The first Great Pumpkin storyline was in 1959. I can find no DEFINITIVE evidence that it was related to the monkeys who were shot into space that year, but I cannot and would not want to rule it out.

Fresh(-ish) Far Side Cartoons

Back in 2020, an official website was launched for Gary Larson and his comic The Far Side, which until then had only existed online as unofficial fan archives and so on.

Along with the site, which reruns a smattering of daily cartoons, there was a section called “New Stuff” in which Larson described the joy of learning to draw with a digital tablet for the first time.

Since then, the “New Stuff” section has been very infrequently updated with new cartoons — including one quite recently. It’s lovely to see more work from Larson; for many of us, The Far Side is like an old friend.

I also recommend looking through the “Sketchbooks” section to see a ton more proto-comics and draft ideas, many of which might easily have become a classic during the comic’s run.


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