Avoiding Continuity Lockout

My comic's an American Widget Series. It's pretty episodic (although I do have some story arcs planned for the future).

However, I want there to be a strong continuity. The events in previous stories will affect others...however, I want new readers to be able to pick up at any chapter and understand what's going on.

So, how can I have a Strong Continuity without going into Continuity Lockout?

edited 13th Nov '10 2:18:29 PM by DrFurball

Make a short recapitulation of evrything important at the beggining of each comic, or you could grant said recapitulation a comic to itself.

You can make each episode change things as long as it doesn't make things (much) more complicated.

For instance, say at the beginning Alice and Bob are dating. Anyone starting the show at the beginning will quickly figure out, "Oh, Alice and Bob are dating."

Then say that Alice and Bob break up and in subsequent episodes Alice is going out with Carl. Anyone starting the show in a subsequent episode will just go "Oh, Alice and Carl are dating," no more difficult than starting at the first episode.