STRIPPED! The webcomics documentary

We have lived through the Renaissance.

In fact, we're still living it. This past ten years has seen such a surge -- such a creative explosion -- in the artform that is comics, that it's hard to exaggerate everything that has happened since people started publishing their comics on the Web independently.

Folks like you and me, we've seen the drama. We've lived it. We remember the exuberance of Keenspot, we remember the Webcomics Telethon for Hurricane Katrina, and we remember webcartoonists being recognized as equals by the National Cartoonist Society at their annual convention.

Yet, every time the mainstream media takes a crack at covering Our Story, it's the same, lame "Hey, Kids! Comics on the Internet! Bam! Pow!"

Finally -- FINALLY -- someone has stepped up to the plate to document what has to be the most dynamic period in comics history since William Randolph Hearst decided that those funny "Yellow Kid" cartoons really drove newspaper sales.

And, not surprisingly, it's One Of Us.

Webcomics pioneer Dave Kellett and cinematographer Fred Schroeder have teamed up to tell the story of comics in the Digital Age. It's called STRIPPED, and as with all things webcomic, you have a chance to be personally involved.



They're getting down to the wire, and here's where you come in.

They've been taping for well over a year, traveling from coast-to-coast, taping everyone from Jim Davis to, well, me. They've invested in equipment and travel and time -- whooo baby, have they invested time. And now they need a little push to cover post-production expenses -- editing, special effects/animation, sound mixing -- so they can bring this baby to a wider audience.

You can be a part of the telling of Our History by donating to their Kickstarter fund.

A $25 donation earns you a free DVD of the documentary -- which is perfect if you, like me, were going to buy the darned thing anyway. It sounds funny, but I want to preserve this moment in time for my kids and my grandkids. I want the DVD. I want to have it right there on the shelf so I can pull it down on a moment's notice and say: "Yeah... I was a part of that... I read most of these webcomics... it was an amazing time for creativity in the world."

Go donate now. Help tell the story.

Without the Bam! Pow!