That's a pity. The current storyline is actually a whole lot of payoff for staying with the strip this long (or, y'know, just getting through the archives that far). It's taking it's time with it (storyline started in December), but it's been a very good ride so far. Not to mention you also missed a really good Aylee story.
As for Schlock, I don't think I've ever seen it hyped in the DL before, which is odd since it's probably the most consistant (and consistantly good) strip on the web. Then again, I may also not have noticed since I didn't need the prod, having followed it for about four or five years now.