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Published Sep 25, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words. Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II. Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno. Gary Larson's The Far Side famously loves the natural world, with piles of comics dedicated to bugs, birds and big game. It's therefore not surprising that there are so many great Far Side gags starring elephants. Indeed, Larson published dozens of Far Side comics starring elephants during the series' 1979-1995 syndication, which gives us a lot of choice when looking for the very best. Here are the six greatest Far Side comics starring elephants (plus some honorable mentions) with gags about everything from long memories and elephant graveyards to Dumbo and Tantor. Not Too Close, Higgins... | Published April 1983 In this comic, two adventurers come unexpectedly across a bull elephant, fearing for their lives. However, not because it's a gigantic animal in close proximity, but because THIS elephant is carrying a knife. It's a goofy visual, and Larson nails the pose of an elephant preparing for a street fight. Nuts | Published April 1982 It's rare that a captionless Far Side comic is anything other than great - Larson only holds back on the words when he knows the visuals don't need any help whatsoever. In this strip, an elephant is 'disguised' as a regular person in order to steal the nuts from a guy innocently feeding the squirrels. The idea of elephants loving nuts comes from old circuses where the snacks were a cheap option for visitors to feed the animals, with movies of the time popularizing the idea that elephants will do just about anything for their favorite food. The Far Side can be added to that list, considering the pains this particular pachyderm is going to for a chance to steal a half-eaten packet of nuts. The Butler | Published May 1983 Custom Image by Robert Wood (from Gary Larson) In this comic, Gary Larson pulls off a perfect 'whodunnit' reveal joke. A classic detective (one of Larson's subtle recurring characters) has gathered all the suspects in the parlor, with a portrait of the victim looking down from above. The detective is accusing the butler of the crime, echoing the classic "the butler did it" cliché (which seemingly originates from Mary Roberts Rinehart's 1930s novel The Door.) Unfortunately, the detective has overlooked the fact that one of the suspects is an elephant - a far more likely candidate as the one who "gored the Colonel to death before trampling him to smithereens." Larson rarely leads the reader right to the punchline, leaving some space for them to figure out the joke for themselves. While it's rarely a long journey, even just leaving the space for the reader to recognize one of the characters is an elephant in disguise makes the payoff feel far more personal, and therefore even funnier. The Elephant's Nightmare | Published December 1983 In a brilliantly surreal comic, Larson reveals "the elephant's nightmare" - having to play a piano in front of a crowd. Of course, this being The Far Side, the issue isn't that he's an elephant, but that he's playing the wrong instrument. Were he up there with a flute, the audience would be in for a tour de force performance. Elevator | Published December 1987 In a classic Far Side elevator gag, everyman Ernie is dismayed as one elephant too many piles into the conveyance alongside him. The image sets up a great 'wait a minute...' gag, where you realize that Ernie isn't quite as blameless as he seems - after all, he stepped into an elevator already containing multiple elephants. In a fun visual bonus, Larson hammers home the joke with a weight capacity sign - one which should have guaranteed safety, but can''t quite account for four different elephants needing to travel at the same time. Far Side's Honorable Mentions A break in our list to pay some respect to the strips that didn't quite make it to the top six. Above are some of the MANY Far Side elephant comics that didn't quite make our top six, despite several of them being laugh-out-loud funny. In the strip below, Larson draws on the concept of an 'elephants' graveyard' - a mythic pachyderm practice where old elephants instinctively seek out the same spot to die. Despite being fictional, the idea has appeared in hit movies like Disney's The Lion King. In Larson's world, the practice isn't quite so 'instinctive,' and The Far Side's elephants are struggling to find the site even with a map. It's the perfect example of Larson maintaining animal behaviors while adding human logic. Another honorable mention goes to Larson's comics making fun of Disney's Dumbo, depicting the flying elephant as an aggressive older bull and being pursued by someone who is using a trumpet to mimic an 'elephant call' in the manner of a duck hunter. Larson enjoyed going after Disney, and there aren't many of their classic animated movies that don't have a related Far Side gag. Larson also made comics referencing Tarzan's Tantor, showing the elephant freaking out after noticing an ivory piano. Gary Larson Thought Fans Misunderstood This Elephant Comic Due in part to his dark sense of humor, Larson was no stranger to controversial comics, frequently receiving hate mail from readers. However, he felt the comic above received unfair hate, with some readers seeing it as containing the opposite message than he intended. In The Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson writes that the Los Angeles Times rejected this comic due to issues of good taste. Larson admits to being baffled by the decision and any impression that the joke is making light of elephant poaching, stating that, "I've always found it appalling that the demand for ivory has caused these magnificent animals to be continuously poached." At the same time. Larson admits he wasn't trying to make some grand point with this comic: "The cartoon is really pretty inane, I think." Whereas He Was Incredibly Proud of This One... Consider this our unofficial seventh pick, albeit it's a little similar to the genius 'butler did it' strip from earlier. The comic sees an elephant track down the hunter who shot it years ago, using the species' famously long memory to exact revenge. Larson was particularly proud of the comic, saying in The Prehistory of The Far Side that he considers it an example of "that perfect marriage between the drawing and the caption." Larson explains he's happiest of all with the posing of the scene and how it evokes an "old Bogart film," revealing that, "even if this little scene was animated, we wouldn't see much more movement than what's captured in this cartoon." These Big Tuskers | Published May 1986 In this comic, two adventurers driving across the savanna encounter three bull elephants, one of which has automobile parts literally skewered on its tusks. In a classic bit of Larsonian understatement, the driver warns his friend that he suspects the middle "tusker" isn't bluffing - a conclusion that pretty much anyone would be smart enough to reach given the evidence at hand. It's a fun, broad gag, but one that still requires the reader to 'search' the image for the punchline, intensifying the laugh when they get there. Those are the six greatest The Far Side comics starring elephants - at least according to us. Let us know below which of these The Far Side comics is your favorite, and which of our honorable mentions deserves to be part of the main list. Writer Gary Larson Colorist Gary Larson