Never Grow Up - Ozy and Millie Collection (That's a book)

Discussion of any of the archived O&M comics, and potential new ones should they ever come about.

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Dr. Sticks
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Postby Dr. Sticks » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:41 pm

okay lets stop this, because I've since noticed that he posted TMBG quotes like fifty times and he needs to learn to contribute better content to this community
http://www.spingain.com/?ref=146518
Well put doog. You never posted anything offensive whatsoever
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Postby Trance » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:51 pm

i've sure been a naughty boy huh

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Postby nickspoon » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:06 pm

You're not the boss of me now
If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:5, NIV)
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Postby Trance » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:08 pm

that's the spirit

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Postby Derrick Fish » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:23 pm

Putting this back on topic, I got the new book today.

After the great job DCS did on the previous books, this one is a disappointment, showing signs of having been rushed into print. DCS also made changes to some of the strips.

Here's the lowdown:

1. No comments on any of the strips. Maybe she's saving those for the tome?

2. Pages 31-32 show what appear to be new pictures of some characters naked. Ay least I haven't seen them before.

3. The last panel of the first strip on page 75 has some weird marks at the top.

4. On page 101, Timulty is no longer wearing a shirt that says "sun". He is now naked and the "sun" has turned into a fur ruff.

5. The strips on page 122 and 123 are swapped. Locke now starts the food fight then asks why he wasn't invited. Pretty funny actually!

That's it. Hopefully, DCS will switch the swapped strips back in the tome.

The wedding story reads a bit better here but still suffers from poor storytelling. Still, I don't hate it as much now.

Discuss.
That was a nice try, getting this thread back on topic. :) I'll join you since i just got MY copy of the book as well.

I really have to disagree on the idea that this book felt rushed. Looking at the way she chose to lay it out, D.C. put a LOT of work into this, and I say so having done about 9 or so different comic collections together myself. YES, strip by strip commentary is time consuming but the fact the D.C. reformatted massive chunks of strips drawn vertically to read horizontally is far more work, as I see it. Plus, from a readers point of view, I greatly enjoyed how the pages would occasionally go from horizontal to vertical strips, similar to a more traditional newspaper strip collection would have to go to incorporate Sunday strips. It was both slightly nostalgic and served to break up the reading experience and add variation which keeps things visually interesting.

I admit that I'm torn on the loss of the strip by strip commentary. I admit that I stopped doing those myself by the middle of my third "Dandy & Company" collection, mostly because I found that more often than not I was just describing in greater detail what the strip above was about and that doing so inturrupted the flow of reading the stories. And, to a degree, D.C.'s commentary broke up the flow of some of the longer "Ozy & Millie" stories for me too. But I also think she is a lot BETTER at writing entertaining strip by strip comments than I EVER was, so it was an added value to the book. Like I said, I'm torn.

That all aside, I REALLY dig this collection as it includes many of my personal favorite stories. I loved the wedding and courtship stories leading up to it. I loved Millie hitting Jeremy. I loved the Mu-Nan arc. And I ESPECIALLY loved the Walt Kelly homage.

I guess I'm opposed to a lot of the threads I've read that dislike the direction the strip has gone in of late as I've been a bigger lover of it now than ever. The stories I mentioned above represented the changing of the status quo in the strip. Millie crying and hitting Jeremy was a BIG step in the growth of the characters and showed them as fleshed out individuals and less as comic strip clichés. This collection included the most overall GROWTH of the characters, in my opinion, and that is SOOOO entertaining for me. I feel that D.C has always been exceptional at characterization and this collection showed her at her best.

Also, I dug the back cover art. It reminded me of the back covers for the old Bloom County and Outland collections. GREAT job and highly recommended.

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Postby cougartiger » Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:29 am

That was a nice try, getting this thread back on topic. :) I'll join you since i just got MY copy of the book as well.

I really have to disagree on the idea that this book felt rushed. Looking at the way she chose to lay it out, D.C. put a LOT of work into this, and I say so having done about 9 or so different comic collections together myself. YES, strip by strip commentary is time consuming but the fact the D.C. reformatted massive chunks of strips drawn vertically to read horizontally is far more work, as I see it. Plus, from a readers point of view, I greatly enjoyed how the pages would occasionally go from horizontal to vertical strips, similar to a more traditional newspaper strip collection would have to go to incorporate Sunday strips. It was both slightly nostalgic and served to break up the reading experience and add variation which keeps things visually interesting.

I admit that I'm torn on the loss of the strip by strip commentary. I admit that I stopped doing those myself by the middle of my third "Dandy & Company" collection, mostly because I found that more often than not I was just describing in greater detail what the strip above was about and that doing so inturrupted the flow of reading the stories. And, to a degree, D.C.'s commentary broke up the flow of some of the longer "Ozy & Millie" stories for me too. But I also think she is a lot BETTER at writing entertaining strip by strip comments than I EVER was, so it was an added value to the book. Like I said, I'm torn.

That all aside, I REALLY dig this collection as it includes many of my personal favorite stories. I loved the wedding and courtship stories leading up to it. I loved Millie hitting Jeremy. I loved the Mu-Nan arc. And I ESPECIALLY loved the Walt Kelly homage.

I guess I'm opposed to a lot of the threads I've read that dislike the direction the strip has gone in of late as I've been a bigger lover of it now than ever. The stories I mentioned above represented the changing of the status quo in the strip. Millie crying and hitting Jeremy was a BIG step in the growth of the characters and showed them as fleshed out individuals and less as comic strip clichés. This collection included the most overall GROWTH of the characters, in my opinion, and that is SOOOO entertaining for me. I feel that D.C has always been exceptional at characterization and this collection showed her at her best.

Also, I dug the back cover art. It reminded me of the back covers for the old Bloom County and Outland collections. GREAT job and highly recommended.
In retrospect, the book was probably not as rushed as I originally thought. But, the swapped strips with Locke at the wedding threw me. It's kinda funny to read it that way: Locke appears, starts food fight, asks why he wasn't invited, then leaves!:smile: I'm sure DCS will correct it in the upcoming tomes.

It should have been OZY not Millie to hit Jeremy. Jeremy is Ozy's bully, not Millie's. We've seen Millie hit Felicia before so her hitting Jeremy isn't a big surprise as we know she is willing to defend herself. But if it had been Ozy, it would've been so much more shocking and more dramatic. I would've loved to have seen that!

The revelation of Ozy's (possible) biological dad still feels like a throw away. It would've been more interesting if DCS had revealed that Lewellyn knew Mu-Nan was Ozy's biological dad all along and set up the debate so they could meet without meeting. :dragon:

But we have what we have. And it's all good for the most part. Sure, I would've like to have seen Locke and Mudd marry but that's why I commissioned DCS to draw a wedding portrait for me, so whatever happened in the strip, I would be OK with it. Writing my poem helped a lot too. As will my novel when it is finished.

Whatever complaints I have with O&M have never ruined my enjoyment of it. I look forward to whatever the future may hold for these wonderful characters.

DCS is truly an incredible artist, writer and human being. Her recent gift art to me speaks volumes. That she understands my wish to see Locke and Mudd together and did the art on her own, well... I'm still moved by this beautiful gesture.

Agree on the back cover. Made me laugh when I first saw it! :grin: Also agree on the Walt Kelly strip.
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Postby Trance » Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:33 am

It should have been OZY not Millie to hit Jeremy. Jeremy is Ozy's bully, not Millie's. We've seen Millie hit Felicia before so her hitting Jeremy isn't a big surprise as we know she is willing to defend herself. But if it had been Ozy, it would've been so much more shocking and more dramatic. I would've loved to have seen that!
It would've broken Ozy, though. He's defined himself by not getting mad; fits of rage are incompatible with him.

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Postby cougartiger » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:16 am

It should have been OZY not Millie to hit Jeremy. Jeremy is Ozy's bully, not Millie's. We've seen Millie hit Felicia before so her hitting Jeremy isn't a big surprise as we know she is willing to defend herself. But if it had been Ozy, it would've been so much more shocking and more dramatic. I would've loved to have seen that!
It would've broken Ozy, though. He's defined himself by not getting mad; fits of rage are incompatible with him.
That's kinda my point. It would've been interesting to see Ozy question who he is. Coming not too long after the Mu-Nan arc it would've been the perfect time for Ozy to seek answers about his parentage, with some nonsense advice from Lewellyn, of course!

All that, while interesting, would've probably been too dramatic for the strip.
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Postby Trance » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:21 am

That's kinda my point. It would've been interesting to see Ozy question who he is. Coming not too long after the Mu-Nan arc it would've been the perfect time for Ozy to seek answers about his parentage, with some nonsense advice from Lewellyn, of course!

All that, while interesting, would've probably been too dramatic for the strip.
I'll say. Nonsense indeed.

Best leave something like that to the fanfic writers.

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Postby Derrick Fish » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:55 am

It should have been OZY not Millie to hit Jeremy. Jeremy is Ozy's bully, not Millie's. We've seen Millie hit Felicia before so her hitting Jeremy isn't a big surprise as we know she is willing to defend herself. But if it had been Ozy, it would've been so much more shocking and more dramatic. I would've loved to have seen that!

The revelation of Ozy's (possible) biological dad still feels like a throw away. It would've been more interesting if DCS had revealed that Lewellyn knew Mu-Nan was Ozy's biological dad all along and set up the debate so they could meet without meeting. :dragon:

But we have what we have. And it's all good for the most part. Sure, I would've like to have seen Locke and Mudd marry but that's why I commissioned DCS to draw a wedding portrait for me, so whatever happened in the strip, I would be OK with it. Writing my poem helped a lot too. As will my novel when it is finished.
I disagree concerning the idea that Ozy should have hit Jeremy. I believe that that would have been too far out of character for him. His serenity isn't an act or anything he TRIES to do, it's a part of his very nature. (Hence the meditating as an infant.) While he can appreciate the inequity of his situation, he isn't likely to become something he isn't, even though Jeremy WAS going over the line. What made that arc so impactful to me was Millie's tears. Deep down, while she's a whirling dervish of energy and craziness, she's also still really a little girl and one that can get hurt emotionally a lot easier than Ozy. She has admitted to admiring Ozy's serenity, in part I assume, because it's so alien to her but would make so many hardships much easier to possess. She can be pushed to far and to have two such extreme reactions (The tears and the punch) in one instant were big character moments. And the biggest character moment of that to me was that Ms. Mudd really supported Millie throughout it and their relationship was strengthened.

Your feelings on how things should have gone raises an interesting point, and one that I encounter a lot through my own strip. We fans tend to become so emotionally invested in that which we love that we internally chart the characters futures out ourselves, and when the eventual reality deviates from our expectations we often feel somehow cheated (The extreme reaction) or disappointed (the milder reaction). I've seen it a LOT in here, it pops up a bunch among my own readers, I've felt that way with a ton of comics and movies and I KNOW from reading her blog that D.C. tends to share similar feelings towards the direction that the Simpsons has taken.

It's a unique frustration, but in cases where the strip/show/etc. is controlled totally by it's controller such as here,(But NOT so much in the case of huge, money making enterprises like the Simpsons) It's ultimately up to the creator to tell us what their characters would or wouldn't do in any given situation, and no matter how much we may disagree, the creator is always right unless they say otherwise.

I'm glad you've found a happy medium through commissions. I have fans who do the same thing, requesting drawings that show plot elements that go the way they feel it should have, and it's kinda fun to explore that without compromising my own artistic integrity and I imagine it might be similar for D.C. to occasionally draw a reality where Ms. Mudd ended up with Locke... Kind of a "What If" Ozy & Millie.

(Also, I always imagined that it would have been fun if Mu-Nan turned out to actually BE Ozy from the future... but my imagination tends to lean towards that kind of storytelling. ;) )

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Postby dcsimpson » Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:55 am

I might have commented on the strips if I'd had anything to say about them.

Commenting on strips I drew years ago is easy. I've had a long time to think about it.

Commenting on stuff I just drew...that's a bit different. I found that either they spoke for themselves, or I just had nothing more to add.

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Postby Jakkal » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:08 am

I might have commented on the strips if I'd had anything to say about them.

Commenting on strips I drew years ago is easy. I've had a long time to think about it.

Commenting on stuff I just drew...that's a bit different. I found that either they spoke for themselves, or I just had nothing more to add.
in other words, this time you just ran down the storyline without really thinking about anything special...
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Postby dcsimpson » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:34 am

in other words, this time you just ran down the storyline without really thinking about anything special...
That isn't what I said in any possible sense of the words I used. But if you want to think that of me, I guess I can't really stop you.

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Postby cougartiger » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:15 pm

Understand about the comments. Perhaps in a future re-issue?

I take it the swapped strips will be corrected in the tome?

The wedding story did seem a bit rushed to me but if you're happy with it, then that's all that matters. You, of course, know my feelings on the subject. :wink:
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Postby Ibun » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:27 pm

The wedding story did seem a bit rushed to me but if you're happy with it, then that's all that matters. You, of course, know my feelings on the subject. :wink:
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