Argyle Sweater – Far Side
April 23rd, 2007 by DistantLight
Had these been on any other days, I probably wouldn’t have noticed:
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I was just reading the Complete Far Side, where Larson notes that there are at least two times where he told the same exact joke in the cartoon, years apart. I don’t remember his exact explanation, but it was something to do with ‘there are only so many jokes to go around.’ I’ll try to look it up later today to see if it is as relevant as I think it was.
A little more context: “Argyle Sweater” is an online (self-described) comic, and the illustration above appeared on April 13: http://www.theargylesweater.com/
This is pretty blatant. Unless it was meant as an ‘homage’ then I’d say it’s a direct ripoff and the guy should be ashamed.
Holy crap. It’s even drawn in a Larson-esque style. Argh.
Boo to the AS artist for the plagiarism. But his drawing does illustrate the joke better.
Yeah, that’s a pretty obvious ripoff.
Being a cartoonist myself, I’m going to sympathize with AS here. Because it’s entirely possible the artist didn’t even know that he was plagirizing Larson. Like in pop music, there’s only so many chords to go around and you’re inevitably going to have redundancy (Think Green Day v. Oasis). Some of these things come in at such a subliminal level that you don’t notice them.
I was about to write that this guy’s editor should be strung up by his/her toenails for letting something like this through… but after doing some research on AS, I’m not sure if he HAS an editor.
Whatever the case, I hope AS spares some blushes over this. If somebody does copy without realizing it, they should be wo/man enough to admit it.
Scott Hilburn offers an explanation of this unintentional imitation on his website, in the News section.
http://www.theargylesweater.com/
I doubt this was accidental. The guy’s style in both drawing and ideas (anyone who is familiar with Gary Larson’s work will notice immediatly). Just went over to his site and the idea for the cartoon on the front page (see 31st may cartoon) also looks very familiar. I cannot remember the caption but it had Rocky and Bullwinkle stuffed and hanging from the wall. I’m sure if I went through the rest I’d come across many others. Shame, the guy has some good comics.
olllllllllloooololo
I am a huge Gary Larson fan. The Chicago Tribune recently began running Argyle Sweater. From the beginning I immediatley noticed the uncanny resemblance of both the look and topic matter of these comics. I have also seen additional panels that are so close to exact same ‘gag’as to be shameful. To say there are only so many chords or whatever is a cop out. This guy will not last unless he finds his own sense of humor instead of simply stepping into gary’s shoes.
Unless Scott is a pseudonym for Gary?
Yeah, that whole comic is The Far Side all over again. Every recurring character looks like it was traced from a Gary Larson collection. The horses, the cops, the overweight nerdy scientist types… I found that “explanation” on the blog archives.
“I get a lot of Far Side comparisons”
Translation: More than one person has noticed my blatant tracing of Gary Larson’s characters.
“I’m quite embarrassed by the mishap”
Translation: I’m bummed out that I got caught red-handed this time. Usually my copying is subtle enough I can get away with it.
I’m so glad that I haven’t lost my mind. I thought Larson was doing a Stephen King slight of hand and making cartoons under a pseudonym.
Look at Argyle Sweater’s panel for October 23, 2009. Once again, a complete rip off of Gary Larsen’s Far Side. Gary’s panel shows 4 doctors around a patient whose leg is shooting up in the air. One doctor says “Whoa! That was a good one! Try it, Hobbs – just poke his brain right where my finger is.”
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It seems to me there was a “Twilight Zone” episode starring John Astin (of “The Addams Family”) playing the part of a hipster Beatnik in Limbo or some sort of waiting room before going on to Hell. He liked avant-garde be-bop music but was forced to listen Lawrence Welk-like music for all eternity. So, that gag predated Gary Larsen by decades.
no doubt. too “larsenesque” to be original.