Case Study: Far Side Gallery 2

Case Study 2: The Far Side Gallery 2

Garry Larson’s the Far Side Gallery (1989) is a series of single panel short comics which focuses on surreal humour.

Characters
The subject differ depending on the joke and scenario of the panel. Some of these include animals, tribal, scientists, situation comedies, cavemen and so forth (Wicklin 2011). The captions can represent the character’s dialogue or it can provide context to the illustration. Sometimes these are necessary to convey the jokes whereas other times, they are not needed. This study will analyse a few of these comic strips which use visuals to tell or reinforce their conveyed jokes. Sometimes they are used to reflect a figure of speech or derivatives of such a case.

Colour
Overall the main colours are grayscale but there are occasions where many of the panels have been repainted with traditional materials. The choice for no colour appears to be a cost efficiency purpose. The colouring style varies as it includes tones and this is applied in various ways for characters and backgrounds. There is always a sense of location in these panels and the tone reflect that. Various tone help suggest the presence of colours

Figure 1. (Larson 1989 P. 46)

Figure 1 features a cowboy is holding up a large branding iron. The lettering on the iron is flipped but it spells “This cow belongs to Jones so hands off.”

Most branding irons are small but the exaggerated iron is used to an unnecessarily large branding label is comical. It is enhanced with the cowboy’s grin. The five cows in the background look wide eyed in fear. From this context we can come to the conclusion that to the cows, the pain will be extremely severe. This is an example where the text and lettering which does reinforce an idea that is being conveyed and is part of the illustration. Anticipation although the panels are restricted sometimes through closure we can jump to a conclusion of what will happen. There is a present of curved liens to suggest that he iron is emitting steam. The cowboys eyes help direct us to the branding iron’s message.

Figure 2. (Larson 1989 p. 57)

Figure 2’s context of this panel is the siege of try with the iconic wooden horse which houses the Athenian army. An outhouse labelled “men” is placed just outside the horse. And we see the army pour out of the horse and into the outhouse with wide eyes, suggesting based on the visuals, that they are desperately needing the toilet. It could be suggested that they are about to make their attack but they need to use the rest room before doing so. A darkened overlay is used to indicate that it is night time. 

Figure 3. (Larson 1989 P. 56)

Figure 3 features a man at a podium labelled “Bob’s Gallery” with a series of paintings in the corner of a room. There are several props placed to reinforce that this is a gallery such as a barrier. Our first focus is on the centre of the picture which features a tilted landscape painting. All the paintings are tilted and one of the thing that comes to mind is why they are like that. The answer is visually clear as the man at the podium has his head tilted as well. Therefore form his perspective he sees the paintings as straight. The perspective of the room also helps draw the reader’s attention to the centre focal point of the panel.

Figure 4. (Larson 1989 p. 75)

Figure 4 depicts panel a cow and man are on a life raft out at sea. Both have thought bubbles of what they perceive each other as the food. The man perceives the cows as a steak and the cow perceives him as someone covered in grass. The thought bubbles help provide insight into their thoughts base on the situation. The humour comes for the fact that a cow is a food source but there is also the unexpected element where the man could be considered as well. We are given the impression that they are out a sea based on the curve lines that suggested waves and the white highlights to indicate white horses. The man also has a bear which can suggest the duration of the two of them being in the lifeboat.

Figure 5. (Larson 1989 p. 75)

A couple of anthropomorphic dogs are in a double bed. One is sleeping whereas the other is wide awake reading a book entitled “the mail man carried mace”. Based on the context of how dogs hate people who approach their homes, is funny to see that the postman carrying mace is see as a fear for dogs. The white light helps act as a focal point and directs to what the dog is reading.

Facial Expressions
The character of Larson’s Far Side palette of emotions is no expressive. However they do show wide eyes with pupils despite a majority of his characters wear glasses. Some of his illustrations exclude facial features such as mouths and eyes. The presence of a mouth on a charter which is open can helped determine who is speaking in the panel.

Word and picture Combinations
These panels feature various forms of verbal and non-verbal narratives between comics. In some scenarios, there are a mixture of pictorial text and speech bubbles whereas other times captions underneath the panels consist of a signal sentence or a segment of dialogue which provides additional clarity to the picture depicted in the comic.

Background
The style of backgrounds vary between the panel’s contexts. White areas determines the light source including the time of day. Therefore ab lack background with white dots represents the starry sky. According to Punofthday.com, Larson was fascinated by biology and there has been some throwbacks to this such as the reference to science in some jokes and even the study of insects.

Conclusion
The Far Side Gallery 2 has a grand mixture of narration. Larson’s art style is simplistic, providing enough clarity to communicate the jokes conveyed through the visuals. However in order to understand the humour, the reader may need to commence external research.
Stephen King’s forewords mentions how “You can’t tell a cartoon” (Larson 1992 p.5), which helps highlight the importance of visual storytelling, especially in the genre of comedy.

Reference
Punoftheday.com. 1996. Gary Larson - Biography - Pun of the Day. [online] Available at: http://www.punoftheday.com/gary-larson.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016].

Larson, G. 1989. The Far Side Gallery 2. 7th ed. London: Warner Books.

Wicklin, R. 2011. An analysis of subjects in The Far Side cartoons. [online] The DO Loop. Available at: http://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2011/03/18/an-analysis-of-subjects-in-the-far-side-cartoons.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016].