The Complete Far Side (1980-1994)
 

Hey I was goin through Amazon earlier today and I saw this up:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...245972-6382215

It looks to be a complete collection of all the Far Side cartoons. I think it's a great idea and I really like the way it looks.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/07...1.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

For those too lazy to click, here's the editorial review's book description:
Even at an Amazon price of 94 bucks, I think it'd be worth it. It looks to be a nice set.

Cool...thanks for the link. That might make for a good Christmas book.

1880...I had no idea the strip had been around for that long.

haha. i saw this at border's yesterday, and wanted it really bad. i'm gonna go get it soon.

whoa!

let's hope for another 40% Borders sale..

[paging Speedy1961...]

:drool:

too bad it seems like we'll never see a Calvin And Hobbes collection like this..

:jawdrop: Wow that looks nice. And perfect timing. I've been trying to gather all the collections of various comic strips (Calving and Hobbes, For Better of For Worse), but I was having trouble digging up a lot of the Far Side books. Great to see I can aquire them all in one fell swoop.

It looks beautiful in the picture. I just wonder how heavy/awkward that hardcover is going to be to read.

Crap can a mod edit the title for me to 1980 instead of 1880. Far side isn't that old.

Wow. This is going to be worth the price. 1100 cartoons that have never been collected in book form before. I think I'll eBay my collection of Far Side books, I've got most of them, to help pay for this.

:lol: I think we all (at least I did) assumed that the 1880 was a joke on Larson's part.

This is just too weird. I was just thinking this weekend about developing a Christmas list with all the Far Side books. I even browsed to Amazon.com but then got distracted and never got around to searching. This is just too perfect.

I second the request for a similar Calvin and Hobbes collection.

To those who have access to Costco, they'll have it for $79.99 next Tuesday. About 41% off.

Overstock is also selling the collection for ~$80.

sweet. is there a way you can shop once without being a member? like a guest pass that allows you to "try out" the store??? i have a sam's card but have no sam's nearby plus i've been curious about costco, which is everywhere around here.

"Car!"


This is just incredible, my DVD buying is definitely going on hiatus to save up for this puppy.

Roll on Calvin and Hobbes!

That is one that I'd spend $100 on. My wife's dad is a big fan of The Farside though, so we may pitch in to help buy him this for Christmas.

I'll third the motion for a Calvin and Hobbes collection--still my alltime favorite cartoon, and something I'd gladly drop $100 on.

I'm amazed that there were so many cartoons that never made it into the previous collections.

Aren't most cartoon compilation books complete, and in chronological order? I'd hate to think that I'm missing a single Calvin and Hobbes strip, or Sherman's Lagoon, or Pearls before Swine.

My copy of this arrived today from Amazon.com ($83.50 after STL). It's GIGANTIC ! I'm almost going to need to buy more book shelves to hold it. (Okay, that's hyperbole. But it is big.)

Everybody MUST buy this book if only so that the publisher will be encouraged to do a similar set (or sets) of Calvin and Hobbes.

(And while you're at it, make sure you buy the volumes of the Complete Peanuts when they start being published by Fantagraphics next spring.)

Picked this up just a few minutes ago at Barnes and Noble on the way home from work. Its huge and heavy and just about the coolest thing I've bought in ages! $135 retail, they are at 30% off and card holders get an addit. 10%, so my total was $91.00. $$$ well spent!

Went to Costco today to get Indy, and look at this set.

It wasn't there. Maybe it will show up later this week, or closer to Xmas...or it could only be available on their online site.

I saw this set at Sam's Club tonight for $79.84. Its very nice.......and very tempting.

Picked it up tonight at my Costco, so they do have it, at least some of them. Damn thing weighs a ton. But beautifully put together.

How limited is this supposed to be -- I mean supposing I don't have a chance to pick it up this month....?

I don't think you'll have any problems finding it over the next month or two. I'm sure they are hoping to sell quite a few copies for the xmas season.

Anybody getting this version?

Hokey smokes! Too rich for my blood, even with a share-the-love discount.

What a gyp -- they'll give you free shipping for that one but not for the other one. I bet they weigh about the same.

It's cheaper at Overstock.com ($79.39 plus $1.40 s/h) and Wal-Mart.com.

What is the difference w/ that version & the normal one?

Anyway, picked up my copy today & the thing really is HUGE & insanely heavy. The picture above just doesn't do the thing justice of how big & amazing looking the collection is. It really would make a tremendous X-mas gift, but of coarse I couldn't wait. The only way to top this is, as already mentioned, if a Calvin & Hobbes collection was done the same way. I thought I read somewhere once, that it would never happen though.

why would it not happen?

Well Larson has continued to release calendars, organizers, books, etc. since he retired. Bill Watterson who did Calvin & Hobbes hasn't had anything published related to the series since 1995.

I don't think it means it couldn't happen but sure doesn't seem as likely. I think there's plenty of demand for it though.

Watterson is pretty funny when it comes to merchandise or anything like that. So it wouldn't be surprising if he were to oppose something like a "Complete Calvin and Hobbes." I don't know how he feels about the current books that are out... presumably he's okay with them.

Seems kind of odd that he's opposed to merchandise. It's like free money.

Yeah, but don't you recall the preachy strips about the evils of consumerism during the last couple or so years of the strip? Calvin & Hobbes is one strip that hasn't held up for me in many ways; I was looking through my collections of the strip the other day, and while some were still good, many of the strips turned me off completely.

I can see his point to an extent, though, as I really don't enjoy the endless whoring of Peanuts characters for every last nickel to be milked out of them.

He's been quite busy with all of those "Peeing and Praying Calvin" car decals in recent years.

I hope you're joking...


As for the C&H books, I've got my Tenth Anniversary book in my lap, and I'll quote a few relevant pieces.


Pgs 10-12. Watterson discusses licensing. He feels that licensing usually cheapens the the original creation. "Calvin and Hobbes was designed to be a comic strip and that's all I want it to be." This refers to using the images on things like coffee mugs and greeting cards, because they might take things out of context.

Pgs 14-16 discuss how the size of comics, particularly the Sundays' have shrunk so much over the years. Though he doesn't say it, I think he enjoys the strips in book form because he can bring the size back up to what he likes.

Pg 29, regarding the very first strip about Calvin catching Hobbes in a tiger trap with a tuna fish sandwich.

"My hometown paper didn't pick up the strip for several months, so I didn't see this strip in the newspaper either. This is one reason I've been grateful for the book collections."

One of the other things discussed though is how difficult his dealings with the syndicate were. There might be some bad blood or politics keeping the books from happening, or the publisher simply might not see it as profitable.



Back on topic, is this Far Side book really limited? Cause I'm not too hot in the money department these days.

I imagine this collection should be avilible for a little while still, those who lack the funds to buy it immediately. I stopped in at the local Chapters today, thinking they may have one or two copies (given it's $200 CDN price) and found the clerks unpacking boxes of it. They seemed to be putting out about fifty or sixty copies.

These people aren't lying when they say it's heavy. I was unprepared for it's bulk and almost dropped it on my foot as I made my way to the counter.

Offtopic re: Bill Watterson

I recently came across a site that had two pretty interesting pieces about Watterson. They paint him as Salinger-like recluse.

Article on what ol'Bill's been upto since finishing the strip:
http://www.reemst.com/calvin_and_hob...ic=plaindealer

An interview with him from 1987 (touted as 'The only known interview Watterson has every given... the author was later found dead!':
http://www.reemst.com/calvin_and_hob...opic=interview

I hope Berkley Breathed does a similar compilation book for his Bloom County and Outland strips. Ack!

Likewise, though the start of a new Opus strip in November might delay such a project.

while i don't know if i will be picking up this far side collection, i would definitly be picking up a similar bloom county one.

If I remember correctly, I saw this for Cdn$117.99 at Costco in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

this was my thought today when i went by the bookstore to look at this. :jawdrop: holy crap was this thing huge! luckily the 2nd store that i went to had one that was open so i slid out the two volumes and took a flip through. pretty good overall. i only glanced at a few strips but they were great. i will probably be picking this up if i could just get some love.