Exploring ...

April 15, 2010 9:57 PM

A story arc from the Far Left Side webcartoon: Comic #1, Comic #2, Comic #3.

Pardon the FPP's language being so spartan before the break – it's a beautiful little gem, but the particular beauty is killed if given any prefacing.

(The closing panel is of course a reference to this, and note his wife's name.)

The Far Left Side is a political cartoon done from the progressive viewpoint in Gary Larson's style, although (if you've read this far without reading the original links) rest assured the linked-to panels are fairly apolitical.

posted by WCityMike (50 comments total)

This is a bad comic and the attempt to trade on the name of The Far Side is shameful.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:05 PM on April 15, 2010 [29 favorites]

They're GRRRR-EAT!
posted by humannaire at 10:07 PM on April 15, 2010 [2 favorites]

Not exactly how I'd choose to remember those characters. That was kind of.... depressing.
posted by zarq at 10:08 PM on April 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I liked the strips a lot and didn't see the ending coming at all - but that's because I read it before anyone posted.

Pope Guilty: I flagged your comment because it's a spoiler. It's fine not to like things, don't spoil them for others who might not agree with you.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:08 PM on April 15, 2010

If you want a bummer ending to the series, try this one.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:10 PM on April 15, 2010 [3 favorites]

pssst, lupus_yonderboy, WCityMike mentions that the cartoon is done in Gary Larson's style in the FPP. You might as well flag the post, then. :)
posted by zarq at 10:16 PM on April 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

*heart attack ack ack ack*
posted by nola at 10:16 PM on April 15, 2010

Aw... I liked that a lot.
posted by Artw at 10:19 PM on April 15, 2010

Soooooo... depressing.
posted by Wanderlust88 at 10:25 PM on April 15, 2010

"pssst, lupus_yonderboy, WCityMike mentions that the cartoon is done in Gary Larson's style in the FPP. You might as well flag the post, then. :)"

Say, what?! How does saying that the cartoon's style is like that of the Far Side's cartoonist give away the punchline? I would say it's more misleading than anything...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:28 PM on April 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I still like Robot Chicken's one.

This was nice, though.
posted by Wataki at 10:35 PM on April 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

How is Pope Guilty's comment a spoiler then?!
posted by kmz at 10:36 PM on April 15, 2010

Apparently Mike Stanfill hasn't met a cartoonist's legacy that he wouldn't give a big ol' tip of the bike helmet to take a big steamy dump on.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:37 PM on April 15, 2010

ARG!

ARG!

Now I have to flag MY comment. what sort of reading comprehension do I have?! NONE!!!
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:39 PM on April 15, 2010 [5 favorites]

Butt
posted by Damn That Television at 10:41 PM on April 15, 2010

How did his robe come off?
posted by hellojed at 10:41 PM on April 15, 2010

The name is "The Far Left Side". It's an obvious effort to trade on the goodwill and high quality associated with the work of Gary Larson.

If you're saying that my calling it a bad comic is the spoiler, well, given the title it shouldn't surprise.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:42 PM on April 15, 2010

Caution: all other cartoons on the site appear to be fucking terrible, so if you like this you might want to stop there and not go any further. And if you didn't, well, whatevs.
posted by Artw at 10:43 PM on April 15, 2010

We're not allowed to comment on the content of MetaFilter links until everyone on MetaFilter has read them! Don't you understand etiquette?

*watches a basket of fruit spoil*
posted by pracowity at 10:45 PM on April 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

He even copies how Gary Larson draws God, nerds, and housewives. Why would you spend your life doing that? If he's going to do Far Side fan art, he could at least have the decency to draw the characters all naked and having weird sex, like a normal person would.
posted by stammer at 10:47 PM on April 15, 2010 [7 favorites]

Now I have to flag MY comment. what sort of reading comprehension do I have?! NONE!!!

Well, that was more entertaining than the strip in the FPP.... ;)

No offense, WCityMike. It just really rubbed me the wrong way. I like my comics with less harsh reality, I guess.
posted by zarq at 10:56 PM on April 15, 2010

Actually, that's not really true. I mean, I happily read Doonesbury and even Sexy Losers (caution, that last one's WAY, WAY NSFW)

Maybe Spaceman Spiff's alter-ego is just one of my sacred cows, then.
posted by zarq at 10:59 PM on April 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Okay, going back to the very first Far Left Side comic and looking at the early postings on the site, am I right in saying he's just appropriated Gary Larson's imagery and added different dialogue and/or captions? He does write "With a big old tip o' the chapeau to Gary Larson" but I'm not sure that makes it right. It certainly doesn't make it clever.
posted by crossoverman at 11:39 PM on April 15, 2010

Caution: all other cartoons on the site appear to be fucking terrible

Wow, those were awful. Oh, and the cake is a lie, even on march 13th, 2010.
posted by delmoi at 11:42 PM on April 15, 2010

I hate this so much.
posted by wcfields at 12:24 AM on April 16, 2010

How can someone who came up with an idea as clever as that be consistently so, so bad?

It boggles the mind.
posted by puppyp at 12:39 AM on April 16, 2010

I really liked that little series. The ending was unexpected and wonderful. I love Calvin and Hobbes to death, and I think this stays true to the spirit of it somehow. Aye, I'm a sappy fuckin' bastard, but I even shed a tear.

(All the other stuff from that site that I sampled was dire beyond comprehension, however. It just has nothing going for it.)
posted by Dysk at 1:17 AM on April 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

I thought that was lovely.
posted by granted at 1:38 AM on April 16, 2010

Is it too much of a spoiler to say that he manages to shit on the legacy of not one but two classic comics?
posted by the bricabrac man at 3:16 AM on April 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

God these are miserable.
posted by griphus at 4:16 AM on April 16, 2010

Wait, so it turns out that both those comic strips were also part of the Tommy Westphall Universe?
posted by not_on_display at 4:16 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, and the first two strips are references equally ripped off from this surprisingly good Garfield arc (dial in 10/23/1989 if the link is busted.)
posted by griphus at 4:22 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

That was sad, but only because of the normal reason(s). It was also pretty touching.
posted by DU at 4:42 AM on April 16, 2010

Sadly, not good.
posted by beerbajay at 5:32 AM on April 16, 2010

I guess I'm among those who considers the work of a particular cartoonist sacred, because he himself treated the cartoon with such care. If you're going to reference that extraordinary legacy, you'd better have something to add to it.

This didn't do it for me. Instead, it seemed like a weird little bummer to me.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:37 AM on April 16, 2010

If you can't write a webcomic without premising it on the work of great cartoonists, then you shouldn't be doing a web comic.
posted by Atreides at 6:17 AM on April 16, 2010

I liked it. If you don't like it, you have a heart made of pure glacier ice.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:20 AM on April 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

That was too inept to be depressing or evoke any emotion at all, really. This Sinfest, on the other hand, gave me a really big smile.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:20 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Surprised that people find it depressing---! Everyone dies, cool that the Calvinesque guy gets to go explore with faux-Hobbes.
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 6:48 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

I think that, generally speaking, you shouldn't appropriate (and butcher) things I love to give your shitty webcomic a sappy twist ending.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:34 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

The hate is strong in this thread! I thought it was a good series from a pretty decent strip that I've been enjoying for months. Talk about someone shitting on things others like.
posted by irisclara at 7:56 AM on April 16, 2010

The hate is strong in this thread! I thought it was a good series from a pretty decent strip that I've been enjoying for months. Talk about someone shitting on things others like.

I'm going to assume that if you enjoy this piece of crap, you're left-leaning. So am I. Dyed-in-the-fucking-wool liberal. Now I'll venture that most people here - including yourself - would not enjoy "The Far Right Side" because it would clash with their personal views. Well, I - and many others here - are not pissed because the author's sense of humor is godawful. That's an annoyance. We're pissed because of the overt and ham-handed politicization of what was a socially innocent, non-political comic. A comic many of us grew up reading and, dare I say it, derive a good portion of our senses of humor from. And a comic which, like Calvin and Hobbes, it is a fucking travesty to mimic to forward a personal political agenda, no matter how much you or I may agree with it.

/beanplating
posted by griphus at 8:30 AM on April 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

Follow-up strip: Calvin pissing in his Depends.
posted by mazola at 8:35 AM on April 16, 2010

griphus: it is a fucking travesty to mimic to forward a personal political agenda

As I said, the three-story panel seemed to me to be apolitical. Did I miss something?
posted by WCityMike at 8:37 AM on April 16, 2010

Did I miss something?

I guess I should've been clearer that I was replying to the "enjoying it for months" part. I don't have a huge problem with the linked strips (although I can't say I liked them,) but their existence is tin-foil star on a Christmas tree made of shit.
posted by griphus at 8:48 AM on April 16, 2010

Ah, I'm correctly parsing it now. "A comic which, like Calvin and Hobbes, it is ... " – you're complaining about Far Side, not C&H, being mimicked. Got it.
posted by WCityMike at 9:05 AM on April 16, 2010

Nobody has a Rule 34 entry for this in the comments yet? You going to make me look?

I had the most goddawful realization last night there is an instance of Rule 34/slashfic out there, somewhere, for Little Rascals...
posted by Xoebe at 9:56 AM on April 16, 2010

Xoebe: Nobody has a Rule 34 entry for this in the comments yet? You going to make me look?

Xoebe, if you ever come to a Chicago meetup, I'm going to empty a whole salt shaker in your beer. Because now I can't unsee what I've seen. *shudder*
posted by WCityMike at 12:28 PM on April 16, 2010

Man that Garfield arc is so... good. Even the art steps it up. Weird.

an instance of Rule 34/slashfic out there, somewhere, for Little Rascals...
:(
posted by cmoj at 1:44 PM on April 16, 2010

THIS ISN'T FUNNY
posted by dunkadunc at 4:01 PM on April 17, 2010