But sometimes, only a good, old-fashioned Sharpie will do.

• A Tumblr post from Mary Cagle caught my eye this morning; it dealt with delays in Cagle’s comic and the busyness of life in general. Let’s read it together:
  

  Basically, my big plan right now is to bring KB back first thing in April for the 5-year anniversary. As much as it frustrates me, thank you to everyone who’s poked me about when the comic will return. It’s a great reminder that people care about it almost as much as I do!

  For those curious, here’s what’s been keeping me away from KB lately, just to prove I’m not exclusively sitting around on my butt:

  What follows is a lengthy list of things keeping Cagle busy, starting with teaching English and dealing with life in a foreign country¹ and continuing on through a list of five creative projects that she’s working on, including coloring weekly webcomics for Amy T Falcone, coloring past webcomics for a book for Kel McDonald, coloring Johanne Matte’s contribution to the next Flight Explorer, and flatting and painting pages for Kazu Kibuishi next Amulet volume².

  What struck me was not how busy Cagle is (which doesn’t surprise me at all, given her deft hand at colors), but the fact that she can collaborate on all these projects with a literal ocean between her and the other creators. Maybe this struck me because I was watching the full Scott McCloud interview from STRIPPED³ last night and he talked about his first job in comics: doing production work for DC.

  It involved knives and cutting and working on physical art and the sort of partnership between professionals like Kibuishi and Cagle would have been nearly impossible, due to the amount of material that would have to be shipped around the world. The possibility of contributing two colored pages a week to Ms T Falcone would have been literally impossible, as no amount of express shipping could make the art be where it needed to be. There is also the little matter of having a limited palette of colors to work with, rather than the millions of subtle hues that Cagle has at her fingertips, let’s not forget that.

  This is all a very roundabout way of saying that, who have spent the last 30+ years around computers on a daily basis, got future-shocked by the realization how far technology has come. Thanks for making me feel old, Mary! It’s okay though, ’cause I like your comics.

• Since we mentioned that comics movie in passing, let’s discuss it just a little more. Along with your obligatory reminder that STRIPPED will release on iTunes/other channels on (respectively) the 1st and 2nd of April, there is the new tidbit that Kickstarter backers due a physical DVD don’t have much longer to wait:
  

  Individual DVDs will mail from manufacturer the day they’re complete: 3/21. Signed or INTL DVDs have to route to LA then mailed

  That’s good news for approximately 2950 backers due non-signed DVDs (minus an unknown number of international orders), whose discs will be shipping in three days. It’s not out of the realm of the possible that they’ll have their copies of the movie in a week or so. It’s less good news for those of us awaiting signed DVDs, as Fred ‘n’ Dave will be scribbling their signatures for some 791 backers.

  I wonder if Dave will do that K-in-a-box that he uses to sign his comics? It’s gotta be faster than signing Fred Schroeder. Anyway, look for both Kellett and Schroeder to attend the Hollywood premiere on 26 March in high spirits, then spend the next month in wrist braces.

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¹ That’s gotta be like 19 hours a day right there.

² Also one 40 page project without a name attached.

³ Gotta be a back to see that one, son, although fillmmakers Fred Schroeder and Dave Kellett have hinted in the past making all the raw interview footage available in some form in the future. Considering the number of artists they met with in their studios, the process and drawing footage alone will be invaluable to future generations of students.