OfThe Far Side’smany recurring tropes and locations, fans have always had a particular soft spot for his absurd take on the iconography and imagery of the Wild West, featuring over-the-top parodies of cowboys and cattle ranchers, gunslingers and saloon-keepers. This list collects the best of them from throughout Gary Larson’s historic career.
Any list of the"best"Far Sidecartoonsis guaranteed to include at least one of Larson’s cowboy comics, and their proliferation throughout his career makes it hard to pick the strongest examples.
Consequently, this list focuses on thosecartoons which put a wildly unpredictable spin on the Wild West as readers recognize it.
10"Twarn’t The Alien’s Fault": The Far Side Confirms Six Shooters Are No Match For Ray Guns
First Published: Aug 13, 2025
“Twarn’t the alien’s fault, sheriff,” a cowboy says at the scene of an intergalactic incident,after an extraterrestrial visitor to an Old West saloon is vaporized for “stickin his head in one of the critter’s orifices and yellin' ‘Jimmy crack-corn!'“This is a perfect mash-up ofGary Larson’s fascination with the Westernand sci-fi genres, resulting in a ludicrous, laugh-out-loud punchline.
It doesn’t get much wilder than mixing cowboys and aliens, and Gary Larson did it years before the underwhelming 2011 film of the same name. WhileThe Far Sidedoesn’t totally discount the action-potential of this premise, as evident from this panel, it still benefits from emphasizing the absurd comedic possibilities instead.
9"Dodgeball City”: The Far Side Revisits Old West History With A Wild Twist On A Classic Location
First Published: August 06, 2025
Here, Gary Larson conflates the calamity of a Western gun battle with the chaos of a high school gym game of dodgeball, and ties a bow on it was aclassic bit ofFar Sidewordplay. In a hilarious bit of revisionist history, Larsonreveals that the infamous “Dodge City” was originally “Dodgeball City.”
That is, according to this warped history lesson, before “the arrival of the Earp brothers,” who brought some order to the frontier town.The Far Side’shumor was often the product of Larson making unexpected connections, in a way most people wouldn’t think to, and this comic is a wildly funny illustration of that talent.
8"We Don’t Allow Any Gunplay”: The Far Side Gives A New Meaning To An Iconic Wild West Activity
First Published: July 03, 2025
“We don’t allow any gunplay in this town,” a sheriff says to two gunslingers who are having a showdown in the local saloon. It is a familiar refrainFar Sidereaders familiar with the Western genre will recognize, except in this case,the cowboys are less gun"slingers" and more gun"stackers" as they precariously fashion an ornate arrangement made out of pistols.
Again, Gary Larson delivers a hilarious play on words, crafting a joke that undermines the serious tone of Wild West iconography and storytelling, while treading lightly into absurdist humor territory. Of course, in the Old West, guns were much easier to set off accidentally, and so thisFar Sidegag is not without a note of tension either.
7"The Teapot Kid": The Far Side’s Most Embarrassing Cowboy Rewrites Readers’ Perception Of Old West Toughness
First Published: June 28, 2025
“It was always a bizarre spectacle,” the caption of thisFar Sidecartoon notes in a deceptively plain tone,“but no one ever, ever, ridiculed the Teapot Kid,” a cowboy depicted in the illustration singing “this is my handle, this is my spout,” with an accompanying dance, as spectators in a saloon gawk awkwardly.
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Again, the humor here stems, in part, from Gary Larson undercutting the gravity and grit associated with cowboys and Wild West culture. There is also an endearing touch ofself-awareness to thisFar Sidecartoon, as Larson calls attention to its weirdness in a way that suggests even he thought it was too odd.
6"Tried To Ride Into The Sunset": The Far Side Hilariously Challenges The Idyllic Nature Of A Western Trope
First Published: July 11, 2025
“Dang fool tried to ride into the sunset,” a cowboy declares, as he drags the still-burning “young Will Hawkins” through the swinging doors of the town saloon, in this all-time funnyFar Sidesend-up of a classic Western trope, one that gave birth to precisely the kind offamiliar phrase Gary Larson liked to subvert.
Larson often derived humor from imagining literal interpretations of figurative language. For instance, here, the “riding into the sunset” imagery from old Western films is meant to signify that the protagonist had no further wild adventures after the story’s conclusion. ThisFar Sidegag depicts the consequences of literally riding into the sun, and as expected, it’s not pretty.
5"How To Stop A Runaway Stage": Is This Gary Larson’s Greatest Wild West Cartoon?
First Published: June 24, 2025
ThisunderratedFar Sidecartoonis low-key one of Gary Larson’s greatest achievements with his brand of Wild West jokes. Here, Larson employs a split-panel to deliver the punchline,which showcases contrasting methods for “how to stop a runaway stage.“The top panel diagrams a way to elaborately jump from horse-to-horse to take control of the frontrunner.
“Method #2,” meanwhile, is to shoot all the horses. Larson also offers the caption “from the book Guide to Western Stuff,” but honestly, the illustration is such a hilarious joke on its own that this is an example of aFar Sidecartoon that doesn’t even need its caption to be outrageously funny.
4"Anytime, Slim”: This Cowboy Will Have To Be The Ultimate Sharpshooter To Gun Down His Opponent
First Published: June 09, 2025
“Anytime, Slim,” a cowboy says, hand hovering over his holster, as he prepares for a gun duel at high noon; his opponent stands just out of frame, but by his shadow cast on the ground, it is evident that “Slim” is the ultimate apropos nickname, as the other gunslinger is an actual stick figure.
Somewhat paradoxically, what makes thisFar SideWild West gag “wild” in its own right is its simplicity. In other words, the joke is so obvious that it is outrageous. Another way to put it: this is the kind ofFar Sidejoke that is either so dumb it is smart, or vice versa.
3"That Cow Belongs To Daryl Jones”: The Over-The-Top Nature Of This Far Side Joke Is On Brand For Gary Larson
First Published: July 02, 2025
This captionlessFar Sidecartoonoffers a delightful visual gag, in which a stable of cows look on with concern as their owner eagerly lifts his excessively-large brand out of the fire, ready to stamp it into his bovines' rear-ends. While a brand is generally brief,this one reads: “THAT COW BELONGS TO DARYL JONES SO HANDS OFF.”
Contrasting with the cows’ concern is the cowboy in question’s evident glee at his brand, which he looks up at with a huge grin. Gary Larson was a master of facial expressions, and here, he manages to capture excitement on the human’s face, and unease on the cows, which adds a great level of humor to thisFar Sidecartoon.
2"Shoot First, Ask Question Later": The Far Side On The Folly Of Postmortem Triva Contests
First Published: Jul 19, 2025
“What’s the circumference of the Earth?” a cowboy shouts at the man he’s just gunned down in the middle of the street,“what’s the average rainfall of the Amazon basin?” Meanwhile, an acquaintance cautiously calls out to him from a distance: “Bart, you fool!you may’t shoot first and ask questions later!”
Once more, Gary Larson envisions a warped version of a recognizable phrase; “shoot first, ask questions later” is an approach that works in action films, but when the questions in question are trivia, it defeats the whole purpose, which thisFar Sidecomic hysterically illustrates. This is anotherFar Sidejoke that deserves more attentionfrom fans of Larson’s work.
1This Early Far Side “Stampede” Cartoon Proves Gary Larson Never Fully Gave Up On A Good Idea
First Published: August 04, 2025
This earlyFar Sidecartoon finds the humor in the unexpected dangers of Old West life, the kind that earned it the “Wild” moniker. Here, Larson depicts the aftermath ofa stampede through a canyon, which has inadvertently trampled a cowboy, whose hat floats above the herd of running bulls, while his coffee pot is stuck on one of their hooves.
This was actually a “sequel” to one of Gary Larson’s pre-Far Sidecartoons, and it was an idea the artist played with in several different forms at different points in his career. This highlights the fact that even thoughFar Sidecartoons were usually one-and-done, certain ideas carried over throughout the comic’s history.
