New Reader Intro

[Steve the Pocket]

<!--QuoteBegin-Dr. Dos+Jan 6 2005, 09:09 PM--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> (Dr. Dos @ Jan 6 2005, 09:09 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> I'd say you should read the original Locke strips before suddenly clicking a link and finding a kid on a pirate ship who for some reason is Millie's father. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br> Why not? It's what <i>I</i> did. Granted, what I did was read all of 2003 (forwards), then 2002, then 2001, then hop to the beginning. I don't know why I did that, but I think I'm better off for it. I think seeing the more recent strips first helped me establish what was going on <i>now</i>, and go back for the backstory later. I dunno.

[dragonranpu]

well personally I would use one stroy line. It would show of both Ozy and millie. It is the ozys first day of school.

[GhostWay]

Slight delay. Due to returning to college and all the cicrumstances associated with that, I won't be able to get the page out today. Possibly tomorrow, but <i>definitely</i> sometime this week.

[GhostWay]

I was trying to work on this, but I just can seem to get it to work. Whatever I come up with always ends up being a slightly expanded cast page. So I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do.<br><br>Here's the strips I was considering using as examples:<br><br>Ozy<br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om20040401.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om2004 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om20030617.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om2003 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om20021216.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om2002 ... llie<br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om20041008.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om2004 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om20030424.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om2003 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om20021116.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om2002 ... llyn<br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om20040504.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om2004 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om20030318.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om2003 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om20021105.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om2002 ... <br><br>Ms. Mudd<br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om20041126.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2004/om2004 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om20030217.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2003/om2003 ... </a><br><a href='http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om20021025.gif' target='_blank'>http://www.ozyandmillie.org/2002/om2002 ... r><br>Also, explanations/background of some of the recurring jokes:<ul><li>Conspiracy - Dragons are routinely employed in various, generally non-sensical, conspiracies. Elder dragons are in charge of conspiracies, while younger ones (such as Isolde) do more of the actual work.</li><li>Zen - Ozy, Llewellyn, and most other dragons follow a Zen-like philosophy. This mainly consists of nonsensical statements of the form "doing by not doing."</li><li>Haircuts - Ozy frequently undergoes a sudden removal of all his hair and fur. This is generally the result of a haircut, but can also happen in other ways.</li><li>Baths - Millie routinely procrastinates against her mother whenever she has to take a bath. She will generally find creative ways to get out of her bath, even after she's already been put in the tub.</li></ul><br><br>I know there's more to be done, I'm just having trouble figuring all of it out.

[dcsimpson]

<!--QuoteBegin-GhostWay+Jan 14 2005, 08:25 PM--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> (GhostWay @ Jan 14 2005, 08:25 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> I was trying to work on this, but I just can seem to get it to work. Whatever I come up with always ends up being a slightly expanded cast page. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br> There's no reason an expanded cast page <i>couldn't</i> serve our purposes here.<br><br>And don't rush yourself; school comes first. <!--emo&B)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... s/cool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cool.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Phoenix]

Key storylines are good. Like how Ozy and Millie first meet (Kinda odd how that doesn't appear first in the archives, but oh well <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->). I'm not sure about trying to explain the running jokes, as people lose interest in jokes explained to them. Ie, without the running joke being explained, this happens: <br><br>(Person arrives at O&M for the first time, and reads a strip that's part of a running joke)<br><br>Person: WTF??? <br><br>(Person then goes to the archives and reads loads of O&M in order to find out about said running joke.)<br><br>Person: Hey, this is really funny! I like this comic. <br><br>And another poor hapless wit is converted into a fan. <!--emo&:P--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> However, if you explain the joke:<br><br>(Person arrives at O&M for the first time, and reads a strip that's part of a running joke)<br><br>Person: WTF???<br><br>(Person reads the explaination in the sidebar)<br><br>Person: Oh. Right. Booring. <br><br><br> Not that I'm trying to insult your endeavours or anything, Ghostway <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> It's just that reading:<br><br> "Conspiracy - Dragons are routinely employed in various, generally non-sensical, conspiracies. Elder dragons are in charge of conspiracies, while younger ones (such as Isolde) do more of the actual work." <br><br> - is really not as entertaining as reading the strips themselves, and might also kill a lot of incentive for newcomers to delve into the archives.

[NHJ BV]

Ghostway: While those are good strips, I have the feeling that for most characters the strips explain more about another character in the same strip (exception: Llewellyn). Millie's are pretty good, though <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--><br><br>EDIT: example, I think the second one for Ozy really tells more about Millie.

[GhostWay]

I know. That was my main problem; it's difficult to show one charaacter when the character is defined by their interactions with other characters. The main problem with Ozy is that he seems to be mainly reactionary. He reacts to what other people say or do. This is generally the result of the sponanaety of Millie.<br><br>Actually, Ozy's reactionary nature is probably why I like this comic so much. I see so much of myself reflected in Ozy.

[Ruedii-X]

<!--QuoteBegin-dcsimpson+Jan 14 2005, 03:35 PM--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> (dcsimpson @ Jan 14 2005, 03:35 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> <!--QuoteBegin-GhostWay+Jan 14 2005, 08:25 PM--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> (GhostWay @ Jan 14 2005, 08:25 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> I was trying to work on this, but I just can seem to get it to work.  Whatever I come up with always ends up being a slightly expanded cast page. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br>There's no reason an expanded cast page <i>couldn't</i> serve our purposes here.<br><br>And don't rush yourself; school comes first. <!--emo&B)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... s/cool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cool.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br> Do as you say, not as you do. Right?! <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... s/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo--><br><br>I've started up my art again. I've decided not to let it consume my life, but to persue multiple ambitions until one proves fiscally viable or otherwise necessary and then give that one higher priority, keeping the others to a position as intellectual indevors and obviously not ruling them out. I've decided I have too many skills to try and figure out what I need to do with my life while I'm so young, so I might as well develop as many of the skills as I can. I obviously don't want to focus too much on any one skill, especially for too long.<br><br> I've already waisted enough time learning about computers, despite it being a very important skill, I need to work on applied uses for the knowlege before exploring a few of my currently unappliable unimplemented theorys. Otherwise I'll just turn unapplied knowlege into unappliable software, no real gain there. I have to get something tangable into the function of the effort, or nothing will be gained.

[Burning Sheep Productions]

Bah, I think the reader should just read how they want to read...