There were nearly two dozen Far Side collections published during the cartoon's run, and they deserve way more credit for making Gary Larson's comic full of absurd dark humor a success in the 1980s and 1990s, and a pop culture juggernaut to this day. Without these collected editions, The Far Side might have remained a niche phenomenon.

The Far Side debuted at the start of 1980 . By 1985, it was a nationwide success, having made the jump from a handful of regional newspapers to national syndication.

Cover of The Far Side's first collected edition from 1982, featuring explorers antagonizing a wildebeast.

Starting in 1982, Larson and his publisher began to put out curated collections of the best Far Side cartoons, and these proved absolutely pivotal to the trajectory of the

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