Gary Larson (born in Tacoma, Washington on August 14, 1950) is the creator of The Far Side, a comic panel which appeared in many newspapers for fourteen years until Larson's retirement January 1, 1995.
The Far Side, considered by many to be the greatest single-panel cartoon strip ever, was original in catering to an educated audience.
Themes were often surreal, such as how cows behave when no human watches, or the unexpected dangers of being an insect. Often parallels between the behavior of supposedly "superior" humans is compared with that of animals: surrounded by dense fences and houses, a father explains to his son that a bird song is territorial marking common to the lower animals.
Larson often used "mixed metaphors", blending two seemingly unrelated concepts. Example: a family of spiders driving in a car with a "Have a Nice Day" bumper sticker, featuring a "smiley face" with eight eyes.
Since retiring from the Far Side, Larson has occasionally done some cartooning work, such as magazine illustrations and promotional artwork for Far Side merchandise.
In 1998, he published his first post-Far Side book, There's a Hair in My Dirt!: A Worm's Story, an illustrated story with the unmistakable Far Side mindset.
