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I normally don’t promote other people’s stuff here, but … this is a very cool project. Dave Kellett, a Webcomics artist who draws Sheldon and Drive, is helping make Stripped, a documentary about the history and future of comics, consisting of a series of interviews with a pretty incredible collection of contemporary newspaper and web comics artists. Here’s the trailer video! (IS THE FIRST INTERVIEWEE JEFFY KEANE? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!)

The trick is, in order for the movie to be made, it needs cash, as movies are insatiable money pits. They’re trying to raise funding for the movie on Kickstarter. If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it’s a way to crowdsource funding: lots of folks give small amounts, and hopefully it adds up to enough to make the movie. The filmmakers have set a lofty goal, and your credit card is only charged if they collect enough pledges to actually meet that goal (this is the magic of Kickstarter). And, unlike some bloggers who offer no reward other than self-satisfaction from a contribution, the producers of Stripped have lots of goodies for you if you help them make the movie. You could just treat this as an opportunity to pre-order the DVD, or, if you have five figures to drop on a whim, you could convince the filmmakers to fly to your hometown and give you a private showing. (There’s some stuff in between those two possibilities, too.) Check it out!

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Crankshaft, 8/23/11

One aspect of the Funkyverse that is correctly only dwelled upon by a limited number of comics obsessives involves the question of intra-universe chronological continuity: what happened to Crankshaft when Funky Winkerbean jumped forward 10 years? I say “correctly” because really the timelines of all non-Doonesbury non-FBOFW comics, which generally run for years and years and yet the characters never get any older, is totally mucked up, so really, there’s no point in dwelling on it. The fact that the Funkyverse strips are permitted by a morally bankrupt comics industry and a loving God to continue spreading soul-killing gloom via the last few remaining newspapers is a Funkyverse dilemma that is incorrectly only dwelled upon by a limited number of comics obsessives, but that’s neither here nor there.

ANYWAY, for those of you who care, today’s Crankshaft confirms what we’ve all suspected, which is that Crankshaft’s universe never got time-jumped, and so the action in his strip is taking place about a decade before the current mopery in Funky Winkerbean. Here we see future Les romance victim Cayla, still sporting an Afro and still probably capable of experiencing joy. What event in the next decade will reduce her to the straight-haired, Les-proposal-accepting broken shell of a human that she is to become? Will it be because of something terrible Crankshaft is about to say to her this week? Yes, let’s go with that, it seems like a pretty safe assumption.

Spider-Man, 8/23/11

Another thing that’s only of interest to comics obsessives: changes in comics lettering style. More often than not this indicates that one of the dwindling number of holdouts who still hand-letter their strips have finally given up and start using a computer font. You can spend a bit of money and get a font based on your own handwriting that is almost indistinguishable from it, or you can make like Spider-Man and use the font that’s one step up from Comic Sans. Today our cyberletterer clearly was having so much fun playing with italics and bolded italics that they neglected that other great digital advance, the spellchecker, which probably would have helpfully noted that “copsin” is not a word in standard English.

Archie, 8/23/11

I actually completely love the middle two panels of this strip; Archie and Reggie’s mirrored angry faces together make a minor pop art masterpiece. The same could not be said for the hideous shirt that’s the source of the disagreement, which lends the whole dispute a certain air of absurdity.

Gil Thorp, 8/23/11

Guys, if you don’t find Kenny’s “‘Course not, mom. You were bombed!” response to his weeping, emotionally shattered mother hilarious, then I’m not sure if we can be friends anymore.

Marvin, 8/23/11

At last, the strategy behind Marvin’s constantly filthiness is revealed! By establishing an ever-expanding sphere of poop-stench centered on his person, he is marking his personal space.

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Mark Trail, 8/22/11

And so, with “Sergeant McQueen, how is he?”/”He’s very popular in the community!”, the list of Questions And Responses In Mark Trail That Would Never, Ever Be Uttered By Humans, already prodigiously long, has gained another entry, unless there’s a lot of backstory. “He’s very popular in the community! None of those allegations have been proven, because all of the accusers mysteriously failed to show up to testify in court! Everyone loves Sergeant McQueen, and that’s the end of the story! THIS INTERVIEW IS OVER!”

Six Chix, 8/22/11

“Ha ha, seriously though, my friend has a serious medical condition called narcolepsy! Also, it’s best not to disturb her when she’s in this state, and she’s already agreed to pay the bill, so I’ll be leaving now.”