Customer Reviews

The Far Side Last Impressions 2002 Off-the-Wall Calendar

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you are interested in this calendar you are surly familiar with Gary Larson and his unique perspective. You'll get what you expect with this calendar and perhaps a bit more.

Here it is the middle of March and I have finally figgured it out. This is the death of The Far Side, every cartoon is about death. Sometimes there are dead bodies, sometimes characters are about to die. Todays just has a crocodile talking about how it eats little birds like popcorn.

Fans of Larson know he is not a cartoonist that just reworks the same gag everyday. He is an artist that makes you look at the world in a new way. When a person reads a Far Side cartoon, don't expect them to laugh at first. You need to look at these cartoons for a while before they become funny.

About the time I realized that all these cartoons were all morbid I realized that Gary had done it again. When there have been no new cartoons in, I don't know maybe 10 years, how can a new calendar be any different than the others? Why would a cartoonist let his final calendar have a morbid theme? Larson has never given people what they expect in a cartoon and he is still able to do that even with cartoons we have all seen before.

Far Side always brings a smile to my face and to see this great calendar series come to an end is a sad event, indeed. For this last hoorah, Gary Larson made SIX different boxes for the day-to-day calendars. So there is definately the cow, but you may get a bear or humans. The box the calendar comes in has a flap that lifts open presenting a farewell from Gary. Inside you'll find the traditional day-to-day calendar in the plastic holder and instructions for setting it up. The pictures are all black and white except for every monday (and no, the last one isn't in color)and the quality of the calendar is top notch.

It's sad to see these calendars go but life will go on. But these calendars can envoke warm memories and make a day just a tad brighter.

This is the funniest calendar on the market. Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons were my favorites until they discontinued the series. I was happy to have the calendars. Now, this is the last edition. I don't think I will care what day it is anymore.

Gary Larsen has to be the sickest, funniest guy on the planet! His parents must be just as sick as they raised him because, as a boy, they encouraged him to grow snakes, lizards, etc. in the basement of their home --- after he was allowed to flood it! (True story, according to a fingernail sketch of the guy which I read many years ago!) But back to his cartoons --- hysterically funny, droll, ridiculous and wonderful! His skewed view of our world is a delight, his drawings are as crazy (and wonderful) as he is and this universe will be a sadder, saner place without his wit and irony. Although he's been gone from the daily comic section of the country's newspapers for years already, I always held out the hope that he would return. If, indeed, this is his LAST calendar collection, you MUST order it and treasure it. DO NOT TEAR OFF THE PAGES AND TOSS THEM as I have been carelessly doing this past year. We will never see the likes of Gary Larsen again in our lifetimes!

Sure, these strips are at least five years old, but man, they're so funny, you never get tired of them. That's why long after the strip was retired, these desk calendars continued to be such a hoot. No calendar has ever come close to being as funny. I'm going to miss them.

If you need a desk calendar and aren't the kind of person who cancels newspaper subscriptions on a monthly basis over some harmless comic strip joke (Far Side fans know what I'm talking about), then you definitely should pick this one up. Who thought something as functional and mundane as a calendar could be so entertaining?

As an avid fan of Larson's slightly off-center vision of the world, I felt compelled to buy a copy of last "Off-The-Wall" calander ever produced. The first week or so, the allegories were funny...timeless ends for unfortunate Larson creations. However, by the end of January, the calendar was really a lackluster version of previous years. The theme got real old, real fast! If you want classic Larson, buy one of the myriad collections of his artwork at the bookstore. If you want a laugh, buy Dr. Laura's calendar this year instead.

Get this while you still can! Gary Larson is too funny for words. A terrific joke every day of the year! Buy this!!

The year 2002 has not been easy for me. Without going into specifics about the difficulties, I will just say that this calendar has had the same effect on me that the daily comic strip used to - it has given me a good laugh every morning and cheered me through difficult days. Thanks to this calendar, I can "pretend" that Gary Larson never retired. I'm still in therapy over the fact that this is the last edition to the "off-the-wall" franchise (just kidding). Seriously, I bought two copies of this calendar - one to read every day, and one to save for "old time's sake."

Anyway, I love this calendar and it is one of the highpoints of my day. I love this calendar because it gives me what all Larson products do - a look into a mad mad mind (I mean that in a good way) that will always give me a laugh. This is sardonic satire at its best! I love the detached and remote feel to all Larson's work. And I love the fact that if it weren't for just ONE thing wrong in the picture, everything would be normal. This lends the strip an air of credibility, you know, "It COULD happen . . . if only that weren't a COW cooking the bar-bee-que . . . if only that weren't a crocodile sitting in the livingroom . . . if only that weren't a sloth with the gun . . . etc." Everything is normal, except that ONE bizarre, unthinkable, and sometimes un-understandable element (I know I'm not the only one who has occasionally come across a Larson cartoon and wondered what the heck he was trying to say). The most bizzare (and funny) things in life are always the things that seem normal at first.

THE COMPLETE FAR SIDE is also available.

This is hillarious, to keep and look at constantly. Highly recommened. Get it now - this is the last one there will ever be...

JD

For Hanukkah each year I never know what to buy my ex-husband. Ok, I know this sounds a little strange, but it's about the kids, right.

I bought him this and he and my daughter laughed and laughed. They are both sarcastic and "got the joke." If you know someone with a dry sense of humor, this is perfect.