DKA Presents - "Batman Beyond: Stripped" Talkback, Part 2 (Spoilers)

[Bic]

Heh, awesome as always. It's cool that you're acknowledging the Barbara/Kara romance... er I mean the boring Bruce/Barbara fling.

 

[James]

Heh, awesome as always. It's cool that you're acknowledging the Barbara/Kara romance... er I mean the boring Bruce/Barbara fling.

Do you think about anything else?

 

[Reverend]

Just to let you know the next strip is in hand and should be out in a day or two.
The delay stems from the sheer volume of exposition and character stuff I have to cram into a very small space. in terms or layout complexity, it's like #22 all over again!

Remind me never to let James near a keyboard ever again.

 

[adoptedBatpuppy]

Finally, for some reason I thought you gyus were done working with this series, I want to see a cool ending and no more killing characters!

 

[James]

Just to let you know the next strip is in hand and should be out in a day or two.
The delay stems from the sheer volume of exposition and character stuff I have to cram into a very small space. in terms or layout complexity, it's like #22 all over again!

Remind me never to let James near a keyboard ever again.

My bad. I must admit, I did go a little overboard. There was so much to say, and I really didn't want it to be two weeks of exposition. So yes, slapsies for me.

Fortunate for me, Kris can forbade me to go near a keyboard to write DKA again, because all the over long, confusing and painful lettering has already been scripted, so I can rest easy as he suffers the attempts to cramp a comics worth of story into one strip.

Pity the poor lad. He works so hard for you all.

Should be another one up as soon as BB gets time to upload.

 

[Bird Boy]

CLICK BANNER ABOVE FOR THE BRAND NEW EPISODE (August 20th)
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[adoptedBatpuppy]

Solid Artwork!
Good Twist in the story, so the part of Supergirl is being played by Tea?
and now she is dead, let's see what happens in the next pannel.

 

[ShadowStar]

Galatea?! Well, I didn't see that coming. That's so awesome. So does that mean that the real Kara is still in the future? Huh. So what happens now?

 

[James]

Galatea?! Well, I didn't see that coming. That's so awesome. So does that mean that the real Kara is still in the future? Huh. So what happens now?

I don't think I'd be giving anything away by clarifying that Kara is indeed in the future, as we saw in JLU Season Three.

What happens next? Well I don't recall next episode being extensively script heavy, so I imagine Kris might be able to offload that this week, fingers crossed.

 

[Reverend]

Galatea?! Well, I didn't see that coming. That's so awesome. So does that mean that the real Kara is still in the future? Huh. So what happens now?

Yeah, we've been sitting on that one for over a year I think. I think at one point we toyed with the idea of her being Kara's daughter, but in the end we settled on Tea. Partly because it's an interesting character development but mostly it means LESS exposition as the character if already established.

As with most of our big plot twists this one has been hinted at and foreshadowed a few times in previous strips, so feel free to have another read through to try and spot them!

As James said, yes the original Kara is still in the future...or is will have been in the future previously...time travel can be funny like that.

I don't actually remember what happens next, but I'll soon remember as I'm going to start lettering it tonight.

 

[James]

Yeah, we've been sitting on that one for over a year I think. I think at one point we toyed with the idea of her being Kara's daughter, but in the end we settled on Tea. Partly because it's an interesting character development but mostly it means LESS exposition as the character if already established.

We've been sitting on it longer Kris. Given it was after Dini's little LOSH episode in season 3 of JLU, that hair began being pulled out, since we already had Kara in play (and I think at that point she was just Kara).

I was tempted to weave her into the Le Fey story, and have her as a creation of Le Fey that would later on play a part in her plans, that everyone would believe was the real Kara, their minds - or even reality - adjusted to accept Kara into this world, even though she was now in the future. A little like Dawn in Buffy was inserted into continuity. If Le Fey was so powerful, it seemed not a stretch that as part of her "game" she'd insert characters that allowed her to manipulate the pieces on the board directly.

But it was continuity addict Kris who brought up 'Tea as a potential candidate, and that opened up ideas in my brain for a dramatic backstory which might have also been a reason for Bruce's ill feelings for the JLU and another knife in the Bruce/Barbara relationship.

But Kara was always intended to be offed.

It's just an example of events in the cartoon having to rework what we had already placed into motion.

As with most of our big plot twists this one has been hinted at and foreshadowed a few times in previous strips, so feel free to have another read through to try and spot them!

Absolutely. There were some rather blatant ones around the time of Kara's first subplot with Le Fey.

I don't actually remember what happens next, but I'll soon remember as I'm going to start lettering it tonight.

I'm the same now. I find seeing the panels lettered quite alien, given it was so long since they were drawn and even longer since they were scripted. Makes me feel like the audience.

 

[The Guitar Slayer]

****in' A. That's a shot out of left field. It makes sense, but wow. Nice plot twist. So Kara (the "real" one) is probably still schmoozing off in the future with Brainiac? That's a bit of cold comfort, but still, Galatea was likable to the end, even if she wasn't who we thought she was.

Bravissimo.

 

[Magmafire2374]

Nice twist! Glad to see things are heating up in the plot.

 

[Bird Boy]

CLICK BANNER ABOVE FOR THE BRAND NEW EPISODE (August 25th)
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[ShadowStar]

Another awesome installment. Was that Terry at the end? I'm guessing so, since Max was the only one to have a proper reaction to the twist. Since Terry seemed to be glowing a little green, though, maybe that's Bruce (now bonded with the Spectre)? I'm a bit confused. Still, that was a nice little epiphany for Bruce, having him realise the truth of the matter and sacrificing himself to the Spectre. I wonder which two Le Fey was planning to off, and whether we'll ever get to see her without that cracked mask? Speaking of that, I've been thinking for a while now that she looks eerily similar to the "Martha Wayne" vision back in DKA...

I've got two quick questions that don't really have anything to do with Stripped, if you don't mind answering them:

1. In one issue of DKA, there was a back-up story featuring Joker dressed as Batman facing off against Penguin and Two-Face; the story ended on a cliffhanger with the GCPD arriving to examine the area while Jokers' bomb lay there... Will we ever get to see the resolution?

2. At the start of DKA #16, the narrator is talking about "the day they killed" someone... Who was the narrator? Was it Nightwing? And who did they kill that they were talking about there??

Anyway, I'm really excited now. Hope you'll have the next strip online next week. PLEASE, as I'm dying to know what happens next.

 

[James]

Another awesome installment. Was that Terry at the end? I'm guessing so, since Max was the only one to have a proper reaction to the twist. Since Terry seemed to be glowing a little green, though, maybe that's Bruce (now bonded with the Spectre)? I'm a bit confused.

This one pretty much tells you all you need to know:

Speaking of that, I've been thinking for a while now that she looks eerily similar to the "Martha Wayne" vision back in DKA...

No link between the Martha Wayne in DKA and Le Fey, though there is a question (which Stripped never answers, so don't hold your breath!) about whether there was a link between Martha and the Spectre. He does seem very interested in Bruce. Past connection, perhaps? Who knows. A possibility myself and Kris have chatted about on more than one occasion.

1. In one issue of DKA, there was a back-up story featuring Joker dressed as Batman facing off against Penguin and Two-Face; the story ended on a cliffhanger with the GCPD arriving to examine the area while Jokers' bomb lay there... Will we ever get to see the resolution?

Nope. Given that Jim is still alive in the final issue (and in issue 13), we can presume that somehow it didn't kill people. I'll leave it up to your fertile imaginations as to what it did do.

2. At the start of DKA #16, the narrator is talking about "the day they killed" someone... Who was the narrator? Was it Nightwing? And who did they kill that they were talking about there??

It is Nightwing, and he is referring to Marcus Fitzgerald, the scientist from the Monster Within arc who he beat to a pulp and then later died in hospital.

Anyway, I'm really excited now. Hope you'll have the next strip online next week. PLEASE, as I'm dying to know what happens next.

Send your demands to [email protected].

 

[adoptedBatpuppy]

Nice Comeback, with Terry.
Let us see what happens next.

 

[Wing Zero]

I've forgotten the last time I've seen or heard the phrase "I'm Batman" in the DCAU. It's back, and it feels good. Definitely upped the what's-going-to-happen-next factor in this strip.

 

[ShadowStar]

I tried the e-mail address you provided several times, James, but I received a failure notice each time telling me that they didn't get through...

Essentially, what I want to say to Kris is that he devote as much time and care to Stripped as he can, because the climax looks to be dynamite and there are lots of people here eager to read it. I was hoping that maybe we could get another one this weekend? I imagine the next one is all fighting, so not a lot of lettering to be done in that case...

 

[James]

I tried the e-mail address you provided several times, James, but I received a failure notice each time telling me that they didn't get through...

Which email? [email protected] or [email protected]?

Essentially, what I want to say to Kris is that he devote as much time and care to Stripped as he can, because the climax looks to be dynamite and there are lots of people here eager to read it. I was hoping that maybe we could get another one this weekend? I imagine the next one is all fighting, so not a lot of lettering to be done in that case...

I've sent Kris an email today asking what his status is. To lower expectations slightly, I'd say the finale is more character orientated than action packed. Which in a small strip is preferable given there is little room for visuals. There are some CG effects in next strip which might hold Kris back, I'm hoping not, as I want to see Stripped conclude, simply to know I've succeeded in a personal goal of taking a hobby project from start to a worth while conclusion. Been with DKA since that first issue (though not in a writing capacity till issue 4) and to have finished 17 issues, 2 specials and a 70 page long strip is quite a nice achievement to have under ones belt - particularly when the toil came from personal curiousity rather than financial gain whatsoever (in fact, taking into account all the paper, I've made a massive loss!)