If you have work to do, do NOT start reading the archives

Over on Sluggy Freelance (for the uninitiated, Sluggy is a very long-term webcomic with a superb story and pretty good art to match), Pete Abrams has started work on another major storyline. This one is (almost certainly) going to be bringing back a major character who's been literally cocooned for a couple of years now. Coming hot on the heels of the Phoenix Rising storyline, in which another recurring character who hasn't been seen for a while (along with the main villains of the piece, who had likewise been lying low) made a very dramatic appearance, it seems that the overall story is starting to get properly exciting.

(It's worth noting at this point that I didn't realise Sluggy was a complete story heading for eventual completion until Abrams explicitly said so the other week. That's how long-term the storylines run - I envisaged it as a kind of eternal framework in which the characters continue to have their weird adventures ad infinitum. Having an overall framework is a much better idea.)

Anyway, because of the pace at which the story runs, this chapter began with a few days of recapping where the characters were and what they were doing, before launching us into the action six days ago.

And then yesterday, a little notice from Abrams appeared at the top of the strip saying that he'd got emails complaining how the storyline was slow-moving and that nothing was happening.

I'd remind you at this point that Sluggy publishes six days a week, and continues throughout the entire year (barring the odd filler week here and there). That's a serious amount of material.

And yet, within five days of the start of this particular storyline, enough people are whining that nothing is happening that Abrams has to put a notice on the main page just to placate them. Sure, we get a countdown to something that will spark off more action, which is all well and good - but really, people, there's such a thing as pacing a story well, and that's exactly what he's doing. Give the man a break.