1 Far Side Spider Comic Still Haunts Anyone Scared of Playgrounds

Published Aug 30, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT

Shaun Corley has been with ScreenRant for over 5 years, and is currently the Coordinator for PR and Outreach for the Comics Team.

The Far Side showed the lighter side of the animal kingdom, but one spider comic still haunts anyone who goes to the playground. Gary Larsen’s Far Side is one of the most popular syndicated comic strips ever, famous for its punchy gags that entertained readers in the 1980s and 1990s, all while helping lay the foundation for internet humor, including memes.

The Far Side debuted at the beginning of the 1980s, and ran for 15 years. At that time, Gary Larsen, who had no formal training in art and was working as an inspector for a humane society when he made his big break, redefined what a newspaper comic could be. Larsen, bucking the trends of his time, forewent having a recurring cast of characters, like Peanuts, in favor of surreal, one-panel gags. Audiences at first were not sure what to make of the Far Side, but it still became popular.

And while Far Side did not have regular characters, Larsen did use animals extensively throughout the strip’s duration. Larsen’s background in working with animals served him well while creating the Far Side. Cows appeared frequently in the strip, and “Cow Tools” may be one of its most popular entries. Larsen spotlighted many other members of the animal kingdom in the Far Side, even the creepy crawly ones.

Gary Larsen Showed the Lighter Side of Getting Eat by a Spider 43 Years Ago

Spiders take the center stage in the August 17, 1983, edition of Far Side. The cartoon is set in a playground that is currently empty, but will soon be filled with rambunctious children. Two enterprising spiders are building an enormous web at the bottom of a slide. While they work to spin the web, one looks at the other and says: “If we pull this off, we’ll eat like kings.”

The strip’s punchline is incredibly dark: that unsuspecting kids are going to get caught in the spider’s web, and end up as food. While the concept of spiders catching kids in their webs is farfetched, it still sends a shiver down the spine of many. At the same time, the gag is also darkly hilarious, not to mention creative.

Gary Larsen Tapped Into Some Basic Fears About Spiders, and Parenting

Playgrounds Can Be Dangerous, and Far Side Shows This

This edition of the Far Side is terrifying on multiple levels. The fear of spiders is a common one among humanity, despite the creatures playing a vital role in nature. Something about the spider’s appearance, and the way they catch their food, is particularly revolting for some. There have been many instances in pop culture where the protagonist fights a giant spider, such as Jack Arnold’s 1957 classic The Incredible Shrinking Man. Whole movies have been made about spiders as well, most depicting them as evil.

Furthermore, this Far Side plays on parental anxieties. Playgrounds can be dangerous places for children for a variety of reasons, including unintentionally harming themselves on the slide or the swings. There is also a chance a child could be stolen while on the playground. Larsen taps into these common fears in this Far Side strip, and pushes them into the stratosphere by adding in hungry and clever spiders.

Larsen diffuses the darkness brimming at the edge by anthropomorphizing the spiders, having them crack dark jokes about their next meal.

All of this should make this particular Far Side strip not that funny, but the end result is nothing short of hilarious. Larsen diffuses the darkness brimming at the edge by anthropomorphizing the spiders, having them crack dark jokes about their next meal. Larsen does not draw the spiders as all that menacing either, despite the fact they are about to eat in a ghastly fashion. Readers in 1983 were probably horrified, but could not stop laughing either.

Readers in 1983 Were No Doubt Creeped Out By This Edition of Far Side

The Far Side walked a fine line with its humor, and not everyone was on board. Newspapers regularly received complaints about the Far Side, but it also helped change the course of newspaper strips, inspiring numerous competitors. The spider gag shown in the August 17, 1983, Far Side perfectly illustrates why this was one of the best comic strips ever done, still haunting readers years after it first appeared.