Ozy and Millie: The question
The original artwork for this strip is available for purchase. See the original artwork information page for more information.
Notes: Originals from this period are a different size and shape — 11 inches wide x 16 inches tall.
Yep~
Oh, it was Ozys DAD! I totally did not think it was his future version. Or anything.
I did flinch when I heard him say “son” to Ozy back then.
I remembered Snare saying something about it, but it took me way longer than it should have.
There is much more to parenthood than bringing a new life into being; Mu-nan may be Ozy’s father, but note that Llewellyn is Ozy’s Dad.
Out the picture, out the frame,
I took myself out of the game.
So afraid, I ran away.
I shot the craw
I played the fool, I played the field
I was seduced by other dreams
I sowed my seed, I flew the scene
I shot the craw.
I dance without you
I dance without you
I dance without you
Learn to dance without you…
From ‘Shot The Craw’*, by Fish ( Derek Dick )
*’Flew The Coop’ in Scots’ vernacular
He never said Mu-nan was Ozy’s dad. But I really don’t want to believe he’s not. So I’ll just do what Ozy seemed to do and settle for, he may or may not be.
Even in *this* universe, how many vulpines go from an engagement to a confectioner vulpine to zen monkhood?
Okay, so now we know Oz’s biological dad is a total deadbeat who abandoned him. Not very zen-like.
Really? To me, parenting by not-parenting seems perfectly consistent with Zen as he practices it:
Rather than trying to impose his ideas about how a child should grow up, he is content to step back and let Ozy’s development take its course.
Note that I’m not saying it’s GOOD parenting (which it’s not, although it worked out pretty well for Ozy), just that, to him, it would be zen-like.
To be fair, Llewellyn says that he left nine months before Ozy was born. He may never have known until today.
He may still not know! It’s a mystery for him too.
Wow, he has TWO dads running for president.
No, he has one dad and one father running for president.
I think that, even in this Universe, nine month’s gestation might be too long for a fox. Gestation length is roughly proportional to overall size (for red foxes in our universe it is 53 days, see http://www.thefoxwebsite.net). Granted, Ms Mudd is probably quite a lot larger than our foxes, so Ozy’s mother would be too, but — large enough?
And I *love* the positioning of Llewellyn’s tail in panel three! Hadn’t noticed that before. (Story got in the way of the artwork.)