Just in time for Halloween: The Complete Far Side

Michael Dirda reviews The Complete Far Side

“Given the investment required of any purchaser of The Complete Far Side, even an irresponsible reviewer needs to answer one key question: As it’s now been nearly 10 years since Gary Larson stopped producing his panels, do they still seem funny?

Given that weird register Larson perfected — blending American gothic, baby boomer nostalgia and gallows humor, the marriage of ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘The Twilight Zone’ — the answer is yes, emphatically yes.”

THE COMPLETE FAR SIDE
Volume One, 1980-1986; Volume Two 1987-1994
By Gary Larson. Andrews and McMeel. 644 pp.; 601 pp. $135