Larson Made It Even Darker
Far Sidefans almost never saw this version of Larson’s comic, which jokes on the idea of ants being able to carry far more than their bodyweight, bringing home a snack that there’s no way to actually get into the anthill. InPrehistory, Larson reveals thatthe comic originally starred an old man being carried by the bugs, but was turned down with the brusque response,“No thanks.“Larson cleverly waited a few weeks to let the strip pass from memory, then resubmitted it with a baby. The strip was accepted without a word, with Larson writing,“I’m still scratching my head about that one.”
The Far Side was syndicated in newspapers across the country, and so concerns over taste weren’t just an issue of Larson facing criticism, but each individual newspaper that carried the comic not wanting to enrage its readers.The Far Sidewas dropped by individual newspapers many times, but Larson notes that when it was, farmorereaders ended up campaigning to have it brought back, thanking fans for keeping him in work.
11"So Close…”
Far Side Loves When Humanity and Nature Cross Paths
PerhapsThe Far Side’s biggest obsession is contrasting human behavior with the natural world (indeed, Larson originallywanted to call his stripNature’s Way), and that comes through perfectly as readers get the animal perspective on a trip to the zoo, with a shark lamenting that an awesome meal is so close and yet still inaccessible. This isn’t the only time animals behind plexiglass have wanted to eat the kids who come to gawk at them inThe Far Side.
In the strip above, two snakes slam into the glass of their enclosure after a young Mouseketeer makes them think that the world’s biggest mouse just arrived for them to prey on. For those who take the animals' side in these strips, don’t feel too bad - the snake’s time is coming soon…
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10Chicken vs Baby
Larson’s Chickens Know Humans Are the Enemy
In this strip, a farmer carries eggs from the chicken coop to the house, only to meet a chicken coming the other way with her baby in its arms. The strip contrasts the normal idea of collecting eggs with the perspective of how it would look the other way around, with the farmer’s low-key reaction heightening the joke. Of course, anyone who has spent time aroundFar Side’s chickens would know they generally treat humans as the enemy.
Larson’s love of the tension between humanity and nature shines in his chicken comics, where the poultry have figured out that they’re being kept for eggs and meat and aren’t too happy about it (but at least they’renot as malevolent asFar Side’s ducks.)
9Snake vs Baby
This Far Side Comic Never Saw the Light of Day
This might be Larson’s darkest ‘animal eats child’ strip, showing a python with a suspiciously large bulge in its stomach trying and failing to escape a (now) empty crib. Larson loved using the visual of a python with a giant bulge, clearly indicating it just ate whatever the surrounding context implies, however the theme seemingly comes from a real-life experience where ayoung Gary Larson’s pet snake attacked him!
Of course,this dark comic was never published in syndication, as Larson always knew his editors would never approve. Thankfully, Larson’s ownFar Sidecollections include it proudly.
8Honey, I Ate The Kids
Rick Moranis Gets an Unlikely Far Side Shoutout
This strip combines two concepts - Rick Moranis' series of sci-fi comedies beginning with 1989’sHoney, I Shrunk the Kids, and the ‘fun fact’ that praying mantises will sometimes turn cannibalistic if food is scarce (though it’s a myth that the females always eat the males after mating.) Apparently, in mantis society, the idea of cannibalizing your kids is normalized enough to support a big-budget family movie. They’d loveThe Far Side!
7Alligator vs Babies
A Truly Dark Far Side Entry
Inone of Gary Larson’s darkest comics, two nurses on the maternity ward arewaytoo calm about an alligator repeatedly slipping in to eat the babies. As with the witch comic, a lot of the fun comes from the characters' incredibly low-level responses to a life or death situation, branding the alligator a"rascal"and counting the babies to see if it got what’s implied to be the latest in a long line.
6Bears Eating Cub Scouts
Larson’s New Work Experiments with New Tools
This strip actually comes from long afterThe Far Side’s 1980-1994 syndication, published by Larson throughthe Far Side’s website. After years enjoying retirment, Larson says he got the urge to return to creating comics, but this time experimenting with a drawing tablet and the various new tools that working digitally provides. Larson notes that his experimental new comics came with a rekindled"a sense of adventure.”
This painterly comic shows exactly what Larson means, as the gag hinges on the fact that an image of bears slathering Cub Scouts in honey prior to eating them is presented in the style of a traditional painting that might hang on a museum wall. The style contrasts with the morbidly surreal subject matter, as placid bears prepare to wolf down some kids.
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5The New Neighbors
Far Side Takes on Suburbia
Larson loves the theme of unusual neighbors causing conflict in suburbia, and this strip sees two crocodiles move in across the road from Al’s all-American family. The gag comes from Billy’s mom acting as if she feels judged by the neighbors, who feel compelled to keep an eye on Billy when he’s playing, while the reader knows that the crocodile are actually just waiting for their opportunity to reach over the white picket fence and grab themselves a snack.
Larson has various everyday families move in next to everything from wolves and howler monkeys to monsters and cavemen, pushing the envelope of the observational humor of nice, suburban families trying to maintain their relationships with increasingly bizarre neighbors.
4Chicken vs Eggs
Far Side’s Chickens Return, But This Time They’re After Their Own
Larson’s human-intelligence-level animals often struggle with the fact that they can create things humans see as commodities, from the cow rationing out its own milk while adrift on a liferaft to this chicken who may be willing to sacrifice their own eggs instead of going to the store for ingredients.
