Mike Stopforth

My friend Graeme Codrington is a Gary Larson fan. Few smart people aren’t Larson fans. The Far Side cartoonist has kept many a toilet-ridden geek entertained (or at least this geek when he’s toilet-ridden) with ingenious single panel illustrations and captions.

Recently Graeme got an email from his hero - wow! Or not. In this case Gary was requesting that Graeme remove a cartoon from one of his websites. Check out Graeme’s post on the subject. The email starts off with the usual “cease and desist” drawl and then there’s a priceless bit - an enclosure from Gary himself. Here’s that enclosure:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I’m walking a fine line here.

On the one hand, I confess to finding it quite flattering that some of my fans have created web sites displaying and / or distributing my work on the Internet. And, on the other, I’m struggling to find the words that convincingly but sensitively persuade these Far Side enthusiasts to “cease and desist” before they have to read these words from some lawyer.

What impact this unauthorized use has had (and is having) in tangible terms is, naturally, of great concern to my publishers and therefore to me — but it’s not the focus of this letter. My effort here is to try and speak to the intangible impact, the emotional cost to me, personally, of seeing my work collected, digitized, and offered up in cyberspace beyond my control.

Years ago I was having lunch one day with the cartoonist Richard Guindon, and the subject came up how neither one of us ever solicited or accepted ideas from others. But, until Richard summed it up quite neatly, I never really understood my own aversions to doing this: “It’s like having someone else write in your diary,” he said. And how true that statement rang with me. In effect, we drew cartoons that we hoped would be entertaining or, at the very least, not boring; but regardless, they would always come from an intensely personal, and therefore original perspective.

To attempt to be “funny” is a very scary, risk-laden proposition. (Ask any stand-up comic who has ever “bombed “on stage.) But if there was ever an axiom to follow in this business, it would be this: be honest to yourself and — most important — respect your audience.

So, in a nutshell (probably an unfortunate choice of words for me), I only ask that this respect be returned, and the way for anyone to do that is to please, please refrain from putting The Far Side out on the Internet. These cartoons are my “children,” of sorts, and like a parent, I’m concerned about where they go at night without telling me. And, seeing them at someone’s web site is like getting the call at 2:00 a.m. that goes, “Uh, Dad, you’re not going to like this much, but guess where I am.

I hope my explanation helps you to understand the importance this has for me, personally, and why I’m making this request.

Please send my “kids” home. I’ll be eternally grateful.

Most respectfully,

Gary Larson

My first repsonse is, “oh for crying out loud!” - I just can’t believe a brain like Gary’s could be this narrow-minded. I want to shove Hugh MacLeod’s URL, on a business card, up his uptight ass.

But then my nice side remembers the SABMiller vs. Laugh It Off story - not the same legal issue but similar themes. I know that there’s so much more to that story than what meets the eye - it always looked to me like SABMiller was just out to crush the little guy, but it turns out SABMiller was stuck between a rock and a hard place. They were driven to defend the brand at the cost of losing their right to hold it.

Knowing that, I start to wonder if Gary Larson really gives two hoots where his ‘children’ are. My overwhelming suspicion is that Gary is receiving pressure from paranoid publishers and is between a rock and a hard place. At least that’s what I’d like to believe.

Your thoughts?

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