From what Jeph has been saying on his Twitter feed, there's a good chance that we'll be getting some guest or filler strips some time soon until he gets back from vacation. I have a feeling that this will start happening this week but that's mostly a guess.
Anyway, we've been seeing a lot less of Marten and his misadventures of late, mostly due to the focus on Brun, Faye and Bubbles. So, why not try to reinvigorate his character in some way? But how to do so...? I think that I'm going for option 2 myself, although options 1 and 3 could profitably be part of it. All three would feed into Marten's strengths and the things that would make him happy. I would argue, at the very end, it was Marten's quest for happiness and meaning that lie at the core of his character arc.
What do you think?