44 Years Later, The Far Side's Most Controversial Comic Proves Gary Larson Was Ahead Of His Time

Published Sep 11, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT

Evan Mullicane is the deputy editor of Screen Rant's comics and anime team. Having started as a writer for the comics team at the beginning of the Pandemic, Evan was swiftly promoted from writer to editor, and then from editor to lead of Screen Rant's newly established anime vertical.

Throughout his time with Screen Rant, Evan has made a handful of appearances at conventions such as Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, and has interviewed some of the biggest names in Anime and Comics history.

In addition to editing anime and manga articles for Screen Rant, Evan is also a science fiction and fantasy author. In 2018 and 2019, his short story "The Demon's Mother" won honorable mentions from the Writers of the Future contest.

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Few classic comic strips truly live up to their name like The Far Side. Over the course of 16 years, series creator Gary Larson pushed the medium of the comic strip forward with outlandish humor. That sense of absurdism feels particularly resonant with modern Millennial comedy. Ultimately, though plenty of comic strips like Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes have aged well or even very well, few comics were as ahead of their time as The Far Side.

Unfortunately, though The Far Side was popular when it was still running, it was not without controversy. Though nonsense gags obviously have their fans, especially in the modern day, the lack of a distinct or specific joke can drive others mad, trying to divine meaning or intention where none exists.

One The Far Side gag in particular caused a firestorm of controversy so big, that it actually has its own Wikipedia page. While comic readers in 1982 might not have appreciated it, The Far Side's Cow Tools comic is peak Millennial humor nearly two decades before that kind of comedy became popular.

Cow Tools Is Still The Far Side's Most Controversial Strip By A Wide Margin

The simple comic depicts a cow standing upright behind a bench with a wide variety of implements that are not immediately recognizable, save, perhaps, for a mishapen hand saw. The caption below simply reads, "Cow Tools".

On its surface, the joke is simply the visual and the contrast. The tools are strange, and other than the saw-like object, it is difficult to imagine what context they would be used in. This only adds to the absurdity of the humor. Of course a cow's toolset would look off.

Despite the joke's apparent simplicity, however, The Far Side's readers were digging for some deeper layer to the joke. The Far Side publisher Chronicle Features suffered a deluge of calls from readers seeking an explanation for the comic. Chronicle Features' general manager even claimed: "the phone never stopped ringing for two days."

For his part, Gary Larson actually took time to explain the joke. In a 1982 edition of The Spokane Review that explained the backlash to the strip, Larson laid out his thought process.

The cartoon was intended to be an exercise in silliness. While I have never met a cow who could make tools, I felt sure that if I did, they (the tools) would lack something in sophistication and resemble the sorry specimens shown in this cartoon. I regret that my fondness for cows, combined with an overactive imagination, may have carried me beyond what is comprehensible to the average Far Side reader.

While The Far Side would go on to see controversy subsequently, nothing could top the sheer fervor for Cow Tools. Still, even though fans at the time might have met the strip with anger, it remains one of The Far Side's funniest and most iconic strips.

Cow Tools Has Aged Like Fine Wine

Best exemplified by popular cartoons like Rocco's Modern Life, SpongeBob, and Invader Zim, Millennial humor is often defined by absurdism and quick non-sequiturs.

While this brand of comedy has subsequently earned a poor reputation due to its popularity and overexposure on platforms like YouTube and early social media, when done well, it can age exceptionally well. This is definitely the case with The Far Side in general and Cow Tools specifically.

The humor here is definitely dry, and it's not for everyone, but the sheer nonsensical nature of it makes it endearing in a way that safer humor from contemporary comics isn't. There is a reason that, despite its lack of marketing, merchandise, or expanded media, The Far Side is still absolutely recognizable and highly respected.

Fans at the time might have hated Cow Tools, but 44 years later, it is a perfect example of what makes The Far Side and Gary Larson such icons in the cartoon industry.