Question for established readers...

[Destina Faroda]

Given that I am not at this time a reader of DMFA, I find approaching the archives a little...daunting.  Should I start reading from the beginning, or is there a particular comic or plot arc I should start?

[Malakin]

Personaly i would start at about 116.. but you might want to start right from the begining...

[Saist]

I'd personally advise starting from the beginning if only to see Jy Jy sniping and Dan getting branded.

[Paladin Sheppard]

 Aye its worth starting from the begining.

[xHaZxMaTx]

I started from the beginning and worked my way up to about 2-3 months ago.  It took all night, but was well worth it.

[Supercheese]

Maybe listen along with the DMFA Radio Project?

[Kitsune Ascendant]

go for the full read. speaking of which...
I think I might do a refresh read through the archives in the near future.

[Forestcat]

Definitely worth a full read!

[Suwako]

Definitely worth a full read!

I agree.

Aiyno Wolf silently presses forestcats good karma button

[Tapewolf]

I actually read it backwards, but I wouldn't recommend that.
I have heard that Amber is not especially proud of the very early strips, which could be considered warm-up.  IMHO it really gets into gear around #116, although if you start from there the subtle joke about Dan actually being an adventurer is lost because you don't get to see him being a prat beforehand.
It's still a good idea to read the early ones at some stage for the background.

If you want to cut straight into the action, these are some of my favourites:

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_116.php - The Dark Pegasus storyline

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_278.php -  Merlitz warns Dan that Aaryanna wants to kill him

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_195.php - The nightclub sketch, the quest to 'go kill something'

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_392.php - Vol 392 - Dan's soliloquy

[Tezkat]

Yeah, the archives of any long-running webcomic can be quite daunting. You can get away with skipping large chunks of it by studying the character backgrounds in the cast section, but it really is worth it to read through the whole thing at least once. Make it a project for an evening.


If you really don't have time to read the early arcs right away, here are a couple of other potential starting points that haven't been mentioned yet:


Comic #74 (near the beginning of the twink arc) represents the first big shift, both stylistically and thematically, towards the DMFA that we know and love today.


Somewhere around comic #203 (the quest during which they meet Aaryanna) is the last point, in my opinion, at which you can realistically start reading without missing significant backstory for the character relationships in future story arcs. It's the introduction to the whole Cubi thing that takes center stage in later arcs.

[Miaka]

I'd suggest reading from the beginning, many of the jokes might end up just being lost on you if you don't.... not to mention reading it from the start give you the full scope of how much Amber's improved as an artist in the... what, 6, 7 years the comic's been up? Which I just think is reason in and of istelf to read trhough archives, just to see artistic development.

Then again, I probably shouldn't talk, given that when I started reading it, there was only somewhere between 100 ans 200 comics to go trhough.

[RJ]

Whichever ones I'm in sounds just about right...

Nah, I'm joking. Go for the whole thing. It might take longer, but you'll develop a good appreciation for the art and the storyline, as well as et a sense for the wonderful effort Amber has put in for all these years.

[bill]

I'd start at the Section Of Color. If you want, however, you can do the whole thing. I didn't read the first parts until after I read everything else, though.

[RynSerenity]

While both sides have a valid point, I personally would go with starting from the very beginning, if only to see the great leaps and bounds Amber has made art-wise. It's definately inspiring to an amateur artist and wanna-be comic artist like me. 

[Gabi]

Yes, I think a full read is best. Just keep in mind, while you read the first few arcs, that the comic gets much better after that. But the old ones are still worth reading because a) they're funny, and b) some things from them tend to come back every now and then.

[Boog]

You may wanna skip the early stuff, but there's some great jokes that refer back to way back when. I'd advice reading the whole thing.

[Aisha deCabre]

I agree with everyone that says, start from the beginning.  That way, you can see how the art progresses over the times, and you can easily get into the characters just by seeing them in their full glorious personalities and from their start.

Though personally, I myself can't really get into a series without seeing it from the beginning anyway.

[Magic]

A full read is advisable as Amber tends to never let jokes die.

[ElectroMotive]

that is true... certain jokes pop up in recent comics that originated in the first ones. I would go along with Ink's suggestion as it is what I did.

[Malakin]

*Edited... because

[blade]

I would also agree to starting at the beginning.  Even if I am current with the comics, sometimes it's just fun to read the stuff from the beginning.

[Kenji]

I'm with the "Start from the beginning" peeps. If anything, after a while, your brain will go into automatic mode and when you finally wake up, you'll have the entire story under your belt and in your head.

[HealingBlight]

Add one to the "beginning" bandwagon, you should enjoy it in its entirety, and its also fun to watch amber develop into such a goddess of arting.
If I can do it, anyone can, but then again, I went trough them originally a good bit ago, years maybe, and then went over them again a little while ago, so I had less to cover.

[blade]

Yes, most definitely.

I love seeing an evolution of an artist's style.

[Nikki]

start from the beginning 

i do that every week

[Tiger_T]

Stop watching us repeat ourselves and go read the whole archive already.

[Azlan]

 

[Nikki]

 

[Kio]

Do what I did, Read Click, Read Click, Break, Read Click, and Break, and read Click, Sleep.  Rinse and repeat.  You got all of that?