5/05/2010

How far has the Far Side gone?

Right from my childhood days, I have a soft spot for comics (books, strips, the whole 9 yards); they have long been my source of quotable quotes- and examples. A few hours ago, I was trying to explain ‘everything is not as it looks like’ to a friend, and could recall a comic from the far side read long ago (a cow rings the bell of a house, and goes back to grazing- leaving the house owner puzzled.) tried to find it online; surely it should be somewhere. All I got were links to stories where Gary Larson sued various people for posting the comic on their website.

How sad. 90% of people I talk to have no idea what a genius Far Side is. I can’t show it to them, and Gary’s organization is losing free word of mouth publicity. Its ok to protect ones right, but suing people who have written a great review for the strip for posting an image they rightfully purchased on their site? are you out of your mind?

Contrast this with Scott Adams’ Dilbert. Dilbert has a blog, lets people come up with their own ideas, sends a comic every day to inboxes of subscribers- which they can forward to a gazillion people. Scott adams gets it: he’s trying to increase his exposure, so that more people can relate to Dilbert when they come across his books. My bet is at least one out of ten would grab a copy.

And far side? None out of ten. And I think that’s the reason it’s not found in any book store I have visited ( I own a battered, second-hand copy.)

I agree, there are reasons to see the new media with suspicion, but banning it outright and harming prospects, that too with a killer product in hand? Sacrilege.

2 comments:

Sriram JP said...

dude check for far comics in torrents
u will get some e copies!

Kris Nayak said...

The guy sues people who have purchased his book and posted scans of the same on their sites.. what would happen if I download it from torrents and then post it? I'm screwed :P