The Far Side is a single-panel cartoon about cows who stand up when humans aren't looking, scientists who make ridiculous mistakes, cavemen, dinosaurs and insects, and it is one of the strangest and funniest comics ever to appear in newspapers. Larson's humour is absurd, macabre and very clever.
It is a favourite of scientists, and one of Larson's jokes gave palaeontologists the word "thagomizer" for the spikes on a stegosaurus's tail, which is now a real term. An insect has been named after him. Larson retired in 1995, and his fans have never forgiven him.
