The internet loves a good mystery. The internet actually kind of loves any mystery whether it’s good or not. Take for example a picture of the wrestler Sting reading a Far Side comic and having a good laugh at it. It’s humorous seeing a hulking mass of wrestling muscle chuckling at a cartoon, but what one was he laughing at? The world needs to know, what Gary Larson creation led to this reaction? The internet has pretty much narrowed it down.
In a series of posts on Bluesky, Cow Tools Daily (an account name that’s a direct reference to an obtuse Far Side comic), a breakdown has taken place to identify that cartoon using some visual clues. The most obvious one is the copy of the book that Sting is holding. From the cover, it’s determined that he’s reading “The Far Side Gallery 2” published in October of 1986. That’s already a huge help in narrowing things down as opposed to reading a non descriptive newspaper.
The Clues: Book Cover, Page Numbers, and Visual Hints
Next, attention was given to where Sting’s thumb is placed in the photo to give a relative page number This, combined with the corner of a page that’s visible in the photo seems to point to Sting opened to the section of the book for pages 50 and 51. From here, the positioning of Sting’s neck would indicate he’s looking at page 50. This then narrows it down to the four cartoons printed on that page.
Now we’re down to complete conjecture. Sting is wearing sunglasses that obscure us from being able to see his line of sight. Maybe he’s looking at all of them at once and having a collective smile? Maybe one of them tickled his fancy? It seems like the only logical next step is to print out that page of cartoons, bring it to Sting, and ask him which one he finds funniest. Oh, and also make sure it’s being presented to Sting the wrestler, and not Sting the musician. Although it would be nice to get his take on things as well.
Our Verdict?
Well obviously he’s laughing at the one with the hats. Any person of class would laugh at that one, and we know he’s got great taste. Also most of the replies to the Bluesky account agreed that the hats comic was by far THE BEST comic on that page.
Why the Internet Loves These Kinds of Mysteries
Leave it to the internet to take an unnecessarily detailed approach to solving a mystery that has no impact on the daily lives of humanity. Isn’t there still another Zodiac Killer cypher that needs to be figured out? We couldn’t use the manpower for that instead? Ah, well. At least we know what makes Sting smile.
