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1999 letter from Larson: https://web.archive.org/web/19991021233828/http://www.portmann.com/farside/home.html https://web.archive.org/web/19991021233828/http:/

• barneyrubble 7y ago
  1999 seems pretty late into the evolution of the web for a creator to be so concerned with scattered instances of their work being shared online. 1995-96 I'd believe--the web was mostly still new, norms hadn't adjusted to its presence. But by 1999, the web was well underway, and it would've been weird for random scans of comic strips not to be found freely in all corners of the internet. Did he really email hundreds of site owners? (Unless the places he was sending his form letter to were hosting most of his back catalog, which would amount to full-scale piracy.)
  • fenomas 7y ago
    The site hosting that letter is called "Gary Larson comic of the week".
    • barneyrubble 7y ago
      Totally missed that, facepalm
• wmil 7y ago
  It's interesting how damaging his strategy has been to the Far Side brand. Without new comics in the newspaper and without sharing online it's basically unknown to people under 30.