"and frickin' 30 minutes later and still not completely rendered!  I would have hated to see how long it would have taken if I wanted this in a final render quality. This blows chunks if you're doing a string of renders like in a storyboard. Need a five to 10 image storyboard? See ya next month lads"

30 mins? for a story board? Story boards are for suggestions as to how an animation/film should prceed - so these can be produced just by rendering the preview screen (which probably would only take a second or so per scene..)

For comics, it's another matter. Depending on the amount of "realism" required. But given that the majority of comics only have small pics (granted, size times 3 or 4 for printing purposes), it can take a lot longer.

But don't discard/disparage the Firefly renderer (unless you are willing to spend a bundle on a vastly-improved PC and a top-level renderer, which would set you back at least $5,000 - probably more.)

Do you really need any ray-trace bounces (it 's not probably necessary unless you have reflection or suchlike.) And 30 mins is not that great a time. Visit the Bryce/Vue/Carrera etc. forums - and notice that many of the renders there take days to render.....

I consider 2 hours the maximum for my simple pics (If it starts taking longer than that, I consider ways to reduce the complexity of the scene, to reduce the transparency/reflection stuff, or decide to go to bed and let it render overnight).  But then, I'm just a hobbyist, with a single home PC and a very limited budget. And patience.

Cheers,
Diolma