Chris Dee's Blog: Chris Dee's Cat-Tales Blog, page 18
March 12, 2013
Gallery: Joker v Joker (Cause Why Not?)
I’m not saying Psycho McHappypants was jealous of the unprecedented attention Harley Quinn received in yesterday’s Gallery Spotlight, I’m just saying that in addition to all the new pictures going up in the fan art gallery, we also unveiled a brand new Joker character portrait – replacing the old one because it had, well, uh… it had some really unfortunate framing with his arm and the hyena. He liked it, I didn’t, I’m the real person and I win.
Rather than featuring it in the usual way, I thought a little compare and contrast was called for. So, in the spirit of yesterday’s Harley v. Harley…
Joker by Selina Enriquez
While many readers enjoyed Joker’s earliest appearances in Fun & Games and Something Old, it is Cat-Tale #60: Don’t Fear the Joker which was voted his best appearance, no doubt because of the spin he put on other rogues’ themes.
Joker in the Ha-Hacienda
March 11, 2013
Gallery Spotlight: Harley v. Harley (‘Cause why not?)
For no particular reason, a tour of the Harley Quinns in the Fan Art Gallery.
Harley Quinn Bust by Ramesese
At one point when a reader was working on the Character Index, he discovered Harley appeared in more tales than any other supporting character.*
At the Ha-Hacienda, a Character Portrait
Why? I don’t know. Maybe because she’s such a lovable trainwreck. I mean, seriously…
How Harley apparently sees herself and Mistah J. “A Time To Laugh: A Harley Quinn Romance” from Fool
And here she is in civies. If you’re going to crash a society wedding to retrieve a bit of underwear that somehow got away from you when you were trashing the place with your psychotic boyfriend, maybe a) you should try to blend in a little more instead of wearing some clubbing dress…
Mrs Wayne by Remidar, inspired by from Dearly Beloved
… and b) Stay sober. I’m just sayin’
*That count was made around Book 3, I think. She still has the most appearances among the Rogues, but several Bat-family characters have since passed her.
March 8, 2013
Happy Anniversary, Cat-Tales
It was March 8, 2001 when Chris Dee posted Chapter 1 of Cat-Tales 1: A Girl’s Gotta Protect Her Reputation. Today, the popular Bataman series celebrates its 12th Anniversary by cutting the ribbon on the new Fan Gallery on the Cat-Tales website.
“If you haven’t seen it (or been paying attention while I squee about it), we have new categories for Character Portraits, Sculpture, and even cosplay. If you HAVE seen the new gallery, you haven’t seen the new pieces – more from old favorites like Remidar and Anya Uribe, a brand new artist Shisa Ai making her debut on the Cat-Tales gallery with an exhibit of Catwoman: Black & White.”
–Chris Dee
As an added treat, the website has updated an old Ask Catwoman feature for the occasion, finally answering a question about the most-asked about topic: Selina’s cats Whiskers and Nutmeg.
March 7, 2013
Gallery Spotlight: Jason Blood
If you want to know the truth about the Knights Templar, forget Dan Brown, turn off the History Channel, and for pity sake, don’t listen to some constipated french historian. Ask Jason Blood, “who knew them well enough to lend them money.”
Today’s featured character portrait is everyone’s favorite, cranky demonologist and his inner demon Etrigan.
“I am Iason of the Blood, Knight of Arthur, King of the Britons, reborn into dark service in the year of Our Lord five hundred and sixty. My power is vast, and for none to arrogate but by my will and decree. ” -Jason Blood, Identity Element
March 5, 2013
Gallery Spotlight: In the Dark / In Morning Light
The Bruce / Selina relationship is the heart of the Cat-Tales series, so it’s no surprise that there’s a wide variety of Bruce & Selina and Batman & Catwoman images from the artists who’ve contributed to the fan gallery. They’re all amazing and it’s nearly impossible to single out a favorite. Yet, of all the artists inspired by the Bat/Cat dynamic, few capture that special something like Remidar, in both moments of joy and moments of despair.
Enjoy these stunning companion pieces:
Bruce & Selina: In The Dark
Bruce and Selina had been dating for nearly a year before she experienced her first “Hell Month,” the changes Bruce experiences in the weeks leading up to the anniversary of his parents’ murder in Crime Alley in Times Gone By
And Bruce & Selina: In Morning Light
Bruce asked Selina to move in at the end of Book 2, and she’s been living in Wayne Manor since Highland Games at the top of Book 3. So there is no shortage of bedroom scenes in the course of the tales.
March 4, 2013
Keep smiling. It pisses off all the right people.
There is an attitude out there, best summed up by a friend of mine:
…the ones who believe Batman is the ultimate incarnation of badassery… who think in the Urban Dictionary next to “Bad ass” there is a picture of Batman… think Batman eats broken glass for breakfast and shits Chuck Norrises. (Yes, plural.) Who believe in their hearts and souls that the only reason Batman doesn’t kill is so his enemies can cry into their pillows each night from the knowledge that they will never be as badass as Batman….
But that attitude is not what’s really wrong with the fandom. The true tragedy are the ones who don’t believe any of that but think it’s necessary for a successful product, who think a portrayal lacking that cynicism masquerading as realism is doomed to fail. To those poor Faustian bastards I gleefully report that in a year I have spent posting a ludicrous amount of Batman-related material, related to Arkham City, to The Dark Knight Rises, The New 52, and selections old and new from the Cat-Tales fan gallery, the most liked, reblogged and retumbled were these two…
Milla Bishop: Classic Catwoman
and this bit of lighthearted silliness from Comics Worth Reading.
Valentine’s Day protocol gone horribly, horribly wrong
Any questions?
You know, in 4 days Cat-Tales is going to celebrate it’s 12th anniversary. That’s 12 years of readers, 12 years of stories – some of which actually inspired some of those readers to write and draw for this storyverse, this vision of the characters specifically.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for those who imprinted on the dystopian nihilism of the 1980s to consider the possibility that what seemed like the alpha and omega then was not a great and lasting vision. That it is failing to withstand the test of time. That there are a lot of people out here who, so far from insisting on that grim & gritty ugliness, actually find it a turnoff and a deterrent to buying the product.
Maybe, as we said at my old theatre, it’s time to remember that there are two masks, and only one of them is crying.
March 1, 2013
Gallery Spotlight: Jonathan Crane
I never expected to begin rolling out the new character portraits with Scarecrow. He’s not a major character in the Tales, and he’s not anyone’s favorite Batman villain. (Okay, unless Cillian Murphy is involved and that’s another conversation entirely.) But his portrait came out so beautifully, and they do say to begin with your second best and end with your best, so…
“You cannot truly say you have looked into the face of fear until you have heard William Shatner sing.” – Jonathan Crane, The Gotham Post
Jonathan Crane at his favorite institution of higher learning: Flay Hall, Hudson University.
February 28, 2013
Gallery Spotlight – Catwoman: Black & White
Today’s new tease from the Cat-Tales Gallery is actually a new artist and a new gallery! Presenting Catwoman: Black and White by Shisa Ai. You’ll be amazed how the true Selina comes through in this collection of dynamic, sexy and playful images and flowing, living lines.
Catwoman: Whipp It by Shisa Ai, signature image of the new gallery Catwoman: Black & White at catwoman-cattales.com
February 27, 2013
Gallery Spotlight – Bruce & Selina: Before Dawn
The Bruce/Selina relationship is the central core of Cat-Tales, and Remidar is a fan favorite of the artists featured in solo galleries on the CT website. So the news that there are five new pieces by Remidar in the ongoing updates is big. The news that most of them feature Bruce and Selina together is bigger. Enjoy…
Bruce and Selina: Before Dawn by Remidar
Gallery Spotlight: Catwoman vs Azrael
A companion piece to yesterday’s featured pic: In The Shadow of the Bat, seasoned readers of DC Comics may remember the image from the cover of Batman 504 Knightquest: The Crusade.
Catwoman vs Azrael by Paul Cory; DragonCon 2012 inspired by cover of Batman 504 Knightquest: The Crusade © Paul Cory
In Cat-Tales as in DC Comics, the first encounter between Catwoman and Azrael/AzBat/The Imposter/Pheromones/That $@(*! Thing in the Batman costume didn’t go so well. Unlike in the comics, it wasn’t a forgotten bit of nonsense but is an ongoing plotpoint that continues to affect the relationship between the characters.
“In addition to the flashbacks dealing with the first Catwoman-AzBat meeting in Blueprints and Armchair Detective, Selina’s lingering animosity towards Jean Paul Valley and Azrael are dealt with in Strange Bedfellows where they do manage to work together, String Theory where temporal rifts bring back Az & JP’s maddest and saddest moments from that time, 00000-001 where Jean Paul Valley for all his shortcomings rates a spot in Bruce’s hidden safe, and although the focus is more on Bane, the Knightfall/Knightquest period is touched on most recently and dramatically in The Gotham Rogues.”
