Time and Time Again

Sluggy Freelance is moving into the last stages of its Oceans Unmoving storyline.

Now, this storyline has met with a lot of contention. Some have liked it, while many others have found it dissatisfying.

Part of the concerns that people had were that it came just after That Which Redeems, which was regarded as a fantastic success, and one that renewed people's faith in the Sluggyverse. It concluded with many questions still unresolved, and many people eager to see the changes that the events had left on Torg.

And then... Oceans Unmoving. The normal cast of Sluggy was left behind for a wild jaunt through 'Timeless Space,' and an epic journey featuring all manner of new and innovative characters, stories, technology, and so forth.

And people were upset.

It has been said before - Oceans Unmoving would have been a great story as its own comic. It will do much better once it is complete and in the archives, and people can read through it in one fell swoop.

But it was too much to take in. It was filled with exposition and explanations. It had only one character that we knew - Bun-bun, who many fans didn't feel especially attached to anyway. It gave us several new characters and new romantic tension - but it was hard to get attached when all most people really wanted was to get back to the old crew.

It wasn't that people wanted the Old Sluggy days back, of nothing but silly jokes and goofy adventures - they wanted to get back to the characters they were already attached to, and see some resolution to the countless stories building up (Aylee, Oasis, the evolution of Torg). They didn't want to see a new storyline interrupt that - especially one that just went on, and on, and on.

Oceans Unmoving, indeed.

Over a year later, Oceans Unmoving is wrapping up.

And me?

In all honesty, I am really digging the ending. I've liked some of the final twists behind the scenes, even if a few seemed excessive. After a year of reading the tale, I've become attached enough to Kada and Calix to care about their fate. And... even the greys, too, to an extent. (Still hate Caribs, though.)

I don't really want to see much more of them, mind you. But I am eager to see the last hurrah of all this - the climax and conclusion.

And from the pace of things, it won't be long before its all wrapped up, and it looks like it is wrapping up well.

Which brings us to the true test - where Sluggy goes from here.

I wouldn't say Oceans Unmoving has been fully redeemed by this, but I've certainly gotten brought back in to the tale, and will be ready to walk into whatever new is coming without being held back by total frustration over the last year of the comic.

For the first time in a long while, I'm looking forward to Sluggy everyday, rather than dreading it.

So that's a sign that Abrams is certainly doing something right.