Gary Larson has published thousands of Far Side comics over his storied career, but the legendary cartoonist once revealed a comic he changed before publication for being too gross. When writing about a cartoon featuring a group of bugs, Larson admitted the original comic strip was too "repugnant" to appear in newspapers as is. Ultimately, Larson made the bugs look less disgusting and changed his drawing before it was released.

In the Prehistory of Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit, the collection saw Gary Larson dive deep into his iconic comic strips as he detailed their beginnings, how they evolved over time and shared behind-the-scenes secrets about his creative process. One of the most interesting pages features Larson's change to a bug-starring comic strip before publication. In the original comic, a bug told her husband she was leaving him and "taking the maggots with me." Larson admitted the comic was "too repugnant" initially, and when it was published, he changed the gross maggots into grubs.

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The Far Side Comic Strip Change Showcased Gary Larson's Creative Process

An image of multiple bugs in artwork from The Far Side.

During the height of his popularity, Gary Larson's Far Side comic strip ran in thousands of newspapers across the United States. The cartoonist rarely found himself embroiled in controversy, despite tackling important themes, issues, and pop culture topics in Far Side - with one of the few exceptions being when he apologized for making fun of a film that he'd never seen before. So, to see Larson admit that one of his comics was too gross to be published and see how he changed it shows that even he knew when things weren't working.

In this case, Larson admitted that the original comic featuring maggots was one of the rare instances when he found his own work too gross to publish as is - and to be fair, he's right. The grubs were more visually palatable and made it seem like the bugs are a real family with children, making the joke about the wife leaving her husband that much funnier. The original Far Side comic strip before it was published didn't have the same magic his usual work did, but after the change, it was way less repugnant while being even more effective.

With the Prehistory of Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit providing a closer glimpse into Larson's comic strips, seeing the legendary cartoonist admit when a comic wasn't working reveals that even the most brilliant minds in the medium weren't incapable of misfires. Thankfully, Gary Larson changed the gross bug drawing before it was published in newspapers, and a hilarious, less nauseating Far Side comic was born as a result.

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