original_post:_4/2/2001________ This is me casually laying down the plot. Its funny to look at these early strips and see how things just are so blatantly laid out as clues. Hidden loose thread: Later we find out that Tommy cancelled his date to drive the "stolen pages" to the publisher. but we never find out who his date was with. I wanted to set Tommy up as a cool ladies man, but knew pretty early on that I wanted to set him up with Emily. Somehow having those two have an ongoing relationship that lasts almost the entire run of the strip is really satisfying. With all the other crazy relationship crap that happens, it's nice to have that stability.