Dear Mr lobster.
Being a comic that does update 3 times a week is hard, as people want to come back every time and expect some amazing new development as if they are reading a new chapter everytime.
I completely think that taking the long route and not skipping over character development/explanation of a situation is important. sure you might loose a few readers that have the attention span of a rock and cant handle two updates in a row where there are no swordfights or sorcerer chases. Honestly though, in the end when i reread the books or show them to friends i dont want them to be quickwinded and overwith. i want an epic sprawling storyline that i can get lost in.
The long intricate storylines are great for creating a longstanding involved world that you can pull much more out of than a simple straightforward actionfest. How memorable would lord of the rings have been if it was simply "fellowship gets together, fights bad guys, walks, fights bad guys, walks, fights bad guys, destroys rings." The small seemingly insignificant sidestories are what a truly compelling story needs to be remembered.
I can understand that you feel pressure from readers as you are posting page by page 3 times a week, but if you were only publishing Flipside in the books, taking such shortcuts would just be seen as lazy and bad writing, they leave people asking questions(not in a good way, like an unsolved mystery, but like a joke with no punchline.)
Obviously, you cant write everything that comes to your mind as sidestories, and doing an entire chapter everytime you reference the old Iscariot. That is not to say that narration or the like are bad, the way that you used narration in chapter 26 worked really well. The journey was something that did not need to be documented and you wrote the narration very well as to speed the plot. And just as in D&D as i'm sure you know, constant action gets tedious, having the characters attacked by kobolds at every turn gets old fast. Leaving the characters some time to rest(such as a journey) is a great way to break up the overuse of action, And of course such a jouney does not have to be documented in detail A GM's narration can aliveiate the stress of combat and serve to draw the players into the game, as they realize they are in a whole other world, not just a dice-rolling combat simulator.
I could keep writing all day, but i should probabally focus my efforts on something that i get graded on.
So heres to you lobster man... stick to your guns, and the world of flipside will be better off because of it.