The Far Side Returns After 25 Years, and It's All Digital (theverge.com) 83
Gary Larson has released new comics for the The Far Side, the first strips since January 1995. Larson does however caution that this is "not a resurrection of The Far Side daily cartoons." He adds: "I'm just exploring, experimenting, and trying stuff." The Verge reports: The first of the new comics features bears, aliens, and taxidermy (all staples of The Far Side). The style is comfortably familiar, with two large exceptions: instead of watercolor, the new comics are done in digital brushstrokes that make the images feel more volumetric and vibrant than the original full-color cartoons. Also, the penned outlines, which exist in both the watercolor and black-and-white original comics, are almost entirely gone. The end result is images that evoke the feel of the old comics but are somehow a little less cartoony. The characters and elements all feel unified in the scene together.
Both the style changes and the comic's return are due to the fact that Larson is now using a digital tablet. After years of frustration dealing with clogged pens and dried-up markers, Larson decided to give going digital a chance. "I was stunned at all the tools the thing offered, all the creative potential it contained. I simply had no idea how far these things had evolved," Larson writes in an opening letter for New Stuff, the title for his new works. "Perhaps fittingly, the first thing I drew was a caveman."
Both the style changes and the comic's return are due to the fact that Larson is now using a digital tablet. After years of frustration dealing with clogged pens and dried-up markers, Larson decided to give going digital a chance. "I was stunned at all the tools the thing offered, all the creative potential it contained. I simply had no idea how far these things had evolved," Larson writes in an opening letter for New Stuff, the title for his new works. "Perhaps fittingly, the first thing I drew was a caveman."
See! Old dogs CAN learn new tricks! (Score:5, Interesting)
Welcome back to the land of the living, Larson. I've always loved your work.
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In a way it's fitting because it was almost that long ago that DEC was absorbed into Compaq. Maybe that was caused by Gary Larson stopping his production?
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I make it known every time its used improperly and they clearly don't even read the comments.
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You wouldn't understand whimsical if it dressed in a tutu and slapped you on the butt. It doesn't have to be about DEC.
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Re:See! Old dogs CAN learn new tricks! (Score:5, Interesting)
Cathy, on the other hand, always came in clean as a whistle.
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That's women abuse! Barbara should join the #meetoo movement and have his career destroyed. /sarcasm
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Interesting. And exactly the way I would expect both to come in.
Re:See! Old dogs CAN learn new tricks! (Score:4, Funny)
Not *totally* his work. I used to date Barbara, his editor. She said his stuff came in with weird lines he didn't correct, coffee mug stains, etc. She had to fix almost every cartoon.
Cathy, on the other hand, always came in clean as a whistle.
I also used to date Barbara, but I was usually off by a month or two.
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Not *totally* his work. I used to date Barbara, his editor. She said his stuff came in with weird lines he didn't correct, coffee mug stains, etc. She had to fix almost every cartoon.
He needs a run past an editor:
1. One, short blast -- lose the comma
2. Wtf is the standing bear doing to that kid?
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The standing bear is eating the child. The expected blood and gore is not really Larson's style.
Midvale School for the Gifted (Score:5, Funny)
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My favorite was: 'How Nature Says, “Do Not Touch”'
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Nature scenes we rarely see.
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What, no love for the La Brea Carpets?
Re:Midvale School for the Gifted (Score:4, Informative)
The real reason dinosaurs became extinct.
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When cows ruled the Earth.
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Woulda been funnier if they had
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Pull...
My wife was a Gifted Education teacher and had a copy of this one in her classroom.
Her students thought it was pretty funny.
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My wife was a Gifted Education teacher and had a copy of this one in her classroom.
Her students thought it was pretty funny.
I went to a magnet school for middle school, where I was in the gifted student section. I remember a student wore a T-shirt with that comic on it once and the staff were offended and asked him to turn it inside-out for the day. I personally thought the T-shirt was spot on and hilarious, but nobody asked my opinion, after all I was just a kid at the time.
This was long, long before "SJW", "culture wars", etc. That magnet school was a technology magnet but we still had a lab of Commodore 64s that we wer
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Do "gifted education" programs still exist?
Some places yes (mostly places where the idea of a gifted kid doesn't break the local ideology) and some places no. For Berkeley Unified School District in CA the answer would be no. For the tiny town in the south where I grew up, then the answer would be yes. Ironic...
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These days they would name a school that way for kids who would push and lambaste Larson for being so insensitive.
Reality was a simpler time.
Bill Watterson (Score:5, Interesting)
Now if Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) came out of retirement the assessment of 2020 might be less gloomy.
Re:Bill Watterson (Score:5, Interesting)
Camel Pilot observed:
Now if Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) came out of retirement the assessment of 2020 might be less gloomy.
Each April 1st since 2015, Watterson has teamed up with Berkeley Breathed for a series of co-signed strips that were published as part of the new Bloom County series [gocomics.com].
I'm looking forward to the next one ...
Re:Bill Watterson (Score:4, Informative)
He also did guest illustration work for a brief moment on Pearls Before Swine.
Re: Bill Watterson (Score:2)
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It's a good choice but these are all old! As if you stopped reading.
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Lost my taste for Doonesbury, but XKCD took its place.
Doonesbury (Score:2)
Doonesbury needs to split into before- and after- sabbatical.
When he came back, Trudeau never really had the spark from before.
hawk
I'm a bit disappointed (Score:2)
To be honest, I'm disappointed but not surprised. The new cartoons felt boring and predictable. The reason he gave for retiring when he did was that he wanted to finish on a high, and avoid sliding into irrelevance. The new cartoons don't feel fresh, they feel like a rehash of what he did decades ago. It's fine if he wants to come out of retirement, and I'm happy for him and anyone who enjoys any new work he produces. I just feel like he might be falling into exactly the trap he wanted to avoid.
Re:I'm a bit disappointed (Score:4, Insightful)
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Agreed. It's also easy to switch to the 'nothing new' way of looking at things where you identify the things you recognize and ignore /downplay the rest.
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Thank you for saying this.
I'm going to pile on with "things just aren't built like they used to be".
Of course, people say that after the 99.999% of things that weren't built to last have already been broken or tossed, leaving only the well-built behind.
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If anyone ever tells you that music from the '70s was better just have them look up the Plastic Ono Band. Every bit as bad as Skrillex.
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Sturgeon's law: 90% of everything is crap.
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Bears eating Cub Scouts a misfire (Score:2)
Should have been wild dogs eating Cub Scouts on those sausage buns, if you ask me.
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All of them made me laugh.
To be honest, I'm disappointed but not surprised
Sadly, I'm not surprised either to find a post poo-pooing this.
It's fine if he wants to come out of retirement
So it has your mark of acceptance. Thank goodness.
I just feel like he might be falling into exactly the trap he wanted to avoid.
Don't overthink it. They are single frame comics.
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The new cartoons don't feel fresh, they feel like a rehash of what he did decades ago.
Nah, they're more like a guy warming up. In the old days he only published his final product, but now he is sharing his rough drafts.
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I have the hardcover box set, and I still read the comic every day on GoComics. It's still as much a delight as it was when I was reading them as a kid. Things like the CRT TV and rotary phone are a bit of an anachronism, but everything still rings true. It's a marvel, every bit as relevant today as Calvin or Hobbes. :)
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He has such a large body of work "rehashing" is going to be a hard thing to avoid. I'm glad he's discovered what a tablet and digital tools can do. His bosses are going to be glad as well.
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His bosses are going to be glad as well.
Well, she's certainly pleased not to have to listen to him complaining about his pen every Christmas...
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Now if Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) came out of retirement the assessment of 2020 might be less gloomy.
I'd subscribe to the local paper if it had new Calvin and Hobbes cartoons.
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If Pogo came back, 2020 would be the best year ever.
Huh? (Score:2)
Does not WFM.
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Strike that--works fine using Falkon (which I didn't even know existed until I went looking for the first browser on my system that wasn't FF), but with Firefox. WTF?
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Malicious Javascript (Score:1)
Far too much malicious JavaScript, trackers, and advertizing with insufficient return on the investment required to audit.
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Far too much malicious JavaScript, trackers, and advertizing with insufficient return on the investment required to audit.
I suspect Mr. Larson doesn't even know what those are.
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The site works fine if you allow js only from the site, and block the trackers.
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ublock is your friend.
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Is how do we protect him from "cancel culture"???
Just tell everyone he's a Democrat.
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"Here Fifi...C'Mon!...Faster, Fifi!"
Oh good lord, the poor man doesn't have a prayer. :(
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There's a fat-shaming and animal cruelty two-fer out there also, but I couldn't find a clean link (I refuse to link Pinterest). Just google "Lost puppy larson" and you'll see.
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I'm not surprised, but kinda disappointed with myself for recognising where all these caption quotes come from and being able to picture the cartoons. How much of my brain is wasted on this crap?
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This was post-retirement, where he only broke out the pens once a year to draw some Christmas cards, only to find them clogged.
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Well now that he figured out he can solve his clogged pen problems by simply keeping on drawing, don't ruin it by telling him he could also keep a reserve of replacement pens.
Good news? (Score:2)
It's a little sad really that I'm completely flabbergasted to read news on /. that makes me genuinely happy these days. Also, quite possibly a news story where we will reach over a hundred posts before this becomes a discussion about US politics. Here's hoping anyways.
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Cartoons and politics are as old as the nation. Here's to many more years of poking fun at politics.
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We even have a cartoon President now.
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Bill the cat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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**Ackk . . . Ackk**
More coherent than most political speeches.
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quite possibly a news story where we will reach over a hundred posts before this becomes a discussion about US politics
Too late. There's already a thread about how other comic comebacks would be canceled.
Don't link the GODDAMNED BLOG (Score:3)
...actual link to the artcle: https://www.thefarside.com/new... [thefarside.com]
I know slashdot editors are apparently morons, but is this link-to-the-blog-talking-about-the-thing instead of link-to-the-thing-itself a deliberate linkwhoring$ move?
All hail Gary Larson (Score:2)
Awesome (Score:2)
I love this, and it has literally made my day. It was a bad day of a bad week of a bad year so... yeah, thanks.
The Viking Longcar (Score:2)
It's obvious to me that was only built after they discovered American (or should that be Erikksonland?), since only American car companies would build cars that long....
Some things endure (Score:1)
YEEEHEHHHHHHHAAAA! (grade 1 nerds will remember)
welcome back note (Score:1)