A famous quote has been attributed to the late, great Douglas Adams: "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make when they fly by." A man well-known for waiting exceptionally long times to get more of his beloved Hitchhiker's Guide Trilogy (which ended somewhere between five and six books later), he always did a lot to avoid finishing a lot of things he started. Truly, an inspiration to us all.

But we're not here to discuss the classics. We're here to apologize for another late comic page. A lot of things piled up, and Esa did not manage to get something together to the high standards of quality that has been so prevalent in the NETTG pages thus far.

Quality is highly important in this sort of thing. I once churned out six chapters of my fanfic "Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!!" in less than a month, but they were rather short and the quality began to decay. Jussi Nikander, one of the first people who decided to take a chance and preread for me, helped me understand the real need for quality. Indeed, it was he who suggested that Sailor Pluto come along and give the Atomic Starlight Knight a bludgeoning he would never forget. Esa made a short, yet marvellous animation of that little incident. Those that haven't seen it yet will likely enjoy it. It's called Character Bashing.

After that, I learned that sometimes, you just have to sit back and take a little time to work on something—waiting until you're at least halfway satisfied with it (because, let's face it, you'll never be completely satisfied). The result is usually better when a certain level of niftiness is achieved. The NETTG fanfic size sort of ballooned after that. Overall, it's made for a richer, more developed storyline. Of course, some might argue that it's become too bloated and too unnecessarily long to so much as take a look at anymore, not to mention the lack of reliable narration, etc.—but we do not speak of them. ^_^;;;

Likewise, I feel that there is an element of art that should not be rushed. To demonstrate that fact graphically, I have asked our crossdressing stuntman, Murray, to come in and show us what the end of the prologue would have looked like if we weren't that concerned with Quality. Murray, if you'll pick up the young actress we got to play the girl—yes, good! Now, hold that position while we get that sketched.

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! Love what'cha did with those legs. >_<;; Okay, Murray, you can go get ready for the Chapter One action sequences. And no complaints about the ES-Venus costume being too tight this time!

Ahem, where was I? Ah, yes, quality! It often takes quite a while to get things to look Just Perfect™, and that is naturally what we strive for. One would think that after a while, while quality improves, we would get quicker at doing it, right? It doesn't always work out that way. Still, though, Esa's doing a pretty spiffy job of it all.

It seems our star actress doesn't appreciate the role she's playing for the betterment of mankind. Either that, or she doesn't really appreciate being held up by Murray for just a demonstration piece. Ah, well, such is life. I don't think she'll get tired of the role anytime soon, though. We've got an unbreakable five-chapter contract. ^_^

Now, back to quality. According to Esa, each page takes a pretty big stack of drawings to complete, in part because we're testing out limits and trying new things like architecture, explosions, and characters in strange, innovative poses. It's an exciting time for all of the crew working on this project because of the ground being covered. Larry F has the web design responsibility, paired with Ammon's PHP skills, and Esa does just about all the art. I believe I got the easiest job: writing and keeping things going.

It's easy to tell someone else what to do, but it can be rough coaxing everyone into feeling all right about it afterwards. To make matters more complicated, one has to make sure that one is right when barking out orders, or things could turn out badly. The proverbial straw that fractures the equally proverbial dromedary's anterior section is that everyone's working on this voluntarily, and more important events could arise at any moment, so more delays can occur.

Still, in the end, we've basically decided not to give up for quite a while, so the show must go on eventually. Consider this another typical webcomic's apology for a late page. I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience for anyone. Esa decided to spur things along for the next couple of pages. I'm sure it'll all turn out all right.

…

Is that ominous thunder I hear? Ah! No, it's the child actress we hired. She's doing the Washuu thing and showing up dressed for a dance scene we've got in mind. I just love how her hair just sort of flares out like the Galactic Destroyer's head spike-thingies! I wonder if—

Oh my, it seems she wants another quick contract renegotiation. Either that, or she's just found out that Arby is getting paid more…

In any case, this has been a Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!! Public Apology. Pardon our dust while we get settled in better. Until later!