Ozy and Millie is one of the few gag-a-day strips I regularly read. To be honest, I live for the storytelling strips. I don’t care as much for jokes as caring for the characters and wanting to know what they’re up to. But Ozy and Millie is something different, and quite special.

It was another of my early strips, a third-generation comic that I started reading because of Alice! While the characters are animals, it’s not a furry comic. Not really. Instead, it’s more along the line of “Pogo” and “Bloom County” with the characters just being animals – and children, at that.

There’s something special about a child. They can say something, see something, and cut through the illusion. They often speak their mind and that’s that. There’s no beating around the bush, no lying to keep from hurting feelings. Instead, there is reality as they perceive it, and if it’s shocking, then it helps focus attention on them as well.

So a comic that has two cute fox-children (one a red-fox, that being Millie (naturally enough), and the other an artic fox (Ozy)), a wide assortment of characters (both child and adult), and quite a bit of insanity. But it’s so artfully done that you return each day with a smile and wanting to see more.

What’s more, the comic will follow a story for a short while (sort of like a child) until things get boring or end, and then it’s off to the next wild adventure! Really, Ozy and Millie is what newspaper comics should be, and it’s a shame that it’s not syndicated. Then again, that would force David Simpson to rein in his own creativity and listen to editors, and that could very well crush the childlike innocence of this comic (even when it wanders into political waters).

The comic has its own following, that is zany enough that some fans color past comics (and do a fine job of it, too!), or translate it into Russian, German, even Latin!

Anyway, I’m not sure what else I can say except go read it! You don’t need to read the archives. But there are some quaint little stories, and we learn some more about both Millie and Ozy’s past (and their missing parents – Millie’s dad, and Ozy’s mom). So when you have a chance, start reading the archives. You just don’t need to read them to understand what’s going on.