Following up on one or two things today. Maybe three. Four, tops.

• Two days since launch, 102% of funding met, now the really interesting parts of the Table Titans bookstarter begin. The book gets fancier in another US$4500 or so (as of this writing), and additional goodies appear to be stacked up at US$5000 increments thereafter. Assuming Table Titans lands somewhere in the middle of the Fleen Funding Forecast™¹ range of US$60 – 120K, we could be looking at eight or ten improvements to the final product².
• Just over two weeks from now, STRIPPED, as we have established at length, will be dropping on iTunes. For those that don’t have geographical access to iTunes (or have objections to the Apple media semiopoly), it will also be available on 2 April for HD download and streaming via VHX.tv, Google Play and other channels. What’s newly added to the mix is the announcement that also on 2 April, DVD retail sales will go live on TopatoCo, the internetty boutique of wonderful things. This gives me an indication that my Kickstarter support (at a level that guaranteed a physical disc) will be paying off with a very special package very soon. Note to self: cancel appointments that day.
• Book number two from John Allison’s Bad Machinery released yesterday, and while I have yet to pick up a copy, it’s apparently full of reworked art and story:
  

  Of all the Bad Machinery stories, this was the one that needed the most radical surgery to be ready for publication. About a quarter of the pages are brand new.

  Of particular note is the fact that even for me — I love the inside look at the process of making comics, and then making those comics into books — the skinny on how much of The Case of the Good Boy required tweaking is actually the least interesting part of that bloggening from Allison. He goes into a fascinating discussion about how Bad Machinery has changed, and how it will continue to change:

  Writing a school comic, term by term, means that the characters grow up fast. I never anticipated that the tone of the series would change so quickly. 11-year olds aren’t like 14 year-olds. They’re shorter, for one, and I’m sure a scientist could point to other differences using their expertise in the area. It’s a series where, if I’m true to myself, the later stories might not be appropriate for younger readers of the first story.

  And some good stuff on how to balance the needs of punchline every day with one complete story over six months:

  When I started writing The Case Of The Forked Road, I could see that the plot was complicated. I wanted room to keep on top of that plot as well as writing good dialogue, so I doubled the size of the strips.

  And do you know what? It worked. After a few months, people found they were able to recall every character and detail perfectly, no matter how much time had passed. No one was confused. And drawing twice as much each day actually proved to be easier than drawing less! Who knew!

  Now, what I am doing here is saying the opposite of what is true for comic effect. It was a difficult time. I find that a good indicator of chronic overwork is my sudden decision to take on even more work, which is probably why I reactivated my old strip, Bobbins, two thirds of the way through the case.

  Yeah, okay, I guess that’s pretty much how-comics-get-made stuff, too. Good stuff, you should read it.

• There are two Glorkian Warrior projects coming in the next two weeks from James Kochalka. For those of you that like books, The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza (the kind folks at :01 Books were kind enough to send me a review copy) hits on the 25th; it’s a loopy, funny story, sure to please those young enough that they have to have it read to them, and those that do the reading. And tomorrow, the long-awaited Glorkian Warrior videogame (now titled Glorkian Warrior: The Trials of Glork) releases tomorrow:
  

  My game, Glorkian Warrior: The Trials of Glork comes out on March 14 on the iTunes app store for iphone, ipad, or ipod touch.

  Who’s going to stay up to midnight tonight to download it?

  I am! I’m buying it tonight even though it’s my own game and I can get it for free.?

  I don’t have any of those devices, but if the game is anything like the book (and I’ll wager it is), it’s going to be loopy, funny, and engaging for young and old. Even if it weren’t (which it will be), it’s ot like you’ll get anything better for less than three bucks, so pick it up and enjoy the crap out of it.

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¹ Patent pending, original formula, do not steal.

² If one of those improvements is Beholder dice bags for everybody!, Kurtz & Co will have to beat the hordes away with a stick.