Usually, The Far Side will use anthropomorphic animals to tell these jokes (when it’s not using aliens, bugs, or trees, anyway).

But, sometimes the focus isn’t just on the unique characters featured in The Far Side doesn’t have a main character (like Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes) speaks to its dedication to crafting characters that fit the joke, not the other way around. And that’s exactly what fans will see in these 10 hilarious Far Side comics, as they each deal with one thing: money - proving that money really does make the world go round.

10 Robin Hood’s Vigilante Charity Work had a Hilariously Bad Start in The Far Side

July 26, 1982

Robin Hood is shown taking a knee in front of a couple of porcupines, handing them a sack filled with riches. Apparently, Robin Hood misunderstood his life's calling. Rather than robbing from the rich to give to the poor, Robin Hood is robbing from the rich to give to the porcupines. While that play on words is obviously hilarious, it also reveals a bigger issue Robin Hood faced at the start of his career: he was very bad with money.

Think of all those poor people who could have changed their lives with those bags of riches Robin Hood mistakenly gave to the porcupines. Plus, Robin Hood risked his freedom and his life stealing those riches, only to essentially just chuck them in the woods. Indeed, Robin Hood's vigilante charity work had a hilariously bad start in The Far Side.

9 Money Literally Meant Life or Death for These Stranded People in The Far Side

January 26, 1984

Two men are stranded on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, and if the dialogue between them is taken literally, they've been there for months. However, the key to their salvation is also on the island with them: a pay phone. With the pay phone, these guys can call the coast guard and get a rescue team out there pronto to save them from dying on this island. At least, it would be, if either of them had a quarter.

For these people, money literally became the most important thing in the world, as it meant the difference between life or death.

As the name suggests, pay phones only work if one deposits a certain amount of money into it, and these two men don't even have a single quarter between them. For these people, money literally became the most important thing in the world, as it meant the difference between life or death.

8 The Far Side Takes a Popular Saying About Money Hilariously Literally

January 1, 1995

Albert Einstein is staring at a mathematical equation written on a board that he had just solved, proving a newfound universal truth: time is money. Einstein is known for his theory of relativity - the famous E=mc² - which deals with time dilation and frame of reference. But, in The Far Side, Einstein didn't prove the theory of relativity, he proved that time literally is money.

"Time is money" is a popular saying primarily said by people who work on commission in sales, as the amount of time they put into their work does equal the amount of money they'll make during that work day. If they bust their behinds and make a sale every hour, they'll go home with more money than if they casually made a sale every few hours. So, for them, time does equal money - but that's not a law of physics. Well, it is in The Far Side.

7 This Couple Picked the Wrong Time to Discuss their Finances in The Far Side

October 7, 1985

As a man is walking out of his apartment building, which looks to be in a pretty rough neighborhood, his wife shouts down at him from their window, "put the $500 in cash into checking!". She was correcting a mistake she'd made about their finances, and let him know before he got to the bank and put their money in the wrong s.

However, what she inadvertently did was alert everyone around her husband to the fact that he was walking alone with $500 in cash. Sure, it's important to stay on top of one's finances, and a misplaced $500 could have meant that this couple's rent check bounced, or the power bill wasn't paid. However, the way this woman chose to along that information was definitely not ideal for her husband.

6 Idiots are the Best Targets for Con Men in The Far Side

"Double Your IQ Or No Money Back"

A door-to-door salesman - who's clearly actually a con artist - gives his potential new client a flier that reads, "Double your IQ or no money back". After reading the flier, the man takes a moment to figure out what it's saying, before deciding that it sounds like a pretty good deal. Just like that, this salesman (con man) made a sale, thereby proving that idiots always make the best targets for these kinds of scams.

The flier's wording is intentionally confusing, but what it's saying is that if a customer doesn't get smarter by undergoing this treatment/using this product, then they won't get their money back. Only in The Far Side could someone waste their money on something like this (well, hopefully).

5 Money-Hungry ‘Tough Guys’ aren’t Much of a Threat in The Far Side

1987

A couple of tough guys are roughing up a man who owes them money. The caption of this Far Side comic reads, "Ineffective tools of persuasion", and it's clear to see why: the 'tough guys' are wielding a wiffle bat. It's not uncommon to see collectors such as these use weapons like a baseball bat to scare the people who owe them (or their bosses) money to pay up. However, using a wiffle bat would be considered uncommon in this situation, and not very effective.

Who would be scared of a wiffle bat? Those things can't hurt anyone, no matter how hard they were hit by one. Either these tough guys aren't very tough at all, or they don't care very much about getting their money from this guy. Either way, it makes for a hilarious Far Side comic.

4 Clever Wordplay Makes a Monster Movie Franchise Utterly Hilarious in The Far Side

Frankenstein Offers The Officer A Bribe

Frankenstein's Monster is driving a car (which, alone, is hilarious) when he's stopped by a police officer. Rather than showing the officer his license and registration (neither of which this amalgamated, reanimated corpse likely has), Frankenstein offers the officer a bribe to just let him go without a ticket - or potentially worse. However, based on the officer's body language, it doesn't seem like the bribe is working, as this officer seems to care more about law and order than money.

What makes this scene even funnier is the caption, which reads "The bribe of Frankenstein" - a clear play on the title of the sequel to the original Frankenstein monster movie, The Bride of Frankenstein. With one bit of clever wordplay, The Far Side makes this classic monster movie franchise utterly hilarious.

3 Kangaroos are Pick-Pocketers’ Dream Targets in The Far Side

1982

Four people - scratch that, three people and one kangaroo - are waiting patiently at a crosswalk, ready to walk across the street. However, one of them isn't hanging out there just because he needs to get to the other side of the road, but because he's looking for his next target. This pickpocket spots the kangaroo and decides that the animal is his best target.

If one stops and thinks about it, a kangaroo's pouch is basically just a really big pocket, making them a pick-pocketer's dream - and it's clear that The Far Side thought so too.

He reaches into the kangaroo's pouch, pulls out the kangaroo's wallet (because of course that's where a kangaroo would keep their wallet), and seemingly gets away with his crime. If one stops and thinks about it, a kangaroo's pouch is basically just a really big pocket, making them a pick-pocketer's dream - and it's clear that The Far Side thought so too.

2 “Hopeful Parents” Want to Monetize their Son’s Hobby in The Far Side

October 15, 1990

Two parents are watching their son sit in front of the television, playing video games, and they're doing so with a hint of pride on their faces. With every level their son beats in his game, the parents become more convinced that he could do this for a living. They intend to monetize their son's video game hobby, thinking about all the jobs he could get with the skills he's learning by playing video games.

Of course, this is the exact opposite of how most parents view video games, as they stereotypically think that playing them is a waste of time and actually holds kids back from doing something meaningful with their lives. But, these are hopeful parents, and they really think that their son is going to be the one kid who will actually make money playing video games.

1 1 Artist Uses the Promise of Money to Eliminate the Competition in The Far Side

August 12, 1992

Two artists are standing back-to-back on the same rooftop, painting the cityscape in front of them. However, one of the artists seems to think that the other is more talented than he is. So, in order to eliminate the competition, the jealous artist decides to take a break from painting on his canvas to paint on the other artist's back. However, it's not a pretty picture he's painting, but the words, "I'm carrying cash".

The jealous artist clearly wants someone on the street to believe the message on the other artist's back, and attack that artist - maybe even kill him. No matter what will actually come of this message on the artist's back, it's clear that the jealous artist wants to eliminate his competition, and he's using the promise of money to do it in The Far Side.