Gary Larson walked away from The Far Side, his hugely popular comic creation, 25 years ago.

Then the internet took over the world, and Larson … ignored it. The Far Side, at least officially, remained in the tactile world of old newspapers and printed books.

The reason: Because, being a cartoonist in the 1980s and ’90s, he explained, “you couldn’t get much further outside of tech unless maybe you were a coal miner.”

But today, after all these years, Larson has finally joined the internet era by launching the official The Far Side website. It will offer, syndicator Andrews McMeel Universal said in a statement, “an ever-changing, random selection of cartoons from The Far Side; a weekly themed comic collection; sketches and doodles from Larson’s sketchbooks; and periodic unveiling of new work by Larson.” (Larson insists this is not a “comeback,” so don’t expect the new stuff to be all that common.)

However infrequent the fresh material might turn out to be, The Far Side fans no doubt are rejoicing as they read this -- and heading over to thefarside.com.

At the same time, those fans might be wondering: Why is Larson embracing the digital revolution now?

The cartoonist, 69, admits he’s “a little exhausted” after years of attempting keep his work off the internet.

“Trying to exert some control over my cartoons has always been an uphill slog,” he wrote in an open letter on his website, “and I’ve sometimes wondered if my absence from the web may have inadvertently fueled someone’s belief my cartoons were up for grabs. They’re not. But it’s always been inherently awkward to chase down a Far Side–festooned website when the person behind it is often simply a fan. (Although not everyone is quite so uncomplicated in their motives; my cartoons have been taken and used to help sell everything from doughnuts to rodent control. At least I offer range.)”

Larson’s exhaustion isn’t the only reason the thefarside.com, long nothing more than a landing page, is now full of cartoons and sketches. There’s also the fact that online security is better, though he recognizes that “better security is, of course, just better security. But it helps. If they wanted to, I’m sure the Russians could get inside this thing and start messing with my captions. (I know they’re thinking about it!)”

The Russians probably have bigger hacking goals, but you never know. Whoever controls the mind of The Far Side fan just might control the world.

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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