Practical Cats

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
–Inigno Montoya, The Princess Bride

At some point when DC Comics was still trying to sell their new direction Catwoman comic, they introduced the idea that the goggled costume which debuted at the same time was “more practical” than its predecessors.  Obviously the person putting this forth had never worn a body stocking, leotard or pantyhose, because there’s nothing difficult about putting on form-fitting garments after you’ve done it twice.  And that’s in the real world.  In Catwoman #1, the comic where the Jim Balent costume debuted, Selina manages to get out of her costume and slip into a towel to impersonate the wife of the man she was robbing, then re-costume and slip away with the jewels as soon as he returned to the party and before he can realize his wife is already out there mingling with the guests.  That certainly seems like it must be an easy process to get in and out of costume, but more importantly it illustrates the appeal of Catwoman: the hot cat burglar.  The episode is sexy, it’s brazen, and it’s fun.  That’s half the appeal of Catwoman: men want her, women want to be her.  The illicit fun of being bad—not too bad, not evil, just bad enough for thrills—that’s the woman’s half of the equation.

The men’s half, that’s where the practicality idea really goes off the rails.   Because even if we accepted the idea that the Jim Balent Catwoman was harder to get in and out of, does it deliver benefits that more than make up for the extra trouble? 

Answer: Hell yes. 

I was talking to a friend recently about possible Catwoman costumes in Christopher Nolan’s next Batman installment The Dark Knight Rises, and he immediately brought up his ideal for the hot cat burglar: Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment.  “If I was Connery I'd have passed out from blood loss,” he said.  “There wouldn't be any left to power my brain, that's for certain.”

And that’s the value of the Balent costume that transcends any notion of practicality.  The rest of the world has to deal with Batman.  100%.  Bat.  Man.   Bruce Wayne, most dangerous man in the world, devotes his life and his fortune to protecting his city and fighting the criminals who prey upon it… Batman. 

Selina only has to contend with 1/5 of Batman.  She gets Bruce’s brain on auxiliary power, what’s left to maintain breathing and blood pressure while the rest of him battles the spectacle of a vibrant and beautiful woman poured into skin-tight purple, black thigh boots, silver claws shimmering in the moonlight, a holstered whip at the ready, and eyes you’ll dream about forever, teasing playfully from behind an enigmatic mask.

That, on a Gotham City rooftop, is practical.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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Article first published as Practical Cats on Blogcritics.

Previously on Cat-Tales...

Originally, this week’s blog was going to be more of a heartbeat message.  As I mentioned, I’m currently working on a client’s book cover and it doesn’t allow for a normal CT-schedule at all.  Got a little writing done, but not much.  Luckily, what this passing situation does allow for is little bubbles of opportunity where I can catch up answering emails and even put in some work on the TBA.  Both are the kind of thing where I don’t have to get into a mode, and can drop it in an instant when the phone rings.  So, moral: downtime in one area (the writing) doesn’t have to be downtime across the board.

So does that make this a “When life gives you lemons” entry?  Not really.  I don’t consider the bookcover lemons, for one thing.  I guess it’s just an ordinary Monday entry, closing out the books on a slow week and opening a new one what should be a much more exciting one.
My friends who visited EmeraldCon and MegaCon this weekend also remind us that the first of those two DC Actually-gets-it-right Classic-Purple-Balent-Costume Naughty-Grin Figures comes out at the end of the month, so make sure your comic shop knows you want one.  Meow.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com 
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

Thank you for reading. If you are viewing this post anywhere other than The Catitat you are reading a mirror. Please visit the original posting in The Catitat to leave a comment.

Oh, FWIW, the friend at EmeraldCon said he was amazed at the money being spent, which is the best economic news I've heard in 2 years. Here's hoping - for Balent-Naughty Grin-Kitty and her whopping $99 price tag, sure, but also for those comic shops that have managed to weather the storm this long.

This Week in Cat-Tales

I’d say the biggest public development for Cat-Tales fans last week was this fantastic Just-in-time-for-Valentine’s Day piece by DC artist Dustin Nguyen, that JoannaC chipsnopotatoes brought to our attention (sorry about that, Chips):


i can't stay long by *duss005 on deviantART

DC Pros, wherever you may be, that’s what pleasing readers looks like. Just in case you were wondering about that strange reaction beneath the image, where the DA readership wracks up 30 pages of enthusiastic commentary on the couple, the costume, and the twitch-smile, where they’re setting record numbers of favorites, Facebook shares, Diggs, and downloads. Your predecessors experienced this – well, not the Facebook part, obviously, but the lack of rocks and rotten eggs hurled at their heads. That’s the result of making the audience happy instead of alienating them. It’s actually a pretty good feeling, just in case you want to try it some day.

But back to Cat-Tales, eh? Our own Thundering Monkey released the picture for his Batverse calendar:


Poor Harley.

And me? Nothing visible accomplished this past week, but an extraordinary amount happening behind the scenes Some work done on the TBA, and I got some unexpected help and support on that project from someone who I haven’t seen in months. Some of you guys are so kind and generous, it’s just unreal.

That said, the TBA is now officially a no deadline affair. For the best of reasons: A friend and client’s book is now officially speeding towards publication. He has battled with the crap economy and he has won. YAY. That does create a fair amount of RL work for me which takes precedence over the CT stuff. But of all the reasons I don’t mind postponing a CT project for a few weeks, this is the best. A man of ideas getting his ideas out there into the world to rise or fall on its merits, that’s the alpha and omega for people like us. That’s how the system is supposed to work, and every time it actually does, the sun shines a little brighter, the birds sing a little sweeter (which is nice for us and it really annoys the life-is-shit Miller crowd, so win-win)

Anyway, that’s the week in review. Today, I can finally return to writing the chapter. Meow and Huzzah.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

Thank you for reading. If you are viewing this post anywhere other than The Catitat you are reading a mirror. Please visit the original posting in The Catitat to leave a comment.