Gary Larson's The Far Side portrays a weird world with few consistent rules or characters, but one of his weirdest recurring gags is the idea that ducks are illegal. However, by combining three separate duck-centered comics, Far Side fans can actually get an answer as to why, in Gary Larson's world, people will kill to get their hands on waterfowl.

With 4000 comics published over its 14-year run, it's no surprise that The Far Side has some recurring themes, and ducks are near the top of the pile. However, two strips stand out in showing ducks as an illicit substance. In one comic from its very first year, a police detective discovers a closet packed with ducks at a murder scene, declaring, "Ahhh... the plot thickens." In another, the detective seemingly follows up the case, spying on two men who are carrying out an illicit duck trade in a darkened alley.

The strips seemingly set up the same idea - that in the world of Far Side, ducks are somehow involved with criminal life, with the police monitoring their sale and underworld figures willing to kill to acquire them. In a fun link, Larson's repeated use of the trenchcoat-wearing detective archetype even makes it look like the same case. These surreal situations are exactly what fans might expect in the world of Gary Larson, but a decade later, in a comic from 1992, Larson actually gave the game away with a comprehensible explanation.

Ducks Are Drugs in a Groanworthy Far Side Pun

These Three Comics Accidentally Tell a Single Story

Larson's final comic in the 'duck' trilogy shows a group of wolves holding ducks, with the caption explaining that with their habitat destroyed, they've turned to "snorting quack." It's a groanworthy pun that nevertheless explains why anyone would kill over ducks, and why Far Side's police are intent on arresting the people who sell them - in Gary Larson's bizarre worlds, ducks are narcotics. As silly as this explanation is, it actually fits into a Flintstones-style world where animals often have surprisingly practical uses for their owners.

Of course, Larson wasn't trying to set up a twelve-year running gag anymore than contemporaries like The Simpsons. Early episodes of the animated comedy sometimes included clips from the fictional McBain movies, lampooning action movie tropes and clichés. However, when fans looked back, it turned out the clips fit into a single 'hidden movie' that saw McBain's partner killed in front of him, with the maverick cop then pursuing vengeance against the corrupt Senator Mendoza. These clips were never meant to fit together so easily, but because Simpsons was mocking a very specific formula, it's possible to view them as a single story. Larson's duck gag works in the same way, coming together partly because of his even more frequent habit of treating ducks like they have something to hide.

Larson Loved Giving Ducks a Menacing Aura

Including in One of Far Side's Funniest Comics Ever

While ducks aren't always a form of narcotic in the world of The Far Side, they tend to be menacing in one way or another. Larson depicts ducks as street toughs, scheming murderers and even serial killers, with the waterfowl finding many different ways to menace, harm or even kill off humans.

The imagery of a killer taunting the detective in a hall of mirrors is a popular cliché potentially popularized by The Phantom of the Opera. It was recently satirized in Key and Peele, where the killer ruins the effect by flinching whenever the detective's gun is aimed in his direction.

A menacing duck even appears in one of Larson's most famous comics - the one depicting 'anatidaephobia,' or the fear of being watched by a random duck (a fear that, in the comic itself, is founded thanks to the visual of a distant duck staring at a creeped-out office worker.) Weirdly, the explanation for why appears to coincide with Larson's use of cows - easily the number one theme associated with The Far Side.

In a 1998 interview with The New York Times, Larson states that his "fondness for cows" is down to their mixture of comedy and pathos, stating, "I've always thought the word cow was funny, and cows are sort of tragic figures. Cows blur the line between tragedy and humor." The same logic seemingly applies to ducks, which are so everyday and harmless that turning them into 'quack' or menacing villains is inherently funny. It's this comedic instinct to make ducks 'dangerous' that ended up creating their criminal function in Far Side's world, but this isn't the only hidden theme in the comics.

The Far Side Has Hidden Connections Across Its Run

Larson Didn't Have Official Recurring Characters, But There ARE Links

As he shares in The Complete Far Side, Gary Larson never wanted to have recurring characters because he wanted to be able to treat them badly without offending readers. Every Far Side strip would be a singular look into a unique world, where the surreal and morbid could take place without any beloved characters needing to suffer. However, as The Far Side ran, Larson's fans began noticing archetypes that he used over and over again, such as the "nerdy little kid" and "woman in horn-rimmed glasses." Larson eventually satirized his own repeated characters with a comic introducing the 'cast' of The Far Side.

The strip also has deliberate recurring elements. For example, a hidden recurring character named Al has repeated failed businesses across The Far Side, with disaster after disaster seemingly befalling the same man. Another recurring business is the ACME corporation, which - as in classic Looney Tunes cartoons - supplies the denizens of The Far Side with various gadgets and contraptions that rarely go to plan.

Likewise, Larson frequently used a caveman named Thag in his jokes, and loved the concept of people keeping giant squids as pets, leading to a bunch of comics where the giant squid makes appearance after appearance. Because of these details, it's always been fun for fans to try and think of Larson's Far Side as one big, consistent world, where details like pet squid and malevolent ducks reoccur because they're just part of the culture.

For fans of The Far Side, Larson's repeating archetypes and recurring themes are like old friends, returning again and again from beginning to end. But for those who need just a little logic with their surrealism, Larson's duck comics at least gave a reason why The Far Side's police are apparently so obsessed with waterfowl.

Source: The New York Times