Summary

• Larson's portrayal of Tarzan in The Far Side came in some of the comic's goofiest installments, offering a fraction of the artist's patented absurd humor, without resorting to darkness.
• Each version of Tarzan drawn by Larson ranks among the silliest characters to grace The Far Side, showcasing how the artist's visuals were essential to the effectiveness of his humor.
• Larson's visual depiction of Tarzan evolved throughout The Far Side, as the artist returned to the character repeatedly to mine the concept for humor.

Gary Larson's longrunning newspaper comic The Far Side frequently poked fun at popular culture, and one fictional character he liked to skewer in particular was Tarzan; over the years, Larson portrayed what is unquestionably the goofiest version of the iconic man of the jungle ever created, suggesting that the artist recognized the inherent potential for absurdity of the character.

In fact, Larson actually drew several distinct versions of Tarzan; in their own ways, each ranks among the silliest, most lighthearted characters to ever grace The Far Side. For the most part, Larson's Tarzan s offer a touch of the artist's patented absurdity, without going to the dark places Gary Larson's humor often explored.

Whatever iteration of Tarzan Larson drew, his use of the character always emphasized the "cartoonishness" of The Far Side cartoons. In other words, the character's appearances stretched the limits of credulity, in the best possible way.

Gary Larson Highlighted The Silliness Of The Tarzan Character

First Appearance: October 7, 1980

Gary Larson regularly depicted Tarzan as a hapless, if harmless goofball, hilariously at odds with the hardened, barely human warrior that other versions envision as the end result of the character's "state of nature" upbringing.

Created in the early 20th century by author Edgar Rich Burroughs, the premise of the Tarzan story is fantastical. That is, of course, part of what made readers respond to it, and helped cement the character's enduring legacy. However, it is that fantastic nature his idiosyncratic sense of humor on the famous man of the jungle. Time and again, Larson's Tarzan was faced with contemporary civilized human problems, transposed into a jungle setting – and most often, the result was a version of the character that amounted to a total doofus.

Gary Larson regularly depicted Tarzan as a hapless, if harmless goofball, hilariously at odds with the hardened, barely human warrior that other versions envision as the end result of the character's "state of nature" upbringing. Larson's take on the character is, in fact, more in line with the 1999 Disney animated incarnation – though only to a certain extent, as the Tarzan in that film ultimately has a heroic arc, one that The Far Side's version would almost surely not be capable of.

The Evolution Of The Far Side's Tarzan

Gary Larson's Man Of The Jungle Over Time

Gary Larson's most successful comics were the result of a perfect calibration between the punchline and the artist's illustration – with a perfect example being the in which Tarzan, swinging from one vine to the next, finds his head clamped down on by an eager python.

Gary Larson was known to revisit the same joke – both in of set-up, and punchline – in different ways throughout The Far Side's run, and his Tarzan cartoons are an apt example of that. What is particularly interesting is charting the way Larson's visual depiction of Tarzan shifted based on the specific needs of the at hand. In his early Far Side appearances, Larson depicted a "hunky" man of the jungle, while several later variations made him as visually goofy to match the silliness of his actions.

In other instances, Tarzan was simply a loincloth-clad version of The Far Side's default human drawings. As was always the case with The Far Side, Gary Larson's most successful comics were the result of a perfect calibration between the punchline and the artist's illustration – with a perfect example being the in which Tarzan, swinging from one vine to the next, finds his head clamped down on by an eager python. In any case, Larson's take on Tarzan in The Far Side is unquestionably the century-old character at his most irreverent.