ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996 TAG: 9610160009
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
Comics fans mourned the departure of ``The Far Side'' from their newspapers on Jan. 2, 1995. Its creator, Gary Larson, had decided to retire from syndication. But ``The Far Side'' continues to thrive in book form. Larson's latest, ``Last Chapter and Worse,'' contains 13 cartoons Larson has drawn for this collection. Here are four of them
To coincide with the release of this book, Larson spoke with Jake Morrissey, his editor.
- Universal Press Syndicate
Q: I'm often asked, ``What's Gary Larson doing in his retirement?'' What have you been doing with yourself?
A: My retirement has backfired on me in some ways, because I feel like I'm actually more involved with cartooning now than when I was doing the syndication. There are always ongoing projects that haven't stopped, and there are still a couple of years of books and calendars remaining. Then, also, there's my involvement with our second animation project. The only thing that I'm not doing is the daily panels.
Q: Do you still sit down at your drawing board every day?
A: I was just there this morning working on some layouts for the animation project. But it's a different kind of work than it was when I was drawing ``The Far Side.'' I'm just looking at other cartoonists' work who are drawing in my style and making changes. I often make some quick sketches as I ponder the way I envision a certain scene or character.
Q: Do you still come up with ideas for cartoons? Do they pop into your head? Is that muscle still exercised?
A: You know, I can't say that I am really thinking about it very much. I don't have ideas that are coming left and right. That's because the nature of what I used to do was somewhat more deliberate. I'd sit down and ``go to work.'' And I would let that part of my mind loose and start to come up with things, start to sketch things. I'd get the juices flowing and then hope something would happen. I don't drive around or go someplace and have thoughts like, ``Oh, that would be a good cartoon,'' or ``That's a strange thing; I should remember that.'' Usually when I sat down to draw a cartoon, it would be more of a reflection of things in my past. Or it could be something I had experienced that morning, or that week, or something I might know that's part of my background.
Q: What do you think has been the most difficult change for you to adjust to since you stopped drawing the cartoon regularly?
A: I can't say there have been any really difficult changes. There's an obvious change in the rhythm of your week or of your life when you have something that you're doing on a regular basis and it stops. But I can't say it was difficult to get out from under a deadline.
Q: Do you find that your sense of humor has evolved at all? When you look back on some of the old cartoons, do you think, ``Was I nuts to think this was funny?'' or do you appreciate them more now than perhaps you did in the past?
A: Both things have happened to me. I thought some of my earlier cartoons were not exactly great shakes at the time I drew them. Now I see a certain innocence in them. The humor has a kind of purity to it, I guess. And it works better on some level for me now.
Q: Do you read other people's cartoons?
A: I don't. No.
Q: Why not?
A: You know, I don't read them because I think for the most part the comics don't have an interest for me. There's just nothing there these days that makes me want to go seek them out. I'm not trying to say my work wouldn't have sparked that same reaction from somebody else. There's just nothing there for me personally.
Q: If you could draw another cartoon for a week, which cartoon would you draw?
A: ``Family Circus.'' It would be a kick to take one of those neighborhood themes when they show a little map you know, put in the quicksand whatever else, it would be fun to take something that's so light and innocent and kind of mess with it.
Q: You've always been known for humor that has an attitude or a distinct sensibility. Were you ever interested in having characters in The Far Side?
A: No.
Q: Why not?
A: Well, I instinctively thought of that as very limiting. And I also just didn't see humor as something that had to be confined to one particular character. To me, what was exciting was trying to do something that would crack someone up. And I didn't see how characters or a particular character enhanced that. In fact, I think it would work against it in some cases. A certain face on a character would work in one instance but not in another. Although admittedly, as the years went by, all my stuff got boiled down to about six faces. But when I started off, I thought I had to reinvent the wheel every single time I drew someone, and obviously I was going to hit a wall with that.
Q: What do you think you're better at: drawing or writing?
A: The quick answer to that would be my writing. Not that every caption I did was a perfect little gem, but I knew the importance of it. It has to do with timing and those kind of things that are in humor of any kind, written or spoken.
There are so many cartoonists who can draw circles around me (no pun intended). I don't want to minimize that; having a certain amount of drawing skill is important, too. The whole idea is to communicate something, and it doesn't mean it has to be elaborate. It just has to work.
There are some cartoonists who are incredibly talented and very skilled as artists, but it doesn't necessarily mean that what they're doing is a good approach for humor.
Q: Because ``The Far Side'' was as successful as it was, do you think it proved that nontraditional or unusual humor can have a place on the comics page? Or do you think it was something else that brought it the success it had?
A: What I think it proved, if anything, was that readers' appetites for humor are more varied than perhaps we once thought. I think maybe what it did was tap into a sense of humor that was already out there, an adult readership that connected with it.
This kind of humor was around already in other media: ``Saturday Night Live'' was in its glory days. There were other shows and stand-up comics, and it obviously was in magazines and books. It was just not appearing in newspapers. And I didn't really understand why or why not, but it was all I could do.
Q: You often drew cartoons about animals and birds and primates and that sort of thing. Is there any kind of animal or vegetable or mineral you really didn't like? I used to hear from people: ``Gary Larson hates cats, Gary Larson hates dogs.'' The truth can now be told: Gary Larson never liked
A: I never liked my own species.
No, there's nothing. To me it was just humor. It's irreverent. Some people call it sick, but it was an equal-opportunity sickness.
Q: You fall into the category of being a famous person. You have the advantage of someone knowing your name more than knowing your face. Is that a mantle you wear comfortably?
A: I am comfortable with it. Because I'm not immersed in that every day - it's not like an actor. So I don't really have any daily experience with running up against my own fame, I guess.
I did have a lot of trouble with it in the past. In fact, it used to be the ``f'' word around here. I literally could not say it; it was just such an odd thing to me. I can't explain why that is, but I did not want to say that word, and didn't. It always came with a certain arrogance attached to it in my mind. But you're asking me another question: You're asking me how I was dealing with it.
Fame usually is in the hands of the person you're talking to and how, if you do get recognized, it's what they're saying, their demeanor. There are people who are just really pleasant and they have a kind comment to make and then they're out of your way. That's very nice; it's always a boost. And then there are people who can be more persistent.
So when you ask is that a problem, I guess it just depends on the situation. But again, for me, cartoonists aren't exactly the sexy icons of the world of the famous.
Q: Who is the sexy icon for you in the world of the famous?
A: Who I'd see and say, ``My God, it's so and so''? I don't know; that's an interesting question. I don't know if my jaw drops for anybody. There're lots of people I respect. Maybe that's one thing that's changed in me. Maybe when you get some notoriety yourself, you're not so in awe because you know how you did it. None of us have clothes. I see through you if you see through me.
Q: What would you have called ``The Far Side'' if you hadn't called it ``The Far Side''?
A: Originally I wouldn't have called it anything. I was shocked to hear it had to have a name. I thought just leave it with no name on it: just a rectangle. So I really had no thoughts about names. I like the name the syndicate came up with.
Q: What do you think your greatest strength as a cartoonist is?
A: I'm not sure how to answer that. I could answer it in a very general way and say, oh, I was just in tune to myself, in tune to my sense of humor. I feel I always had a really direct link with that part of me - pretty unfiltered in that sense.
Q: What do you think your greatest weakness as a cartoonist is?
A: It probably would be my drawing.
Q: I was struck by something you said recently when you were talking about how you react when people ask you where you get your ideas.
A: I think what I was saying was that the reason I don't do a lot of interviews is because I've been asked those kinds of questions, and they're very strange for me because I wasn't expecting them. I hadn't ruminated on them. Even after I'd do an interview I wouldn't go home and really think about them much and get ready for the next one. I would continuously be caught off-guard by the same questions.
I've heard myself described as camera-shy, but the truth is it's because people are asking the kinds of questions for which I don't have a perfect answer. This was my job; it was the thing I did, and I thought about other things. I didn't really go soul-searching to find out what the creative process is for me and where these ideas come from. I hadn't spent a lot of time of my life contemplating it. It's just me.
Q: Do you consider yourself a normal person?
A: No.
Q: Why not?
A: Who's normal? I have some friends that make me feel pretty normal.
I guess everybody's normal and nobody is at the same time. Yeah, I guess I am pretty normal.
LENGTH: Long : 184 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Cartoonist Gary Larson and friend. Graphic. 4 cartoonby CNBpanels.