Chris Dee's Blog: Chris Dee's Cat-Tales Blog, page 16

Spotlight: Daughter of the Moon

After all the Bane yesterday, it’s time to reduce the testosterone levels around here. Selina: Daughter of the Moon by Remidar.

Boy, you got a crap name there, Bane

Since Cat-Tales is not a Femslash series, the F4F audience was more than patient when the bulk of my first interview spent so much of the hour+ on Selina Kyle, Bruce and Selina, Edward Nigma, Roxy Rocket, Victor Frieze, etc. When the conversation finally did turn to Harley and Ivy, Harvey Dent was part of the equation. That show is now signing off, and for its final 4 episodes, host Allaine is inviting back past guests in groups of four. I agreed to a return visit to round out the first foursome, fully expecting to make up for that first appearance and devote the bulk of the time to Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Imagine my surprise when this guy’s name came up:

As it ever was, so shall it ever be: Bane upstaged by the real Gotham. Character portraits, Cat-Tales Gallery

“One note, kind of like you.”
-Edward Nigma, The Gotham Rogues

Bane was introduced in Cat-Tales in Chapter 4 of Comedy of Errors. He’s discovered at Ramon’s Café & Bar Lounge in Lubbock, Texas. I asked a friend in that part of the country for a location that “wasn’t the absolute end of the world, but you can see it from there,” and that’s how Ramon’s and the Banester himself came to reside in Lubbock.

At the time of that first interview, those few scenes were all we had seen of Bane, but I knew what was coming. Storm clouds were forming over Gotham, there was a war coming between the Rogues and the Mobs, and it was Bane and not Carmine Falcone who would wind up being the major antagonist.

Now, I’ve never been one to play the spoiler game, but if I had known going in that Bane’s name would come up, I might have come prepared to drop a hint or two.  Having missed that opportunity, I will say here that while the man himself is no longer in Gotham, and while his appearance in the Tales was obviously to play along and have some fun with The Dark Knight Rises dusting off the big hulking steroid case, nothing in Cat-Tales Gotham happens in a hermetically sealed package that begins with the first sentence of chapter 1 and ends with the final period.  Pebbles were dropped in The Gotham Rogues and the ripples from those pebbles are still moving through the waters of Inside an Enigma.

There endeth the tease for the upcoming chapter of Enigma.  Now, let’s all enjoy one last laugh at the expense of Santa Prisca’s favorite son:

________

Final thought. While I badly want to go out on the Guns n’ Roses, I simply can’t hold off on saying this: Eddie was right. Do you know how hard it is to come up with a cute, punny title related to Bane? I wanted to title this entry something quippy and clever, but there’s not a Don’t Fear the Joker or Riddle Me-Tropolis to be had with him.

New High Def Wallpaper in Cat-Tales Gallery

A few months ago, I introduced Bat-Family Sunrise, the first of a new series of Batman, Gotham and Cat-Tales-themed HD wallpapers for all screen dimensions and devices.  “First in a series” implies, um, more.  And I know you’ve all been waiting, most of you waiting patiently.

This new one was suggested and voted on by readers, inspired by Chapter 9 of The Gotham Post.

Selina, Eddie and a healed Harvey Dent dressed as Nightwing retreat to the real Gotham After Dark when Mrs. Ashton-Larraby’s GAD-themed costume party predictably goes to hell.

 

Inside an Enigma: The Hail Mary Pass

Meanwhile at Arkham… Inside an Enigma Part 3: The Hail Mary Pass

With a title like Inside an Enigma, with a cover image juxtaposing Chinese finger puzzles with the Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, everyone knew the latest Cat-Tale simply must involve Edward Nigma, aka The Riddler.  But throughout chapter 1 and 2, there was no sign of him.  There’s been no sign of him since he was last seen casting off the role of Fate’s Bitch and stepping up to lead the Rogues in a dangerous war against Carmine Falcone.  That ends now in Inside an Enigma Part 3:  The Hail Mary Pass.

 

Gallery Spotlight: Tim Loses His Guy Card

“Robin and Batgirl, here we go again,” Bruce once said as Tim Drake and Cassie Cain started down that path teenagers tend to take.  They’re not the first couple of Cat-Tales Universe, but they have quite a following.  One of the first major episodes is depicted here, from Fortune Cookies.

“All Over ‘cept the Crying”

Tim figured Phoenix Ninja was the only chance he’d have to trounce Batgirl in a fair fight, and trounce her he did for the first 12 minutes of play.  There was no body language to read in his avatar ShadowBird, none of the tells she reacted to with such deadly speed in a physical battle.  Then she noticed how this wrist-twitch or that made his character move, and since then…

“All over,” she repeated as Tim’s ShadowBird lay inert on the digital rooftop while the spectacular backdrop of downtown Ginza reconfigured to proclaim SilentShogee the winner.  “’cept the crying,” she added, looking at him expectantly.

Ripped from the Headlines (Chung-Chung)

It’s rare that Cat-Tales indulges in a “Ripped from the Headlines” plotline, but readers know that smaller plot points do occur from time to time.

In 2007, a woman robbed a bank in New Zealand wearing a Catwoman mask, how could I resist having a little fun with it in Riddle Me-Tropolis?

Most recently, in the opening chapter of Inside an Enigma, when Selina learned of a daring diamond heist in Belgium, home of her old fence Igor, and she promptly flew off to Europe to… well, I’ll let you read why, exactly, she went.  But she returned in chapter 2, posted on Monday, and virtually as her plane touched down in Gotham again, this happened…

Police swoop on suspects in international Belgian diamond heist gang – The Telegraph

Coincidence?  Selina would be the first to scream at the suggestion of Catwoman crimefighting, but as the writer of this little escapade, I’m beginning to see the appeal of the ripped from the headlines formula.  That’s just FUNNY!

Another fascinating coincidence is that the recent chapter raised a few questions of that revolving door at Arkham Asylum – a revolving door which currently appears to be stuck.  I did my best to answer those questions, and given the Law & Order nature of the material, I dug up this picture mashing up Batman with the mother of all ripped from the headlines franchises.

Law & Order Gotham Style explained in the Cat-Tales Forum

Inside an Enigma Part II – Cognitive Dissonance

When we last left Gotham, Selina had also left Gotham – to look into a certain diamond heist in her old fence’s back yard.  Now she’s on her way home – to WHAT is the question.

Oh, Gotham, you turn your back for three weeks, for three short weeks, and there’s no telling what will be waiting when you turn back (but you can be pretty damn sure that whatever has happened, the Gotham Post has got it wrong.)

Inside an Enigma Chapter 2: Cognitive Dissonance is now available on the Cat-Tales website and mobile-friendly Cat-Tales.mobi

Gallery Spotlight: The Mad Hatter

“Calloo-Callay, I’m screwed I say.” -Jervis Tetch, Something Borrowed

Jervis Tetch, aka The Mad Hatter in Batman’s crime files, Gossip Gertie at the Iceberg Lounge.

Jervis’s most memorable appearance involved his Aunt Maud coming to Gotham. Auntie didn’t know he was a criminal and Jervis didn’t want her to find out. Zany hijinx ensued.

More recently in Comedy of Errors we saw inside his lair:

It wasn’t even the chess piece furniture that bothered Oswald, it was how… nice everything was. Meticulously clean, small and dainty ornaments arranged neatly in rows on the mantelpiece or in little groupings on the end tables, the whole place smelling faintly of blueberry jam… When all was said and done, it was a lot creepier than Jonathan Crane’s. The Scarecrow had skulls covered in corn husks hanging off little hooks. This place smelled like blueberry jam. It conjured images of some sweet old lady’s cabin you come upon in a childhood fairytale when you’re lost in the woods. She invites you in, since it’ll be getting dark soon, and has some homemade cookies just coming out of the oven. Before you know where you are, she’s after you with a hatchet wanting to bake you into a pie.

National Hairball Awareness Day (Gallery Spotlight: Whiskers & Nutmeg)

Nothing makes you question the time you spend on social media like logging in to Twitter and learning it is National Hairball Awareness Day.  But hey, I’m the one who opted to go into the glamorous world of Catwoman fan fiction and I’m the one who let these two onto the page without stopping to consider that it’s the internet and cats rule.  They’re the most popular original characters in the series, and I have to keep the real stars of Cat-Tales happy, so…

Whiskers and Nutmeg want to know who’s not wearing the ribbon and why.

To commemorate this important day, I thought we’d do a Gallery Spotlight of those pictures featuring the little pests darlings.

Catwoman: Tuna Kisses by Shisa Ai

Probably the sexiest Catwoman in the gallery that doesn’t include Bruce or Batman, and I’m spotlighting it for the cats!

And…

Selina Sulking in the Cat Lair

This scene is one of the earliest efforts from Poser artist TM and is inspired by Times Gone By

Catching Up on All Things Cat-Tales

While I’ve been working on the next chapter of Inside An Enigma, there have been a few detours I haven’t managed to chronicle here.

Ask Chris Dee

I’ve had a few readers ask some interesting questions over on Tumblr, from Where to begin reading Cat-Tales…

I know, I know, when you see that #67 on a current tale, it’s daunting.  Fear not, there’s no reason to begin with #1 if you don’t want to.

…to Finding a more Cat-Talesesque Selina in Comics than those listed on the typical DC pimp lists.

  Catwoman: Black and White

What began as a bit of Monday morning snark on Twitter turned into a week of spotlighting images from the Shisa Ai: Black & White Gallery.  If you haven’t taken a look at these babies, you’re missing out!  It’s astonishing how the playfulness and sex appeal of the Selina we all know comes through these images like nowhere else.