My pleasure!

1) I don't think that has to be the case at all. Part of writing well, especially in extended forms is the control of information. By carefully structuring the sections of the writing, this can help to create suspense and even drama. By this I mean theatricality, of course.

I don't know what your feelings on Bill Bryson are, but in A Short History of Nearly Everything and At Home: A Short History of Private Life I feel like he tackles broad subjects in this way particularly well. You can check out an excerpt here if you haven't checked it out. The unknown is something that we're wired to seek answers to and if presented well, the reader's natural curiosity will take over. Your job as the writer, is choosing how much information and what information they get in order for them to move through the piece as you've envisioned it. This means getting crafty and using that craftiness to create the hooks that will stoke the desire of the reader to discover where it is the writer is taking them.

2) I am glad to hear that your animator will be providing illustration. I really like the style!

3) An easy way to check to see if your voice is coming through is to ask people that know you well to read a part of what you've written. Don't tell them that you've written it until after they're done. If they can tell that it was you, then you've succeeded!