Earlier this week Jesse Reese at the Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader? blog noted that the biggest drawback of Jeff Smith's RASL was the relaxed publishing schedule.

"The biggest problem with RASL is its slow production schedule," Reese wrote. "A general problem with serialized comics, especially when a creator has a larger picture in mind, is focusing obsessively on what is the equivalent to a single chapter in a book. RASL suffers intensely from this reading experience."

(I should note that the rest of the review, which focused on the story itself, was very positive and is definitely worth your time if you're interested in learning more about the book).

Apparently Jeff Smith has heard Reese and other readers who have had similar concerns, so he's moving the book to a new schedule. Starting with issue five, the book will be fewer pages -- 24 versus 32 -- and in the fall Smith will publish it bimonthly.

"When I came up with this format, I thought the extra pages would make up for a slower release schedule, but the demand for more issues gets louder every time a new chapter comes out," he writes on his blog. "I think everyone I heard from liked the extra pages, but they’d rather have less time between issues."

He also notes that he has a "secret project" he'll be working on in the late summer timeframe, which is why the bimonthly schedule won't kick in until October. He also notes that this means he'll publish more issues of the book, as he still plans for it to be about "350 pages or so." Click on over to read his full post and to see some work-in-progress blueline images.