Here are some questions that are frequently asked about the forthcoming Badly Drawn Kitties book. In addition, the answers are provided. If you find yourself frequently asking a question about the book that isn't answered here, email it to
mat at badlydrawnkitties dot com.

Q: So what exactly is going on?
A: Well, we're making a book. Kat is redrawing the original BDK strips from the beginning, and they'll be published in a book sometime in 2010.

Q: Why are the strips being redrawn?
A: Three reasons. One, because the originals were not publication quality. Two, so certain sucky aspects of the story can be changed or removed (the incest, for example). Three, for legal reasons, all characters that aren't Mat's intellectual property have to be removed.

Q: So no Fisk, then?
A: That's right. Fisk, Sheila, Zig Zag, Jezzebel, Cala, Nikashi, Saundra, Volair, Max the Black Rabbit, gNAW, Sarah Skunkie, Sabrina, Miss Mab and Drip will all be removed. Either the strips that feature them won't be included, or new characters will be created to take their places.

Q: Oh come now. Surely people like Malcolm Earle and Amber Williams would let you use characters like Zig Zag and Miss Mab!
A: For the most part, probably. But...
- There would be a lot of legal wrangling required, with contracts to sign and worries about proper use and cuts of profits and such. Just editing them out eliminates the legal aspects, and gives us unfettered creative control.
- Many of these characters are not defined in a way that precludes their places in the story from being taken by different characters filling the same role; does Cala really need to be Cala as opposed to, say, Bella?
- People who are just coming across this book in a store without prior Internet knowledge of BDK, webcomics or the furry fandom won't know or care who characters like Zig Zag or Miss Mab are.
- Cameos like these tend to serve the purpose of a "shout out" to Internet friends, which is to say, the characters' creators. Outside an Internet setting, where BDK's only purpose is to sell itself, such crossovers are unnecessary.
- Not using these characters separates BDK from any other established canon.
- Several of these characters only appear in one-off special strips that wouldn't be included in the book anyway.

Q: Why is Kat drawing these comics instead of Mat?
A: Partly because Mat is too busy with other work to redraw them all in the time available, and partly because Kat is a better artist.

Q: Will the book contain all the BDK strips?
A: No, just the first year or so. With any luck, future volumes will contain further comics.

Q: What about special things like the BDK Improvs?
A: No. The book is being constructed as a new, cohesive unit that requires no prior knowledge of the Internet version of BDK to enjoy and contains no frills that might detract from the main story, and so it will only contain freshly redrawn material based on in-canon BDK strips.

Q: When's the book coming out?
A: We aren't exactly sure yet. We're expecting sometime in the Summer of 2010.

Q: How much will it cost?

A: We also don't know that. We'll let you know when we get something more solid.