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I think it would have been nice if, just for a little while, we got to meet Millie's Grandfather.

I can imagine a story arc, something that starts with Ms. Mudd on the phone going "Uh-huh... No Dad, it's fine, I understand... I love you too, Dad." then turning to Millie and going "Millie, your Grandpa is going to come live with us for a little while."

Turns out Millie hasn't seen her Grandpa since she was very little, so she doesn't remember him very well. But when he gets there...

remember that strip where Ms. Mudd plays with her mashed potatoes than says to Millie "You knew you must have gotten it from somewhere"? Well, it turns out that Ms. Mudd got "it" from her old man. He could give Llewellyn a run for his money!

I imagine him being a lot like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SbgxZFUF9E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11NIh6sDq3E

DCS might have considered such a story and then remembered Uncle Max in "Calvin & Hobbes." You see, Bill Watterson gave Calvin an out-of-town relative for the sake of visit-based arcs, but Max had neither a unique personality nor any special dynamic with Calvin. In fact, he was worse than redundant: He was awkward by virtue of inability to call Calvin's parents by their nonexistent names. After one arc, Max got on the plane and was never mentioned in the comic again.

That was one of the best summaries of Uncle Max I've read.

I fear the same probably happened to Locke as well, which is a shame since he was one of my favorite characters.

Locke is a rather different story. I think DCS didn't intend to use him for more than one arc but thought of a couple more uses for him. Alas, it's been more than half O&M's lifetime already.

I thought D.C. once said that the reason there wasn't a "Millie's dad" character in the early strips was that he just never bothered to write one in and didn't think it was necessary. With that in mind it's no wonder we don't get much extended family making appearances. (Plus, what Waffle is describing isn't really too different from the Llewellyn Family Reunion arc.)

I fear the same probably happened to Locke as well, which is a shame since he was one of my favorite characters.

I haven't purchased Perpetual Motion yet, so I don't know if there's anything in the commentary explaining this, but I've always suspected Locke's last storyline was intentionally written to leave an awkwardness between Locke and his family, so he wouldn't have a motivation to return. He's always sort of seemed like more of a plot device than a fully-developed character to me anyway.

http://ozyandmillie.org/d/19980525.html

This is pretty early, but the use of the word "parents" here is interesting, suggesting that DCS really didn't plan the various family members from the start.

As far as Ms. Mudd's family goes, it would seem odd to introduce them at this point; they haven't even been referenced much, except to point out that Millie's tendencies are hereditary.

Actually this would be as good a time as any to trot them out, if they aren't estranged for some reason: one would assume they'll show up at the wedding.

I didn't think Uncle Max was that bad of a character. He at least reiterated some points that never got directly made, like why Calvin's parents let him parade around with a tiger he thought was real.