25 years after he retired his popular daily comic strip The Far Side, the reclusive cartoonist Gary Larson has returned for with four new strips for its recently-launched website.
Larson's The Far Side was a single-panel comic strip that published from 1979 to 1995, and at its height was syndicated in over 1,900 newspapers. Despite its end 25 years ago, the strips found a second life in calendars, greeting cards, compilation books, and probably on more than a few of your family members' Facebook pages.
In a post on the website, Larson says that he had been enjoying retirement but an odd turn of events (including a clogged pen) led him to try drawing digitally for fun, and then ultimately to drawing these new strips.
"So a few years ago — finally fed up with my once-loyal but now reliably traitorous pen — I decided to try a digital tablet," Larson writes. "I knew nothing about these devices but hoped it would just get me through my annual Christmas card ordeal. I got one, fired it up, and lo and behold, something totally unexpected happened: within moments, I was having fun drawing again.
"I was stunned at all the tools the thing offered, all the creative potential it contained," Larsen continues. "I simply had no idea how far these things had evolved. Perhaps fittingly, the first thing I drew was a caveman."
So far Larson has published four new strips (including the one featured in this article). While the writer/artist has committed to a schedule of when new strips will be published, from his post he seems optimistic.
"So here goes. I’ve got my coffee, I’ve got this cool gizmo, and I’ve got no deadlines. And — to borrow from Sherlock Holmes — the game is afoot," Larson says. "Again, please remember, I’m just exploring, experimenting, and trying stuff. New Stuff. I have just one last thing to say before I go: thank you, clogged pen."
The new strips can be found in the "New Stuff" section of www.TheFarSide.com.
