Thanks to Darren for sending this Heart of the City:
Many CIDU readers will recognize the cow tools for what they are, but there are also some who may not — so this is tagged both CIDU and Shoutout.
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19 Comments
In addition to Darren, Brian in StL attached that HotC strip to Bill’s old “Loose Cows” post (from 2018), and asking whether it would “…have been better without the sign? Perhaps. Then again, I might not have noticed.”
P.S. I definitely agree with Brian: this strip would have been much better without the spoiler tag in the last panel.
I wouldn’t have noticed the cow tools without the sign.
It just seemed too blatant to hang a foreign floating object in the middle of the frame. I agree that almost nobody (probably including me) would have understood the reference without some sort of tip, but I would have preferred something a little more subtle, such as an “Apologies to Larson” hidden in the upper right corner.
Cow tools, A Far side/ Gary Larson cartoon call back.
I noticed the cow tools but would not have recognized them as such without the sign. I still have no idea what makes them cow tools (even though my old grandfather had cows). At least, in HotC (as opposed to FS) the saw is recognizable as a saw. The other thing looks like a sort of large backscratcher.
“Cow Tools” is a famous (for the wrong reasons) cartoon from The Far Side.
While I agree that having a blatant label pointing out the joke is kinda crude, I’m also annoyed with myself, because I honestly don’t think I would have noticed it without the cue. “Apologies to Gary Larsen.” might have been enough, though. After reading the Wiki article, it is obvious that there was a need for C.I.D.U. back then. Perhaps this was the inspiration for Bill.
I think I’m one of the only people I know who liked the ‘Cow tools’ comic when it first came out. Just the absurd idea that cows would have a use for tools to begin with, and the tools they do have serve a purpose that we humans cannot fathom made me laugh. The stoic, matter-of-fact look on the cow’s face added to the humour for me as well. I was quite surprised by all the kick back that Larson got for this one.
I dunno’. Am I alone?
I would have preferred the dialog to include someone asking about the cow tools. But I would not have gotten it without some clue.
Another misunderstood Far Side cartoon is “The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon.” There was something immediately appealing about the picture of the mother cow and father bull and two calves standing upright with the famous landmark in the background. People loved it, and wondered if the Holsteins would be visiting other national parks.
Hardly anyone noticed the joke, which was that one calf had his hoof just behind the other’s head, doing the “bunny ears” photo prank.
Back in college, every time a puzzling “Far Side” appeared in the L.A. Times, there would be a spirited discussion about what it was supposed to mean. (This was encouraged by the fact that most of Larson’s comics were both understandable, and very, very funny.) I don’t remember whether we ever came up with a satisfying answer for “Cow Tools”†, but when the “Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon” appeared, I figured it out, and was able to explain it to some of the other guys in our house.
P.S. † – Larson has been asked to “explain” Cow Tools innumerable times, and has done so in several different ways, but the quote that I find most satisfying went something like “It’s just weird, and therefore a ‘Far Side’ cartoon.“
P.P.S. @ guero – The Cow Tools comic predates even the earliest incarnation of the CIDU discussion platform by ten or fifteen years. Bill was quite intelligent, but he occasionally had a blind spot for certain types of humor (most notoriously in cat comics, which he posted with dependable regularity). Nevertheless, in many cases, he would understand the joke in a certain comic perfectly, but would post it anyway, just to confirm that his interpretation was correct. Sometimes, the post’s title would clearly reveal that Bill did indeed understand what was going on in the posted comic.
FYI, my ears perked up when I heard that this week’s NPR Sunday Puzzle was by Bob Bickel, of Maryland.
“most of Larson’s comics were both understandable, and very, very funny”
— I generally found that many Far Side comics were not understandable, and even more rarely were they funny.
I heard that too, Ed!
Cool squirrel. The artistic style reminds me of that Mifeprex package that has been all over the news lately, with a woman’s body expressed in a few curved lines.
It’s from Saturday Morning Breakfast cereal by Zach Weinersmith — it was the extra “votey” panel from some basically unrelated strip, but I was just struck how CIDU appropriate it was all on its own.
@ Boise Ed – A mere coincidence in the last name cannot compete with CIDU Bill’s interminable struggle with “Idiot Bill Bickel“, who (through blatant stupidity) repeated used CIDU Bill’s personal e-mail address, both for personal and business purposes. Sadly, now that CIDU Bill is no longer able to defend himself, IBB may never receive the retribution that he so richly deserved.
Arrrgh, not the Cow Tools controversy all over again!
Comics I Don't Understand 
In addition to Darren, Brian in StL attached that HotC strip to Bill’s old “Loose Cows” post (from 2018), and asking whether it would “…have been better without the sign? Perhaps. Then again, I might not have noticed.”
P.S. I definitely agree with Brian: this strip would have been much better without the spoiler tag in the last panel.
I wouldn’t have noticed the cow tools without the sign.
It just seemed too blatant to hang a foreign floating object in the middle of the frame. I agree that almost nobody (probably including me) would have understood the reference without some sort of tip, but I would have preferred something a little more subtle, such as an “Apologies to Larson” hidden in the upper right corner.
Cow tools, A Far side/ Gary Larson cartoon call back.
I noticed the cow tools but would not have recognized them as such without the sign. I still have no idea what makes them cow tools (even though my old grandfather had cows). At least, in HotC (as opposed to FS) the saw is recognizable as a saw. The other thing looks like a sort of large backscratcher.
“Cow Tools” is a famous (for the wrong reasons) cartoon from The Far Side.
See Wiki for details.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Tools
While I agree that having a blatant label pointing out the joke is kinda crude, I’m also annoyed with myself, because I honestly don’t think I would have noticed it without the cue. “Apologies to Gary Larsen.” might have been enough, though. After reading the Wiki article, it is obvious that there was a need for C.I.D.U. back then. Perhaps this was the inspiration for Bill.
I think I’m one of the only people I know who liked the ‘Cow tools’ comic when it first came out. Just the absurd idea that cows would have a use for tools to begin with, and the tools they do have serve a purpose that we humans cannot fathom made me laugh. The stoic, matter-of-fact look on the cow’s face added to the humour for me as well. I was quite surprised by all the kick back that Larson got for this one.
I dunno’. Am I alone?
I would have preferred the dialog to include someone asking about the cow tools. But I would not have gotten it without some clue.
Another misunderstood Far Side cartoon is “The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon.” There was something immediately appealing about the picture of the mother cow and father bull and two calves standing upright with the famous landmark in the background. People loved it, and wondered if the Holsteins would be visiting other national parks.
Hardly anyone noticed the joke, which was that one calf had his hoof just behind the other’s head, doing the “bunny ears” photo prank.
Back in college, every time a puzzling “Far Side” appeared in the L.A. Times, there would be a spirited discussion about what it was supposed to mean. (This was encouraged by the fact that most of Larson’s comics were both understandable, and very, very funny.) I don’t remember whether we ever came up with a satisfying answer for “Cow Tools”†, but when the “Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon” appeared, I figured it out, and was able to explain it to some of the other guys in our house.
P.S. † – Larson has been asked to “explain” Cow Tools innumerable times, and has done so in several different ways, but the quote that I find most satisfying went something like “It’s just weird, and therefore a ‘Far Side’ cartoon.“
P.P.S. @ guero – The Cow Tools comic predates even the earliest incarnation of the CIDU discussion platform by ten or fifteen years. Bill was quite intelligent, but he occasionally had a blind spot for certain types of humor (most notoriously in cat comics, which he posted with dependable regularity). Nevertheless, in many cases, he would understand the joke in a certain comic perfectly, but would post it anyway, just to confirm that his interpretation was correct. Sometimes, the post’s title would clearly reveal that Bill did indeed understand what was going on in the posted comic.
FYI, my ears perked up when I heard that this week’s NPR Sunday Puzzle was by Bob Bickel, of Maryland.
“most of Larson’s comics were both understandable, and very, very funny”
— I generally found that many Far Side comics were not understandable, and even more rarely were they funny.
I heard that too, Ed!
Cool squirrel. The artistic style reminds me of that Mifeprex package that has been all over the news lately, with a woman’s body expressed in a few curved lines.
It’s from Saturday Morning Breakfast cereal by Zach Weinersmith — it was the extra “votey” panel from some basically unrelated strip, but I was just struck how CIDU appropriate it was all on its own.
@ Boise Ed – A mere coincidence in the last name cannot compete with CIDU Bill’s interminable struggle with “Idiot Bill Bickel“, who (through blatant stupidity) repeated used CIDU Bill’s personal e-mail address, both for personal and business purposes. Sadly, now that CIDU Bill is no longer able to defend himself, IBB may never receive the retribution that he so richly deserved.
Arrrgh, not the Cow Tools controversy all over again!