10 Hilarious Far Side Comics Featuring Airplanes

Summary

• Gary Larson’s airplane-themed
  Far Side
  cartoons found humor in air disasters, along with the foibles of pilots and passengers alike.
• Returning to airplanes time and again afforded Gary Larson the opportunity to flex certain comedic and artistic muscles that other recurring elements didn’t.
• The Far Side’s
  airplane illustrations showcase Larson’s unique style, and ability to push readers’ buttons with clever, unexpected, and a times, wholly absurd punchlines.

With The Far Side, Gary Larson regularly took readers for a ride – whether by automobile, train, or – as collected on this list – airplanes. Planes often reached equal heights of hilarity and calamity when they appeared in Far Side comics, as pilots and passengers alike turned routine air travel into anything but.

Many of the best Far Side cartoons captured moments where chaos reigned, and few settings were more consistently effective for that than an airplane, whether it was suffering catastrophic damage, or facing the looming possibility of it.

Not every Far Side flight was doomed, but a panel with a plane in it invariably connoted an immediate sense of comedic tension, which Gary Larson played with in his idiosyncratic way, in order to get some kind of reaction out of his readers.

The Far Side
ran in syndication from the end of 1979 through the beginning of 1995; the entries on this list are pulled from the years 1983 to 1994, and are arranged in reverse chronological order.

15 Introducing The “ACME Wingbaby”, The Far Side’s Most Absurd Invention

First Published: November 24, 1994

The Far Side featured its share of ridiculous fake products over the years, but it saved one of its most patently ridiculous inventions for the twilight of its run. This panel introduced readers to the “ACME Wingbaby,” which hangs from the wing of the plane – as a parent uses it to keep his child under control, saying: “See that little kid out there, Ricky? He wouldn’t stop crying either.”

As often as Gary Larson’s strange style of humor translated into laughs for his audience, The Far Side tended to leave readers perplexed, asking “What-the?” The “ACME Wingbaby” from this panel is a sterling example of that – it is such a strange joke that it will likely blow right past laughter and leave readers begging to know “why?”

14 The Far Side Was All About Pushing Readers’ Buttons

First Published: September 7, 1992

Readers who have flown will know the anxiety inherent in being seated in the emergency exit row – an experience that this Far Side panel takes to an entirely new level, by depicting a passenger moments before he accidentally flips the “wings on/wings off” switch inexplicably located right next to his recliner button.

The “why” of the punchline – as in, “why would that switch be there?” – is the entire crux of the joke in this Far Side cartoon. As an artist, Gary Larson was primarily interested in getting an immediate reaction out of his readers; whether he achieved that through dark comedy, or peak absurdity, the end result of pushing the readers’ buttons was always the chief goal of The Far Side.

13 Misunderstandings Tended To Escalate Quickly In The Far Side

First Published: October 17, 1991

The airplane is not the focus of this strip, but it does elevate a good joke into a great one. While Gary Larson largely adhered to a single-panel format with The Far Side, this notable exception packs a lot of familiar Far Side tropes into its six-panel sequence. Dogs frequently served as protagonists for artist Gary Larson, with Lassie in particular being one of the comic’s many pop culture references. Further, the man in the first panel is one of several Far Side characters who found themselves trapped in quicksand.

The inclusion of an airplane in panel four effectively delivers the cartoon’s biggest laugh before it arrives at its punchline in the final panel, but in a way that serves to strengthen the impact of the joke’s final note when it does come. The dog going from hopping over a log, to hopping a plane, is highly effective comedic escalation, which sets the reader up for a satisfying ending.

12 The Far Side Offered Readers A Bird’s-Eye View Of Airplane Pilots In Action

First Published: September 4, 1991

Many of The Far Side’s most memorable airplane panels took place in the front of the plane – specifically, the cockpit, where readers frequently found pilots who inspired less than total confidence in their ability to get the giant metal contraption from Point A to Point B.

This comic features two of The Far Side’s more capable flyers, by comparison, who try to keep their passengers calm about a mechanical issue with the plane, while still being honest with them about the warning light that is filling the entire cockpit with an ominous red glow. What makes this entry especially funny is how the pilots’ eyes are drawn wide and white with fright, in contrast to the even-keeled way that their announcement over the intercom reads in the caption.

11 The Far Side’s Pilots Didn’t Always Have Their Priorities Straight

First Published: August 16, 1991

The Far Side was known for finding humor in darkness – this was essential to its success, as much as it also led to Gary Larson receiving his fair share of criticism. Air disasters are objectively terrifying, and represent one of the most potent phobias for travelers world-wide. For his part, Larson was largely able to transmute this fear into comedy by balancing the frightful imagery of planes in flames, or with a massive hole in it – as is the case here – with an equally large dose of silliness.

That is the case here, as the windows of a commercial airliner’s cockpit have, for reasons unknown, been blown out – though in the single moment of this crisis readers are privy to, one of the pilots is caught lamenting that his hat flew off his head.

10 One Of Gary Larson’s Most Groan-Inducing Jokes

First Published: January 7, 1991

If there is any Far Side punchline that can be found guilty of being a “dad joke,” it is this one. Depicting an upward-perspective of the nose of a plane as it plummets out of the sky, billowing smoke in its wake, the pilot urgently shouts the flight’s dire conditions into the radio. “My second engine’s on fire, my landing gear’s jammed, and my worthless copilot’s frozen!” the pilot yells frantically – at which point, if they haven’t already, readers will look up and realize that the copilot is a snowman.

The joke is incredibly, and deliberately, eye-roll worthy, in the manner of the best and worst dad jokes – and it almost has to be, as a kind of built-in relief-mechanism, to take the edge off the intense situation that Gary Larson is depicting. In any case, whether a reader response with laughter, derision, incredulity, or some mix, any response at all was ultimately satisfying to the artist.

9 One Of Gary Larson’s Most Visually Arresting Illustrations

First Published: February 7, 1988

This panel doesn’t soar to the altitude of hilarity reached by some entries on this list, but it does warrant inclusion for its unique deviations from the familiar style of The Far Side. More importantly, it represents one of the most striking visuals crafted by Gary Larson in the comic’s fifteen-year run in publication.

Lacking a caption, this Far Side’s punchline is a bit subtle. In the smaller panel in the upper-lefthand corner of the frame, a man waiting on a runway to flag the plane in for its landing looks down at the ground in dismay, where a bolt has apparently fallen out of the air – causing the plane to come apart at the middle. There is a kind of strange beauty to Larson’s depiction of the plane separating; at least, that is, until the reader notices the two doomed passengers sitting at the front of the now plummeting back half of the airplane.

8 Flying Coach In The Far Side Wasn’t Always A Disaster

First Published: January 25, 1987

For a change of pace, this Far Side flight is not in flames, nor does there seem to be any peril at all. Rather, a smooth flight encounters a flock of ducks – with one of the birds looking over and spotting a member of the flock enjoying a window seat, making faces back at its brethren from the comfort of the commercial airliner.

Rather than a laugh-out-loud Far Side, this is an example of the kind of sly Gary Larson joke that begs the reader to take a closer look, as like the middle duck in the panel, it might require a double take to realize where the humor of the illustration is.

7 One Of The Far Side’s Most Memorable Airplane Cartoons

First Published: June 3, 1988

Many Far Side comics over the years made it clear that Gary Larson was obsessed with elephants, but this ranks high among the most unforgettable. With this panel, Larson envisions a dark future for the iconic flying elephant Dumbo, reimagining him as some kind of dark, lone crusader against man’s conquest of the skies.

Compositionally, this is a high-level Far Side, as Larson’s menacing Dumbo juts into frame in a way that helps readers connect to the shocked reactions of the pilot and copilot, which is by far the funniest visual element of the illustration. The two throw their hands up and their heads back, offering nearly-identical shouts of alarm, moments before the elephant attacker presumably tears into the cockpit.

6 Hopefully They Both Have Collision Insurance

First Published: September 7, 1986

Aliens frequently invaded The Far Side, with this being a particularly amusing example, as it depicts a human and an alien pilot, respectively, parachuting away from the scene of a mid-air collision. The pair are shown facing off angrily, as the Earthling’s airplane and the extraterrestrial’s flying saucer both go down in flames.

With expertly framed action, and set against a backdrop of beautifully rendered cumulus clouds, this is also a great example of the way that airplanes in particular allowed Gary Larson to flex certain creative muscles that other panels did not, leading to some of the most aesthetically pleasing Far Side panels that he produced throughout the cartoon’s long run in syndication.

5 Gary Larson Revealed The Secret Of Turbulence In This Far Side Plane Panel

First Published: August 3, 1986

While The Far Side’s airplane comics come in a few different variations, the most prevalent – and generally, funniest – are those featuring pilots. If there is one underlying premise that drives Gary Larson’s pilot jokes, it is that people place an incredible amount of faith in airline pilots; this panel features two of them taking advantage of that faith, by simulating turbulence, in order to freak out their passengers for their own amusement.

Ranking among Far Side’s best multi-panel comics, as well as one of Gary Larson’s more dialogue-heavy punchlines, this cartoon is particularly notable for managing an impressive feat: making readers feel the dismay of the passengers and the mirth of the pilots at the same time.

4 This Far Side Pilot Needs To Reread The Plane’s Manuel

First Published: March 19, 1985

While the pilots in the previous panel betrayed their passengers’ trust by scaring their passengers, this one does so by freaking himself out – in the process displaying a lack of technical awareness about the airplane controls that is frankly even more unnerving.

“The fuel light’s on, Frank! We’re all going to die!” this pilot cries, before coming to his senses. “Oh, my mistake, that’s the intercom light,” he concludes, having taken readers on a journey of an entirely different sort as they follow along with the rollercoaster of his panic. Although death and destruction were commonplace parts of Far Side punchlines, this one relies on teasing the possibility, before offering a sense of relief, in order to achieve its humor.

3 A Brief And Glorious Joyride For This Far Side Amphibian

First Published: August 14, 1984

Readers wouldn’t necessarily be wrong to suspect they’re missing something when it comes to this panel, but while this deceptively simple Far Side cartoon might be hiding some more nuanced joke, its surface-level silliness is enough to at least prompt a quizzical smile on the part of the reader.

In the panel, a frog has hitched the ride of a lifetime, sticking its tongue to the bottom of an airplane – except the plane appears to have just taken off, and its wheels are seemingly retracting inward, meaning the poor amphibian thrillseeker is about to meet an ignominious fate. Even if this part of the punchline isn’t immediately clear, the image is fanciful enough that it will stick in many readers’ minds.

2 How Much Longer Is This Flight, Exactly?

First Published: April 5, 1984

The Far Side’s airplane comics often featured an outside-looking-in perspective; a birds-eye view, so to speak. This is without a doubt one of Gary Larson’s funniest cartoons set inside a plane, as two pilots both flop to the floor of the cockpit at the same time, with one of them proclaiming the “irony” of both having lost one of their contact lenses “at the same time.”

What drives home the humor of this panel is the way that most of the plane’s passengers are drawn seemingly unaware of this alarming situation – except for one, who essentialy stands in for both Larson and the reader, nervously leaning into the aisle and straining to eavesdrop on the situation at the front.

1 This Far Side Pilot Faked It Until He Made It

First Published: October 15, 1983

Once more, Gary Larson uses the outside perspective to show what is happening inside the cockpit of a plane – and what readers find is not exactly reassuring, as the pilot is depicted childishly holding his arms aloft and swinging them as though he is flying, even as he is actually flying.

While in truth, a pilot doesn’t have to have their hands on the wheel at all times during a flight, what Gary Larson is humorously illustrating here is the very real fear that many people have, of the idea that pilots might be messing around while they have so many peoples’ lives in their hands. Without needing a caption, Larson effectively captures that uneasiness here, meaning that, as simple as it is, this is also one of the funniest Far Side cartoons featuring an airplane.