Nine of the Funniest Far Side Comic Strips About Cats

Gary Larson loves cows. Readers of his comic strip The Far Side know Larson adores bovine creatures, portraying them as simple-minded heroes. Even when they are not good, like the strip where they are plotting to eat a farmer, they are drawn so that readers want them to succeed.

Cats can never be heroes in the world of Gary Larson.

Larson’s cats are always villains or victims. They act as selfish pets, ruthless enemies of dogs and rodents, or targets of deserved comeuppance. Nine cartoons represent the nine lives of a cat to present this case.

Larson would never portray cows like this.

What cats hear

This comic strip juxtaposes what people say to cats versus what cats hear, depicting a cat that is completely indifferent to owner demands. Expensive couches destroyed by a bored cat sharpening claws prove that cats are defiant and sometimes indifferent. That behavior only seems extreme in comparison to dogs, which are very different creatures. Measuring any cat by dog standards leads to failure.

Bad cat

This comic portrays a cat that has killed and eaten a bird after using dynamite to blow apart a bird cage. The cat is the unruly troublemaker to the shock of its owner. Despite committing such a crime, the cat rests on the couch unbothered.

Another cat, also bad

The mangled condition of these cat owners shows how Larson views cats. The cat has mercilessly attacked its owners and prepares to do the same to their visitor.

Another level of bad

Humans, dogs, birds, and fish react in horror to headlights because they know they face danger from a cat that can drive a car. Cats function as monster figures rather than pets in this scenario.

Poor pup

A quartet of gangster cats speeds away from a crime scene after riddling a doghouse with bullets. Once again, cats take the role of the evil ones.

A vending machine for cats

Larson sees cats as the bane of existence for dogs, owners, and mice alike. Poor mice stuck in a gumball machine await their deaths at the hands of a cat in this comic.

Poor kitty

Larson sometimes portrayed cats as victims of dogs instead of villains with the upper hand. Sympathies remain with the dogs, as though cats deserve whatever horrible fate awaits them. A clever dog in a human mask tricks someone into retrieving a cat from a tree in this comic.

Poor defenseless kitty

An owner takes a cat home after having it declawed. The dog happily welcomes back the defenseless cat while remaining the cute figure in the comic. The cat turns its back to the viewer, keeping the focus on the dog.

Nothing to interpret here

Oh, come on!

Source: Polygon