I want to thank you all for your patience with Drive while I finished up my film, Stripped. I have missed Drive like you can’t even imagine. I love this story, I love these characters, I love the whole thing. It’s a fantastic sandbox to play in…and I’m so happy to get back to it.

To help us all remember where we were in the storyline, Drive reader PLB kindly wrote up this summary of events. (Did he miss anything you think is worth mentioning? Add it in the comments, below, for your fellow readers!)

The Machito:

Losing a war with the Continuum of Makers, humanity’s only hope lies with a lost race of creatures who can pilot a starship with almost superhuman skill. The Emperor tasks the scout ship Machito to find these creatures, and convince them to use their gravimetric senses to pilot humanity’s ships.

Captain Taneel, Nosh, Skitter, Orla and Cuddow:

In that quest, most of the crew heads to the crime world Slaughter, known for it’s violence…and its trade. Barely having landed on Slaughter, Orla got herself in trouble with one of head of a crime family: The Sett. Against her captain’s order, Orla had grabbed a young Asteen who was running away with a shop-lifted necklace. Unfortunately for her, this tangled her up with the massive crime family headed up by The Sett…who sentences her to fight in the arena.

Fernando:

Back on the Machito, ‘Nando was visited by the Robin Hood-like outlaws, the Tres Primos. They sneak on board, tell ‘Nando to examine what he knows about his father, and fly off again. Their ship, it’s worth noting, is piloted by one of Skitter’s people.

Emperor Cruz:

Still bummed out that Tesskil got cracked in half by the Continuum, he must now deal with the rogue Spark of Thought ship being flown erratically across space by the ever-violent Tesskans.

The Continuum:

With cool-headed destructive power, The Continuum continues to demand that humanity return the stolen Spirit. But with their massive new ship, the Spark of Thought, now being in Tesskans hands, we can only assume that a counter-attack is being carefully prepared.

Nosh’s grandfather:

While it’s been weeks since the Machito’s crew left Veeta, rumor has it that he is still deleting pages after pages of emails filled with pictures of seals, courtesy of his grandson.

Woohoo! After four weeks of waiting, STRIPPED is finally available on iTunes Canada! (Each country has their own iTunes store, you see.)

We’re going to try to repeat the magic, and GET STRIPPED TO BE THE #1 DOCUMENTARY IN CANADA FOR ONE DAY! If you’re Canadian, please treat yourself to a pre-order of the movie! It counts towards our first day of sales!

…I’m buying everybody Tim Horton’s, if we make it.*

*Offer not valid in the US or Canada.

This Saturday, we’re going to do a worldwide “Live-Tweet” viewing of Stripped — and you’re all invited!

Basically, the entire world hits “play” on the film at the same time, then follows along on Twitter as we answer questions, give behind-the-scenes info, and share stories we haven’t told yet. It’ll be fun! Here are the deets:

WHO: Directors Fred Schroeder (@fredschroeder), Dave Kellett (@davekellett) and Associate Producer Jen Troy (@JenTr0y)
WHAT: Worldwide Live-Tweet Viewing of STRIPPED, using hashtag #strippedfilm
WHEN: This Saturday, April 26th, exactly at 7PM PST / 10PM EST / 3AM (Sunday) GMT
WHERE: At your place and on Twitter! Just get comfy on the couch, hit “play”, then follow the hashtag #strippedfilm on Twitter, or you can ask questions of the folks behind the film: @fredschroeder @davekellett @JenTr0y
HOW: Using the technological magic of Two-Screens-At-Once™, you can watch a movie AAAANDcheck your phone at the same time. 🙂

…And if you have friends over for a viewing party — which would be awesome — tweet out a pic using #strippedfilm.

If you *already* have your own pug, here’s how you can build another one:

1.) Collect hair sheddings

2.) Every three hours, you’ll have enough to build a wholly new pug.

Is not being able to bring a pad of paper with me into the shower. I get into the shower, almost instantly get a cartoon idea, and think “oh there’s no way I won’t remember that one when I get out of the shower.”

NOT TWO MINUTES LATER, towelling off, can’t remember.

I’m sure you’ve got more pitches for Ben & Jerry, so add ’em below in the comments!

You guys. YOU GUYS. The world premiere of Stripped is here! We’re giving out ten exclusive Watterson posters! And YOU’RE invited!

It’s been 4 years in production, 77 people interviewed, 300 hours of footage…all adding up to ONE AWESOME NIGHT.

We’re holding it at the world famous Cinerama Dome, with its 86-foot screen. We just test-screened it there this morning, and it looks AMAZING! We might never have a screening in as cool a location.

And check this out:
– The screening is followed by an audience Q&A with the directors, Matt Inman (The Oatmeal), Dan Piraro (Bizarro), Keith Knight (K Chronicles), and Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), AND
– We’re giving away *ten* of the amazing film posters Bill Watterson created for Stripped! They’ll be given to lucky audience members’ chosen from a big ol’ bowl, that night, live! Here’s the poster (pictured below): You gotta come!

Here’s the full interview!

The film is available NOW by iTunes pre-order! We’re trying to be the #1 film on iTunes for ONE DAY: April 1st. So if you have a U.S. iTunes account, I’d love love love for you to help us out! Any purchase of the film on or before April 1st helps the cause.

And if you’re morally or technologically against iTunes: The film will indeed be available on places other than iTunes. It’ll be on DVD (DRM-Free), on VHX (DRM-free), and on Google Play — all starting April 2nd!

In good news: After 4 years of working on it, Stripped will release April 1st! You can even pre-order it on iTunes RIGHT NOW if you wanted! That’s how exciting this news is! It’s EXCITING!

Boy, though: All the work related to the release has meant 60-hour weeks at the moment. Turns out, it’s very tricky to release a feature film, plan an 800-person premiere, send out rewards to 5,000 Kickstarter backers, and do a bunch of press interviews! I’m very sorry Sheldon’s taken it on the chin, but it’s not permanent, rest assured. I just need to midwife the film for a few weeks. 🙂

Anyway, check out the trailer, and maybe treat yourself to a pre-order copy!

Aaaaand, in case you didn’t hear, the amazing Bill Watterson of Calvin & Hobbes kindly drew his first cartoon in 19 years, and produced the poster for the film! Here it is! He’s the bestest-bestest!

Because it requires a little more time and patience, I haven’t used a sable brush to draw a strip for a while now. Working on the film has pretty much precluded that. But the tree in Tuesday’s strip just seemed to call out for a little brush work…so out it came.