10 Brilliant Far Side Comics Starring Buzzards, Vultures, & Other Birds of Prey (2024)

One of the locations most frequently visited in The Far Side was the desert, and just as often as Gary Larson delivered jokes about humans wandering the dunes, his focus was on the carrion-eating birds looming over them, waiting for their demise. Buzzards and vultures abounded throughout Larson's work, taking center stage in some of the best Far Side cartoons.

Readers of The Far Side are fondly familiar with the strip's fascination with ducks, and Larson's evident obsession with chickens. Yet, its vultures, and related birds of prey, do not get nearly enough credit for how proliferate they were during the strip's run in publication – especially considering these installments regularly represented the strip operating at its highest level.

As with any element that often appeared in The Far Side, Gary Larson's use of large, imposing-looking avian characters stemmed from a mix of the fact that they were immediately recognizable to the audience, and they were often on his mind.

10 Humans Were Rarely At The Top Of The Food Chain In The Far Side

First Published: September 26, 1980

From the inception of The Far Side, Gary Larson made it clear that in the conflict of "human vs. nature," he was more ready to side with the latter. Larson's naturalist views were evident not just from his frequent use of animals in his work, but from how he used them. Humanity was not often depicted as the dominant species in The Far Side – nor were they usually shown as much sympathy by their creator as some of their non-human counterparts.

That is the case here, as a man uses the last of his strength to pull himself through the desert – not realizing he has just passed an oasis of life-saving water. "We're in luck," a vulture sitting atop a cactus next to the pond says. "I don't think he sees it." Amusingly, in order for the joke here to work, the best interests of the birds have to be considered first, before that of the thirsty individual.

9 Gary Larson's Scavengers Could Be All Too Human Sometimes

First Published: July 1, 1982

One of the virtues of Gary Larson's humor in The Far Side was the way it observed and analyzed human behavior; often it achieved this by recontextualized familiar elements of human behavior and society by casting animals in hom*o sapiens' place. This panel is simple, but effective, in the way it tweaks the otherwise grisly scene of buzzards gathering to peck at an animal – or perhaps, human's – remains by doing no more than adding a "yes, we're open sign!" in front of the gaggle of birds.

Readers familiar with The Far Side will appreciate the sly punchline here. Some of Gary Larson's jokes are laugh-out-loud funny, while others, such as in this case, were intended to elicit different reactions than laughter. In this case, Larson seemingly wanted readers to find the humor in contrasting the buzzards' feeding in a state of nature with humanity's development of an entire industry around feeding themselves.

8 A Couple Of Far Side Vultures Get A Bit Ahead Of Themselves

First Published: January 22, 1985

This is another straightforward, yet highly successful Far Side cartoon. Once again, a man is depicted hopelessly crawling through the desert, while a group of birds circle overhead, eagerly waiting for him to expire. Two of the birds are depicted suffering a head-to-head collision, in what Gary Larson captions: "the perils of improper circling." Once again, the suffering of the man on the ground below is largely irrelevant, as the true humor of the panel occurs in the sky.

Gary Larson's art was alternatively immersive and minimalist, depending on the style that suited each particular joke. While it might seem as though there is very little to this panel visually, a closer analysis reveals that is entirely by design – as the reader's attention is intended to be drawn to Larson's dynamic use of a sound effect, with the mid-air mishap accompanied by an emphatic, "BONK!"

7 This Far Side Buzzard Waited Patiently To Make This Joke

First Published: January 24, 1985

More often than not, readers can be said to be laughing at Far Side characters, rather than with them. This panel is one notable exception, as the buzzard speaking is more than just the punchline of the joke – it is the one who gets to deliver it.

"I suppose you're all wondering why I asked you here today," the bird says, as a group surround a recently deceased creature and pick it down to the bone, before adding: "Ha, I've always wanted to say that." The joke here is that there is no question, either to the birds, or the audience, of why they are there. The real humor of this Far Side panel, however, is in how self-satisfied the buzzard is with its own jest, emphasized – as was one of Gary Larson's go-to visual moves – by its wide-eyed expression.

6 One Of The Most Undisputedly Hilarious Far Side Cartoons

First Published: February 5, 1985

Without question, this is one of the most laugh-out-loud Far Side cartoons, bringing the full force of Gary Larson's absurdist comedy, and his signature visual aesthetic, together in one moment of outstanding comedy. Larson depicts yet another poor soul crawling through the desert, except this time coming within arms reach of the drink of water they desperately need.

"Dang, I think he's going to reach the water," one vulture comments. "Oh no he's not," replies another, about to drop a grand piano on the man. The zaney punchline of this comic breaks the birds out of their usual role as scavengers, as the proactive one of the pair takes an active role in finishing off the poor wanderer. In the composition of the image, as well as the joke, this ranks high in contention for the title of funniest Far Side panel.

5 Gary Larson's Love Of Nature Is On Full Display

First Published: February 14, 1985

The joke here is much more low-key than the previous entry, but it is notable for the way the panel places a premium on Gary Larson's love of nature. Captioned 'birds of prey know they're cool," the humor comes from the flourish of adorning the birds in question with sunglasses, as they perch on their respective branches. On top of that, one clutches a boom box, and has a pair of headphones on.

Beyond that, however, what stands out is how otherwise straight-forward the sentiment of the cartoon is. Larson's love of nature makes it clear that he thinks birds of prey are cool – and this joke hinges on assuming that the birds themselves "know" this to be true, and then on top of that, adding visual signifiers of human "coolness" to convey this to readers.

4 A Dinner Party Invitation, Far Side Style

First Published: April 8, 1985

Here, Gary Larson once again transposes human behavior onto animals, imagining what the carrion-eater equivalent of an invitation to dinner would be like. Sitting in their nest, one bird tells another: "It's the Websters. They say there's some pitiful thing dying of thirst out their way, and would we like to come over?"

Given Larson's preoccupation with nature and science, it makes sense that he would extrapolate a question about bird behavior – namely, how birds know to flock to the sight of a fresh animal carcass – and find a humorous answer. Then, he takes his thought experiment one step further, and uses it as a way of throwing into relief the inherent strangeness of human behavior. Though it may not seem like it immediately, this makes this vulture cartoon a particularly fruitful Far Side entry.

3 Gary Larson's Vultures Were Creatures Of Simple Desires

First Published: June 25, 1985

In this panel, Gary Larson depicts the dream life of a vulture, depicting the sleeping bird as wanting nothing more than a carcass with plenty of meat to pick off the bones. By making the subject of the dream a heavy-set human boy, lost in the desert, Larson makes this one of his darker Far Side cartoons.

The Far Side featured children in peril its fair share of times – provoking consternation from some newspaper readers at the time, even if most of the strip's "controversial" jokes seem tame by contemporary standards – but this one in particular evokes a strong response. This comes from the fact that it concerns a carnivorous creature dreaming of a kid's death, while once again asking human readers to empathize with the bird first, for the sake of the bit.

2 The Far Side's Buzzards Are Going To Have A Field Day With These Two

First Published: October 9, 1986

This Far Side panel represents a great merging of familiar elements from the strip, from a fictional commercial product, to the desert setting and the use something approaching dramatic irony. Here, a pair of Gary Larson's familiar "lost in the desert" characters are shown tossing away a can of "buzzard begone" spray, in a panel that feels amusingly self-referential in the way the humans disregard the birds. "And now that's the last of that," one of them says, idly disposing of the spray.

Of course, the joke is that there are already the outlines of four birds approaching on the horizon – meaning that the "begone" spray was seemingly working. The exception of the piano-dropping vulture aside, Gary Larson's scavengers were rarely a direct threat to the humans below, it, but they did serve as an ever-present reminder of mortality, something these two men will now have to reckon with.

1 One Of The Rare Idyllic Moments In Far Side History

First Published: December 20, 1986

The Far Side often focused on moments of impending doom, or calamity, or even outright tragedy. Gary Larson's characters can rarely be described as "content" – though that is precisely the point of the joke in this panel. Featuring one of the strip's most verbose captions, this comic features a buzzard waxing poetically as it and is close friends descend on "a dead, bloated rhino." "This is the best of times," the vulture says, in a punchline that articulates the simple pleasures of the animal kingdom that have become so foreign to humans.

The scene here is one of the circle of life in full effect; the rhino's death doesn't appear to have some unnatural, or human cause, and the birds in turn do what they are designed to do – feast off the dead animal's flesh.

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