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“HAHAHAHAHA!”

It was my instant messenger. Riddler set this system up for the “villain community” to keep in touch. I thought it was silly then, and I think it’s silly now. But Harvey convinced me to go along. Every few months one of those nutjobs comes up with an idea to do something social. Usually it’s Harley. Usually it’s bowling.



With those words, a revolution began...

Okay, not really.

But sort of.

Five years ago, despondent over the dearth of quality coming out of DC Comics (even with my favorite book – JLA – which had been going downhill for a few months), I began trolling FanFiction.net looking for something –anything– to give my Batman-loving heart a lift.

What I found was shit. Complete and total shit.

After about my twentieth fic – and my tenth “BM/CW Shipper fic”– I’d just about given up on FF.N (and my fellow man, to be honest), when I stumbled across this fic called A Girl's Gotta Protect Her Reputation. I was leery, given the history of Catwoman stories on FF.N, but I figured what the hell and gave it a click. Then I read that first paragraph above.

“Okay, this is gonna be different,” I told myself – and kept going. I finished the story (I came across it just after the last chapter had been put up) and sat there for a minute, trying to catch my breath because I’d been laughing so hard.

Then I did something I hadn’t done with a comic book in years – and that I’d never done with a Fan Fic: I immediately went back and read it again.

I couldn’t believe it – real writing. Real honest-to-god funny, well-thought-out, smart, writing. Forget the moniker "Fan Fiction", this was one of the most enjoyable pieces of straight-out fiction I'd ever read. It’s exactly what I’d been missing from my comics – a damn good story. Not only that, it was a Batman story... well, sort of. Actually, it was a Catwoman story – and the fact that it was a Catwoman story that didn’t want to make me tear my hair out or puke my guts out said something to me. It was Catwoman as I’d always imagined her: witty, sexy, brash, pithy, classy, confident and (most importantly) intelligent! I sat there after the second read, just staring at my computer screen with this strange tingle running around in the back of my brain. At that moment, I knew I was in trouble...

I was hooked.

And anything I ever ended up getting hooked on was doomed to a preternaturally quick demise.
“I have no idea who this Chris Dee guy is (yes, I’ll admit it – I made that same mistake at the beginning too. ) but he’d better keep writing!”

Well, keep writing she did.

Over the course of the last five years, Chirs has taken me – hell, she’s taken all of us – on a remarkable journey through the strange, exciting and often humorous world of Gotham City after dark. We've peeked into the real lives of Catwoman, Batman, the Bat Clan, the Gotham Rogues' Gallery, a score of original characters and even Gotham High Society. We've seen these people, not as comic book images or fictional two-dimensional characters, but as real people with real problems, real joys, real pains, real emotions and real love.

And best of all: it’s now five years later and I still get that tingle.

The fact that after five years, the series is just as strong, just as funny, just as entertaining as it has always been – well, that just completely blows my mind.

Congratulations on 5 great years, Chris.

And thank you.

Thank you for making these characters real again.
Thank you for keeping the true spirit of these characters alive.
Thank you for breathing life back into the Gotham City I used to know.
Thank you for making me smile, cry, cheer, froth and most of all, laugh.
Thank you for doing so with such a consistently high-quality, entertaining style.

But most of all, thank you for making me fall in love with these characters all over again.