The current main-plot is boring

[Kish]

I did not have time to read the last replies, but given the current comic shows it so nicely:

THIS is how you set up a decent threat and make readers believe "Yes, that is something that needs to get stopped!"

So...what's the problem with the current main-plot? Which is about the Order trying to stop Tarquin and Malack (and their pawns in the Linear Guild) while Xykon and Redcloak move in the background?

No, build up an interesting setting from point one and keep it interesting by throwing in more and more morsels at us, then culmulating in an escalation that makes it even worse than we thought.
Malack has been an interesting character from the start before a threatening environment and now turned into a an actual threat that must get stopped. We did not have to wait and wait and wait and wait for being able to speculate that "something is wrong with Malack", we could discuss that from the start.

The Snarl was an interesting "character" but then got clubbed down without a replacement showing up and without us learning more to keep it interesting.

Just look how many "Is Malack evil?"- or "Does Malack know about Tarquins plans?"-discussions and compare them to the usually simple and short-lived "Ok, what do we know about the Snarl" discussions. You'll find much more and more complex discussions of the former two types than of the latter.

But the Snarl was never a character--

I more think you refuse to take my perspective. The distinction between "object", "character" or "situation" vanishes when you see them all as "plot tools". There's no difference between "A chaos-thingie will eat the empire" and "Some Vampire Overlord wants to take power" that stems from one being a not-character and the other a character.

--uh.

I don't--but this makes no sense. The Snarl was never presented as something that had any independent intelligence. The question was always and only "what will it do if channeled by Xykon/Redcloak/The Dark One." Comparing Malack threads to Snarl threads doesn't make any sense; effectively, you're complaining that Malack is a more interesting character than Malack's staff. We can discuss the morality, knowledge, and plans of Xykon, Redcloak, the Dark One, the Dark One's allies among the gods right now. You may not want to make a distinction between "a character" and "not a character," but the answer to your current complaint is still: if you expect a "plot tool" that isn't a character to be interesting and complex in the same ways a character would be, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

Yes, that is exactly where it gets boring to me. We have no starting points and not much to work from there.

Drama-by-Mystery: It's no mystery to discover because we do not know where to start and what to talk about.

Well, let's see. How about:

What will Xykon do if Redcloak performs his ritual and nothing happens?
Does the Dark One know what's actually behind the rifts?

...and, again, as I said in one of the posts you said you didn't read, how is this different from the state of the online comic circa strip #828? The state of the entire published comic one day before Start of Darkness came out?