Chris Dee's Blog: Chris Dee's Cat-Tales Blog, page 11

To some he was a fable…

“To some he was a fable, to some a nightmare, to some a detective, a freak, a hero, or a demon. But to Catwoman, he had always been, well… hers.”

~Cat-Tales: Fool

In Fool Selina heads out of town, specifically to Atlantis, where Aquaman has a proposition that he’d rather not refer to as “commissioning a burglary.”  When she returns, a lot has happened.  The reunion with Batman is only the beginning.

Selina is Going Back to the Batcave and this time You Pick the Wallpaper

Several weeks ago I introduced a fun little picture for the scenes gallery called Coming to Bed Or Not?  inspired by a scene – or actually several different scenes – in various Cat-Tales.  What I learned from that little adventure is that the prospect of Selina in the Batcave is tremendously popular with many of you.  Also that you want wallpaper sizes and dimensions whether I think a picture’s PITA hologram is too grainy for HD or not.  Ok, message received.    More Selina in the cave.

To make it up to you, I’m going to let you decide what the next wallpaper will be.   I selected three stories that had Selina in the cave in a unique context, each with their own distinct flavor.  Identity Element, where she is researching the Justice League security system after the Dibny murder, Blueprints where the cave and its many secrets plays an important role in the search for some gold bars (and the reason for the search) and Not My Kink, where she’s taking over nightly patrols while Bruce recovers from an injury, even though it’s the dreaded C-word.

Not My Kink had the most diversity of tone, so the sample images are all inspired by that, but I’ve left open the option to write in suggestions from the other two.

Take Our Poll

“We fought each…

“We fought each other. And at times, we fought together. Shared time. Something grows between you. Whether good or bad, shared time creates an understanding. You come to know the essence of a person. The essence of Joker is madness. The essence of Superman is decency. The essence of Ra’s al Ghul is pride. The essence of Catwoman is… impossible to put into a word. But it is warm and alive and it draws something rich and joyful from the act of living.”

- Cat-Tales: Go Rin No Sho

The Book of Five Rings: Samurai Manual of Combat Strategy. The problem? How can Bruce Wayne be a playboy with a live-in girlfriend?

“Always exposes something new and interesting about the Batman and the very real and vulnerable human that created him.”

Ha-Ha-Happy Birthday, Harley

“Twenty-nine. She was twenty-nine years old. And she was behind schedule. She was supposed to have her own talk show by now. Her book, written while a brilliant young doctor at Arkham, would have become a best seller in its first month and now be in its third paperback printing. Then the radio call-in show, a stepping-stone only since her looks made her a natural for television. She should, at this moment, be using her star-studded birthday party upstairs at the Russian Tea Room to announce the release of her second book, timed to catapult her TV talk show into national syndication! And instead, where was she? Alone in her new HA-HARLienda eating a cupcake.

“And it was HIS fault.”

~Cat-Tales: Fool

Only in Gotham: I’ll have Batman Straight Up, and Put Him in a Dirty Glass

A quick follow up on that Gotham blog a few months back.

I’ve said for a long time – since the Fashion Week Riot of 2012, I believe – that if you’re writing stories of Gotham City and you never get Batman out of those grimy alleys, you’re not doing it right.  New York is a tapestry of the unimaginably funky, a kaleidoscope of the creatively unbelievable, and a ragout of the eclectically weird.  It’s fine to have the perv in the subway, the banger urinating in the alley and the homeless guy on 14th Street, but if that’s all you’ve got, damnit man, you’ve got no business calling yourself a writer, because you’re walking past THE BEST PARTS to show us crap we’ve seen a thousand times before.

If you’re not in the city,  don’t despair.   Open a new tab on your browser and Like a l’il ol Facebook page called Humans of New York.  You’ll find it a revelation.

If you are in the city, get your coat.  This watering hole in the NoMad Hotel in Chelsea is having more fun with Batman than you are, and we need to fix that.

Only in Gotham: Ordering Cocktails via Batman Tarot Cards

Ordering via pop icon tarot card.  Our favorite vigilante represents Dark, that makes sense.  I have no idea what Pammy’s supposed to represent.  Natural?  (There aren’t a lot of unnatural alcohols, are there?) Grassy?  Green?  Flowery?  The only thing that makes any sense for a cocktail is fruity, and you wouldn’t use her for that.  I say we go find out.  Who’s with me?

The pic that started it all Fashion Week Riots #AndYouCallYourselfAWriter #pfft twitpic.com/at91sm—
chris dee (@chrisdeecattale) January 09, 2013

Only in Gotham: Pac Man Dumplings at Red Farm

Only in Gotham: Dior Renovating

 

 

Batcave Tech

Curious about those Data Wells in the Batcave?

The first one appeared, hexagonal, appeared in Chapter 1 of Inside an Enigma while Bruce was mulling over the Diamond Heist puzzle and again when Selina was making her plans for Riddler and Doris.  Some saw a similarity to the forensic investigation in Hush, but the truth is, the new toy wasn’t inspired by any comic book but by Tony Stark’s playroom  in the movies.  (Say what you want about Mr. Stark, he’s a billionaire with a knack for eye candy tech toys.)

Selina Kyle in the Batcave: Original Hexagonal Data Well from Inside an Enigma

Selina had a bit of Batcave-inspired tech in her new Cat Lair too, what Doris likened to an NSA Tech Bunker as pictured in movies and television. It had nothing to do with the data well, but was based on the configuration of Workstation One (Batman’s).

Catwoman using Batman’s workstation to make log entries when she takes over for him in Not My Kink.

Finally, in the new story Spontaneous Generation, Selina has been tinkering with the data well, reconfiguring the screens to be less claustrophobic. It caused a little buzz among readers, leading to these pictures.

Selina’s modification of the Data Well introduced in Spontaneous Generation

Cat-Tales 69: Spontaneous Generation

You’d probably think a copy of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People (paperless e-edition), an invitation to watch Bruce Wayne play polo, a couple of Valium, a white wine spritzer and a narcissistic personality disorder would lead to a comedy tale.

If you didn’t know Poison Ivy you’d think that.

Poison Ivy has been going through some changes.  Up until now that was a figure of speech.  Now it isn’t.

Cat-Tales: Spontaneous Generation, The Prologue: Ivy’s Song and Part I now available on the Cat-Tales website and mobile-friendly mirror Cat-Tales.mobi.

Countdown to a New Tale

The next Cat-Tale is almost upon us.  Might be a good time to revisit the last one.  and remind yourself where we left off.

Just a suggestion.

Catwoman: Corporate Intervention

If corporations are people…

This is the third in a series of images in the style of Roy Lichtenstein, simulating a comic book look through those famous dots, and presenting a thought that – well, let’s just say the text and thought bubbles in Lichtenstein’s works generally presented something too complex to be boiled down to the four-color medium.   The first two in this series, ‘Lichtensteined’ the Liam Neeson as Ra’s al Ghul from Batman Begins and Christian Bale as The Dark Knight with the most appropriate lines from each of those films.

The Fool’s Day Curse is Broken

Every year it’s something. Cat-Tales has been taken over by the Metropolis Tourism Board and Ra’s al Ghul’s ninjas. We’ve seen Joker remake the whole website as Hyena Tales and some sick bastard made it into Chris’s House of Goggles. One year there were puppies. And one year a giant DC Comics logo loomed over the forum. (I won’t tell you which left a little puddle under the icons.)

This year, at last, we seem to have reached April 1 without ANYONE associated with Cat-Tales being messed with!