I don’t remember when I started reading Nukees. Undoubtedly it was because of CRfH. Hey, if I draw enough lines back to it, 99% of the comics I’ve read are indirectly because of College Roomies, what can I say? But in this case, it’s because Darren Bleuel once wrote a Nukees story with Maritza in it. Well, sort of. The real Maritza Campos isn’t a biologist from New Zealand. But it did lure me over to Nukees, and a most enjoyable comic.

Most of the time. Right now… I’m just wishing things would hurry up a tad. I mean… I loved the first “death of Gav” storyline, with Gav meeting Ma’at. But it was short and concise. It lasted 15 strips (5 weeks). We’re 34 strips into the current storyline and we’ve not encountered Ma’at yet. Instead, we’ve encountered several other Egyptian gods, a Finnish hero and his dragon, and a couple others. We’ve also meandered around without any real point to the story.

Of course, the journey is half of the adventure, but still, normally Nukees seems more focused than it is. We’re witness currently to a streams of consciousness journey of Gav’s memories of sleeping through an Egyptian Mythology class (Keenspot forums can be soooo useful!)… unless, of course, it’s “real” and Gav did fall out of the Tunnel of Light and into the city of the Gods (well, the outskirts at least). And while we seem to be having an opposing viewpoint to our time with Ma’at (with Seth telling Gav he’s much more chaotic and should be working for him rather than Ma’at).

Part of the problem is, I can’t see this story ending quickly. If he ends it without showing Ma’at (whom I suspect will look like our little Christian Goth who got him into this mess in the first place), then there will be quite a few unhappy fans who rather like Ma’at. But if it doesn’t… well, how much longer is this story going to go?

I know, it’s ironic that I of all people am complaining about a storyline going on too long. But this story just doesn’t seem to flow like the past stories have. There’s plenty of enthusiasm here, sure. It’s not like Darren’s gotten bored or disenchanted with the comic. But sometimes I think it’s trying hard to find its way. Then again, I can understand that. I’ve had times when I couldn’t write a scene… in fact, in one recent story it took over a month to write one scene. And Nukees hasn’t missed an update that I can remember.

(BTW, I love the little bit with Gav just casually shoving a plank into the serpent’s mouth… most amusing. Though shouldn’t the snake’s jaw clamped shut around Gav when it broke the plank over Gav’s head? Smart snake, btw, using the hardest substance there to break the board…. Also, Darren’s signing the comic upside down in the panel talking about chaos was another fun touch.)

Hopefully the little dragon that several weeks back jumped into the void to try and save Gav will appear soon, and we can reunite Gav with Ma’at for his moment of clarity before Gav is brought back to life. And then we can continue with Gav’s mad little journey on the way to procrastinating on his thesis. After all, the more things change, the more Gav stays the same.

And if you’re unhappy with the current story… well, Nukees started in 1997. There’s plenty of insanity to go around in the meantime!