While Far Side has become one of the most popular comic strips in the world, creator Gary Larson once revealed that unlike many of his contemporaries, he opted not to use recurring characters for a very specific reason. In an interview, Larson admitted that he chose not to use the same character repeatedly as he saw it "very limiting" to his creative work and making the audience laugh at his comics.
Far Side by Gary Larson was one of the most circulated comic strips in existence, with the single-panel comics coming out in thousands of newspapers from 1980-1995 and currently on his website. Far Side often features animals and humans in all kinds of situations making humorous observations about humanity that cover a wide array of topics that real-life people face. One thing that has set Larson's work apart from other cartoonists is his lack of recurring characters; as the comic creator once shared, he had a very intentional reason for doing so.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1996, following Larson surprising the comic medium by announcing his surprise retirement, the Far Side creator was asked why he never had recurring characters in his one-panel strips. Larson shared that he instinctively saw having the same cast of characters showing up as "very limiting," adding that he was more concerned and excited with creating "something that would crack someone up." Furthermore, Larson revealed that he didn't want to be handcuffed into telling a singular story with a character - which was his reason for always keeping things fresh.
Gary Larson's Reason For No Far Side Recurring Characters Made Sense
Ultimately, in a medium filled with comics starring popular characters from cartoonists, such as Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, Doonesbury, and Peanuts, Gary Larson opted to go a different route with Far Side and focus more on making the reader laugh over any specific character work. The situations and jokes inside the Far Side comics were what made it special, not the people who occupied them. The reasoning made sense for Larson, as it allowed him much more free rein than other cartoonists when making his humorous observations about humanity.
In the end, Larson made the right call by focusing on the observations and jokes within the comic strip and not worrying about character work. As a result, more than 50 years after it first debuted, Far Side remains incredibly popular and that's all without a lead character or a recurring familiar face, which really speaks to Gary Larson's creative genius and ability to continually make audiences laugh with his funny observations in Far Side.