Mary Cagle

Mary Cagle, also known as Cube Watermelon, is an American webcomic artist known for creating Kiwi Blitz, Let's Speak English, and Sleepless Domain.

For the pastor, see Mary Lee Cagle.
Mary Cagle
Born (1989-12-01) 1 December 1989[1][2]
NationalityAmerican
Pseudonym(s)Cube Watermelon
http://www.marycagle.com/

Personal life

Cagle was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas and developed a strong interest in Japanese pop-culture, including both older and more modern anime and video games. In 2013, Cagle graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design[3] and became an English teacher at an elementary school in Kurihara, Japan.[4] Cagle is asexual.[5][6][7]

Works

Kiwi Blitz

In 2009, Cagle started the action/comedy webcomic Kiwi Blitz. Its plot follows a couple of teenagers attempting to fight crime in the pseudo-near future. Kiwi Blitz draws many of its influences from anime, featuring Americanized Japanese mecha designs.[4] Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resources described the set-up of Kiwi Blitz as a "strong concept" that should be able to sustain itself for a long time. Praising the "interesting" cast, Cronin noted that Cagle is willing to "mix things up" so that story doesn't become stale.[8] Lauren Davis of io9 listed Kiwi Blitz among her top ten superhero webcomics.[9] The comic has been on hiatus since September 2021.[10]

Let's Speak English

In November 2013, Cagle began illustrating her experiences of being an English teacher in Japan in the form of slice-of-life snippets. The webcomic, titled Let's Speak English, shows Cagle dealing with subjects such as Japanese pop-culture, toilets, thin walls, and the language barrier.[4] It has been compared to the Japanese manga Yotsuba&! due to their shared slice-of-life elements.[11] The comic concluded in 2016, with Mary moving back to America and ending her teaching job.[12]

Sleepless Domain

Cagle started the webcomic Sleepless Domain in 2015. The story, set in a city that is invaded by malicious monsters on a nightly basis, features a group of magical girls and their interpersonal issues. Kotaku Australia described Sleepless Domain as a tragic story about the "loss of fellowship".[13] The comic has been noted for its LGBTQ+ themes by the website INTO more.[14] Hachette began publishing a French-language physical release of the comic in 2018.[15] In 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced a print and ebook release of the comic.[16] In 2022, Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resources ranked Sleepless Domain as 83rd in their Top 100 comics of 2022, praising the comics "strong character work" and "nice art by Cagle".[17]

References
  1. Cagle, Mary [@cubewatermelon] (30 November 2010). "Livestream again! Join me as I finish this page and ring in my 21st birthday :< bit.ly/cifE3R" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. Cagle, Mary [@cubewatermelon] (30 November 2013). "Eeheehee thank you so much for the birthday wishes! (My bday is the 1st, which it is over here already)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. "Let's Speak English – Prologue 1 – Off We Go!". marycagle.com.
  4. Cruz, Larry (29 August 2014). "'Let's Speak English': One Cartoonist's Adventures in Teaching". Comic Book Resources.
  5. Cagle, Mary [@cubewatermelon] (18 October 2014). "Over the past year I've discovered that I'm probably asexual, which in retrospect explains a lot about my work and taste in media" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. Cagle, Mary [@cubewatermelon] (19 July 2015). "@ModestNarcissus Yeah I'm asexual soooo >_>" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. Cagle, Mary [@cubewatermelon] (2 June 2019). "This the season" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. Cronin, Brian (16 May 2011). "A Month of Webcomics – Kiwi Blitz". Comic Book Resources.
  9. Davis, Lauren (1 September 2014). "10 Superhero Webcomics You Should Be Reading". io9.
  10. "Status of the Comic (and my life)". kiwiblitz.com. 5 September 2021.
  11. ""Let's Speak English" Is the Cute, Everyday Chronicle of an American in Japan". theabsolutemag.com.
  12. "#134 – Slow Motion". marycagle.com. 14 September 2016.
  13. Davis, Lauren (9 October 2016). "What Happens To A Magical Girl After She Loses Her Team?". Kotaku Australia.
  14. "10 Fabulous LGBTQ+ Magical Girl Comics for Queer Readers". INTO More. 3 November 2022.
  15. "Robinson, une nouvelle collection de bandes dessinées en partenariat avec Hiveworks". hachette.fr (in French). Hachette Livre. 25 May 2018.
  16. "Seven Seas and Hiveworks Comics Join Forces to Bring Webcomics to Bookstores". Seven Seas Entertainment. 21 December 2020.
  17. "CBR's Top 100 Comics of 2022". Comic Book Resources. 1 January 2023.
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