Gary Larsonhas become a household name for his single-panel comic strip,The Far Side, which was syndicated in over 1,900 papers for fifteen years. Moreover, his twenty-three books of collected works have sold more than forty million copies worldwide. The series ended with Larson’s retirement on Aug 25, 2025, but since then, he has returned to continue the strip on his official site as of Jul 15, 2025.
Larson’s willingness tolean into the absurdand surreal has always made certain strips of his fly over the heads of his readers, sometimes purposely so. However, Larson put out one comic strip that was met with overwhelming confusion as to what the joke or context was. The response from the public even went so far as to make Larson feel inclined to make a public statement about the work. We will look at “Cow Tools,” the strip that confounded Larson’s audience and lives in infamy among the many cow-related strips Larson created.
Cow Tools and The Fan Reaction
Published in October 1982, “Cow Tools” depicts a cow standing in front of a table of crudely-made tools, including a saw and some unrecognizable objects, the accompanying text being the strip’s name. The comic was met with mass confusion, resulting in many readers calling their newspaper publishers to inquire about the purpose. According to the general manager at Chronicle Features, “the phone never stopped ringing for two days.”
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The Far Sidecreator received many letters, reportedly even a note from a fan who showed the cartoon to “40-odd professionals with doctoral degrees,” and none of them could make sense of the joke. Alternatively, Larson’s mention of one of the items being a ‘crudely drawn saw’ led to speculation that the other tools were some sort of deciphers to the joke.
In the face of all the confusion and the perceived lack of a ‘clear response’ from Larson to what the strip was about, it became aligned with some going as far as claiming it to be the worst comic strip ever published. Given the extreme reaction to a silly and harmless comic strip, the critique would change in the following years,even transforming into a meme.
Gary Larson’s Response to Cow Tools
As mentioned, part of Larson’s early notes on the strip, including that one item was a ‘crudely made saw,’ led to further confusion rather than helping the issue readers had. This eventually led to the cartoonist issuing a press release that tried to clarify the matter. This included the apology that his fondness for cows led to such confusion. His brief explanation, though, is as follows:
The cartoon was intended to be an exercise in silliness. While I have never met a cow who could make tools, I felt sure that if I did, they (the tools) would lack something in sophistication and resemble the sorry specimens shown in this cartoon. Gary Larson (via The Spokesman-Review)
Larson further touched on the subject in future works, including in the bookThe Prehistory of the Far Side.Here,The Far Sidecreator expanded the inspiration behind the comic strip by reflecting on the differences between man and the animal kingdom, with the ‘tool’ being the definitive thing that separated us from bovines and other creatures.
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As part of Larson’s apology for the confusion around “Cow Tools,” he mentioned his love of using cows in his strips. The animal has become a staple of the cartoonist’s work and has even featured heavily in the few animated versions of his strips. Where his obsession with cows comes from and how it has changed throughout Larson’s career is notable when putting the controversial comic strip into context.
In a 1998 interview with the New York Times,The Far Sidecreator admitted that he found the word “cow” funny in itself, but that the creatures were alsosomewhat tragic figures. He touched on the fact that a cow blurs the line between tragedy and humor in a way that perfectly feeds into his own sense of humor.
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While Larson did not expand on how he sees them as tragic, their domestication and use in modern society are the most obvious ways to see how he reached that conclusion. Building on this speculation, one can further see why Larson found “Cow Tools” funny, as their attempts to overcome their tragic circumstances make for a humorous visual.
It is also important to note that Larsonsincerely loves animals and conservation. He makes protecting wildlife a life’s priority and forwards proceeds from some of his work to Conservation International. One could say that his love of animals grew along with the success of his comics as he was able to help more directly. His constant anthropomorphism in his works also shows his close connection with animals, allowing him to indulge in humor unique to his beliefs, leading to a strip like “Cow Tools.”
