I drew a cartoon quite a few years ago entitled, “The Real Reason Dinosaurs Became Extinct.” The drawing involved a small clique of dinosaurs hanging out together and smoking cigarettes.
That cartoon stayed in my sketchbook for almost a year until, pressed for ideas one week, I dug it out and submitted it for publication. And, lo and behold, it became one of the most popular cartoons I’ve ever drawn. Obviously, if I’d had any idea of its potential impact, I never would have sat on it for as long as I did.
The following and final section of this book, however, does not include the cartoon just described—nor any cartoon from The Far Side based simply on its known popularity, which would turn this into a sort of “Hit Parade” of weird humor.
Simply put, the following cartoons are among my own personal favorites. They’re the ones that I feel best reflect something about my own attitude toward history, music, literature, art, religion, and science. (Yeah, sure they do.) I’ve rarely laughed out loud at the things I’ve drawn (I’m a little too close to the “joke” to ever be surprised), but these are the cartoons that at least made me smile inwardly. (I might mention that some favorites are in the main body of the book and are not repeated here.)
A final note: I contemplated making this last section a collection of what I consider the lousiest cartoons I’ve ever drawn, but space was limited.
Some background on this comic:
Transcript: