Looking for a Far Side cartoon
September 28, 2011 4:32 AM

Thinking of a cartoon, possibly a Far Side one? Need help finding it!

I'm putting together some teaching material for a gender class I teach and I've got a vague memory of a cartoon which had a woman talking to her husband, but her husband is a skeleton sitting in the chair (the idea being that she's bored him to death). I think it was a Far Side cartoon since it has that same kind of style, but my google skills aren't turning up anything related to 'Far Side-skeleton-woman', and less with Far Side omitted.

Is this ringing any bells for anyone, and if so, where can I get a copy of it (free or paid)?

Thanks!
posted by Scottie_Bob to Media & Arts (25 answers total)


Not ringing any particular bells, but this sounds like it could be a New Yorker cartoon. Does that seem possible?
posted by jon1270 at 4:48 AM on September 28, 2011


Nope, none of them unfortunately. It might be a NY cartoon, but I really think that it's a Far Side one. She might be knitting and talking at the same time?
posted by Scottie_Bob at 5:38 AM on September 28, 2011


I'm afraid I didn't have much luck but try a search here
posted by HopStopDon'tShop at 6:05 AM on September 28, 2011


Just to add, this is closer to what I'm thinking of, but I'm sure there's a line at the bottom of the woman saying something
posted by Scottie_Bob at 6:53 AM on September 28, 2011


. . . and she's knitting, and that's why she's not really looking at him, and not noticing that he's, y'know, skeletonized?

(btw . . . how do we know the skeleton is a "he"?)
posted by endless_forms at 7:22 AM on September 28, 2011


@Endless form, yes, that's kind of the point, and that she's more interested in what she's saying than observing what's going on with her husband. And it's pretty obvious from the cartoon that it's a 'he' (at least as I remember it!).
posted by Scottie_Bob at 7:47 AM on September 28, 2011


If it helps, I think I've read every cartoon Gary Larson has ever had published, and this doesn't ring any bells for me.
posted by phunniemee at 8:23 AM on September 28, 2011


@Phunniemee (sorry for thread sitting). Ah really? Damn, I really thought it was Far Side. Maybe I'm just making it up, but it's so vivid in my mind that I don't think I can be!
posted by Scottie_Bob at 8:45 AM on September 28, 2011


I'm thinking Gahan Wilson or S. Gross. Maybe this?
posted by The Bellman at 8:56 AM on September 28, 2011


Scottie_Bob, if you're picturing Far Side because of the drawing style, it may have been a Close to Home. It has a very similar look.
posted by phunniemee at 9:05 AM on September 28, 2011


@Phunniemee, yeah, that could totally be it as well. If I remember the scene right, the woman is sitting on the left hand side of the frame in a chair, and the man is on the right, diagonally on to the reader, with spiders and so on around him.

I'll have a look through Close to Home....
posted by Scottie_Bob at 9:35 AM on September 28, 2011


Feels like it might be a Gahan Wilson cartoon...
posted by plinth at 11:09 AM on September 28, 2011


@Plinth. Nope, definitely not Gahan Wilson, but thanks for the suggestion!

Had a look through close to home. Maybe it doesn't exist and I should just draw it...
posted by Scottie_Bob at 1:26 PM on September 28, 2011


I'll try to browse the archives, but another comic strip called Non Sequitur has a similar drawing style and content as The Far Side. Perhaps you've seen your cartoon there?
posted by CancerMan at 3:41 PM on September 28, 2011


Eh, it looks like those archives don't work for me. Sorry about the URL.
posted by CancerMan at 3:42 PM on September 28, 2011


Maybe it was the old creepy webcomic The Parking Lot Is Full?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 5:02 PM on September 28, 2011


I actually remember that cartoon too, and I THINK it was a really early Far Side that I saw printed in "PreHistory of The Far Side". Maybe see if your local library has that compendium or if they can get it in for you.
posted by D.Billy at 9:37 PM on September 28, 2011


I remember that cartoon! Definitely an early Far Side one. Please do let us know when you find it!
posted by hampanda at 12:00 AM on September 29, 2011


I THINK it was a really early Far Side that I saw printed in "PreHistory of The Far Side".

I didn't think this was enough to say just on my own, but I recognize the cartoon as well, and I thought I might have seen it in a copy of "PreHistory of the Far Side".
posted by endless_forms at 9:08 AM on September 29, 2011


Sorry, but I've just read The PreHistory of the Far Side from front to back, and it's not in there. Perhaps the US edition was different from the UK one?

I've also flipped quickly through: The Far Side Observer; Wildlife Preserves; In Search of the Far Side; Beyond the Far Side; The Far Side; and The Far Side Gallery 2 ("Cartoons from Bride of the Far Side, Valley of the Far Side, and It Came From the Far Side"). Do you have any idea how hard it is to flip through a Far Side book without reading it? The things I do for Metafilter. Anyway, I'm afraid it doesn't seem to be in any of those either.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 11:56 AM on September 29, 2011


i've looked through 1981-83 in the complete farside, nothing thus far....
posted by fozzie33 at 4:40 AM on September 30, 2011


Not in Unnatural Selections, Wiener Dog Art, The Chickens are Restless, The Curse of Madame "C" or Last Chapter and Worse, either.

The only books I haven't been able to check through are Hound of The Far Side and Night of the Crash-Test Dummies.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:48 AM on September 30, 2011


Perhaps you could try asking on some of the "Far Side" groups on Facebook and places like that? People who are Far Side fans might be fans of other single-panel comics as well, so you might get a hit even if it's not Far Side.
posted by endless_forms at 7:59 AM on September 30, 2011


Ah folks, thanks so much for looking through those copies! Much appreciated, and I salute your dedication!

I have a friend looking through the UK version, although I'm not holding out much hope. Maybe I'll get in touch with Larson directly....

SB
posted by Scottie_Bob at 10:18 AM on September 30, 2011


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