Long Ago And Far Away

From 1980 to 1994, the best comic strip was The Far Side.  Maybe it was the best ever.  Created by Gary Larson, its single-panel humor was a mixture of the sharp and the surreal.  Then, in 1995, he just stopped.  That's when I stopped reading the comics section of the paper.

But now it looks like Larson, who will turn 70 next year, is coming out of retirement.  According to the Far Side website, the strip will be coming back.  Presumably the new comics will be online.

I don't recall anything like this ever happening.  Far Side fans are doing cartwheels.  As they should.  A few days ago, the creators of Friends said they wouldn't do a reunion--and with TV doing lots of reunions, you know the networks would pay top dollar for that one.  When I heard that I said hooray.  Sitcoms have their time and place, and trying to recapture the magic is a bad idea.

But a cartoon?  One that grows out of the head of a single person?  As long as Larson is still of sound mind and body, why not?  Okay, there's no way of knowing if Larson's still got it, or if we'll still want it, but I'm sure looking forward to finding out.