As I’m sure you’ve deduced, I’ve had a bit of free time on my hands as of late. So I spent two days reading The Complete Far Side: 1980-1994, which I received for my last birthday. Obviously, this wasn’t ever a read that I was considering culling from the book herd. It’s just, I needed something light to balance the very heavy, very “don’t you feel stupid because it’s taking you so long to read me” book that I’ve been slogging through for the better part of a month now.

But we’ll get to that book soon enough. I hope.

Back to The Far Side. There are only four comics that I have ever collected in book form: Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Liberty Meadows, and Peanuts. Liberty Meadows is part of this list because I have a massive case of fangirl lust for Frank Cho. I think he is a master of his craft and the comics page has been that much duller since it lost his enviable artistic presence. Yeah, his humor is a bit blue for the family funnies, but it almost always made me laugh. Cho now draws for Marvel Comics, which makes him even more awesome in my eyes, but I definitely miss the gang at Liberty Meadows. Plus, I’m still waiting for the final collection to be released so that I can complete my set (yeah, I do know how nerdy that sounded).

As for the others, well, of course Peanuts is in there because it has always been such a huge part of my life. Charles Schulz did a wonderful thing with Snoopy and the gang, although his shtick did wear a bit thin throughout probably the final decade of the strip. Still, it’s a classic.

So is Bill Watterson’s offering. Calvin and his stuffed tiger never failed to make me think, make me laugh, make me look forward to the next day’s adventure. This is one of the most perfect cartoons, made even more so by the fact that Watterson didn’t overstay his welcome at all. He definitely left his fans wanting for more. He was, for all intents and purposes, the anti-Schulz. Whereas Chuck was willing to sell the Peanuts imagery to anyone who wanted to pay for it, Watterson refused to let anyone turn his creation into the same marketing bonanza. I have such utter respect for him for that.

Finally, then, I come to the point. Literally. Gary Larson and his bizarre one-panel world of The Far Side. He’s pretty much in the middle of the Watterson-Schulz marketing spectrum. His comics aren’t everywhere, but you can still find them on calendars, mugs, and T-shirts (I still happily wear my “You’re sick, Jessy! Sick, sick, sick!” T-shirt).

I love Larson for his decidedly FAR left of center take on life. Within the confines of that one little comic panel, we saw daily the depths of his creativity, his silliness, and quite possibly his slow mental decline. But each one was funny. Okay, perhaps there were a few that might have been funny if I’d understood them. But for the most part, they always made me laugh. Some made me laugh so hard, I may have snorted. I’m not telling you which ones though.

The complete collection is a MASSIVE tome: a two-volume set that, together, is more than 1,200 pages of Larson. The artist even calls this set an “18-pound hernia giver.” I don’t know if that’s truly how much this set weighs, but I can tell you that lifting it daily for only a few months will help you significantly in your quest to no longer need anyone’s assistance in opening those stubborn pickle jars in your fridge.

If you are missing your Larson fix, you need this collection. Every single Far Side comic, including those that have never before appeared in previous books and those comics that have only appeared in books, are included in this collection. Also included are introductory pieces from Larson at the beginning of every year’s worth of comics. Cute little stories either about his childhood, his artistic influences, or just random ramblings that still somehow tangentially relate to his comics.

Plus, scattered throughout the comics are letters received by Larson, Universal Press Syndicate, or newspapers that ran the comic throughout the Far Side years. Some of them are from people who don’t get a particular strip and are asking for an explanation. Some are from people who have names that are the same as a Far Side resident. Many are from detractors, people asking their papers to stop running the strip. Most often, these people are rabid fundamentalists taking offense at Larson’s latest take on religion.

Why is it that the religious are such a decidedly humorless group, yet they’ve spawned some of the funniest people? I mean, come on…Jimmy Swaggert’s “I have sinned” speech is one to rival the comic masters! Especially when he was found with the same hooker a week later. Gold.

Anyway, bottom line is that Larson remains one of my all-time favorite comic artists. His world was always bizarre, always provocative, and always fun. Now if they would just release a DVD of the one Halloween special that Larson made for television, I’d be a major happy Far Side camper.