So, our Mardi Gras season got even more full this past week than when I wrote about it last time.  This past week, we were prompted by friends to go to the 610 Stomper Superball, and we got a hookup on tickets, and so we went. And THEN, my house guests for the first weekend of MG parades, who will be here for a costuming Trade Show, invited us to join them in the Chewbacchus parade, so we’ll be doing THAT a couple of weekend nights from now. Good stuff, all of it – but WOW, including my Krewe des Fleurs gig, what an active season it has become!

Since the 610 Stompers decided to do a Superhero (and 80s) themed shindig, I didn’t get a lot of photos of the event. This is because it’s really SUPER-DIFFICULT to take photos when my hands are nestled inside of leather gloves with claws coming out of them.

The event was a lot of fun, and the 610 lads definitely put in a lot of work to show everyone a very good time! For me, though, if a crowd gets TOO BIG it kind of starts to get to me. Like, when you can’t find your friends in a venue until you bust out Text Messaging and the GPS System, it’s…TOO BIG. When it takes about 30 minutes to get through the open bar line, it’s TOO BIG. Maybe I done got old, so there we go. Nevertheless, I can appreciate what a hell of a party that was, with some incredible music by a really fun 80s band (which did this whole medley of 80s TV show themes plus a screen of said show’s opening credits), along with open bars and excellent food and entertaining people-watching and overall, good times were had. I made durn sure to let the guys know that, on the way out at the very end of the night!

Naturally, since it was a Superball, J and I did the Bat and the Cat. The right way. See, J and I take our super-costuming very seriously. This is because we come from the land of Cons, where everyone works very hard on their outfits and every single effort by all is appreciated, BY ALL. So this was a kinda different experience.

Friday night, in the land of spoof creativity (VERY good stuff) and pre-packaged superhero costumes (whatever), we had a lot of interesting responses. J’s were pretty straightforward – “OMG DUDE I NEED A PHOTO WITH YOU!” and, my favorite, “I told my niece that Batman was real, so now I need to prove it to her. Can I take a picture of you?!” In the interim, the other guys dressed in their straight-out-of-the-bag Batman attire simply gave J a polite nod or a big smile, depending on the personality.

Meanwhile, the responses to my Catsuit were…interesting. The crowd demographic involved a lot of college-age attitude so while I was being very awesomely complimented throughout the night by a myriad of gentlemen dressed up as Clark Kent (“You’re the best Catwoman I’ve ever seen!”), the women around them were giving me looks that, if they truly killed, would have put me in a very shallow and early grave.

I take the death-looks as compliments, too. You just can’t beat the awesome, y’all. That’s what years of costuming-work yields.

And that’s what this entry is really all about. The years of work. J and I worked our tookas off back in late 2010/early 2011, as we were gearing up to bust these suits out for Starfest that year. Ever since then, we’ve both been constanly striving to perfect and improve these suits. Why?

Because these characters MEAN something to us, y’all.

I can’t explain it, and I won’t even try. They just do. They resonate. Batman and Catwoman, however dweeby it seems to someone who doesn’t get it, just…RESONATE. And we care. And so we want to represent them as best as we can.

I had it relatively easy, kind of, this time. I received new goggles from a friend this year, and needed a stitch-up on one finger in a glove to re-secure a claw, but that was it for the last-minute GOTTA SUIT UP moment we had this past week. Going forward, sure, there are PLENTY of improvements to pursue. A leather suit being one of them. Because that shit gets COLD, as I learned the other night. And that costs a lot of stolen-diamonds, so it’ll continue to be a while before I can make that happen.

J, on the other hand, had to rebuild an entire chest and ab piece, which meant suddenly busting out a lot of work in the middle of everything else we’ve had going on. And so he did. Last-minute. Within days. And it was awesome. And I’m grateful to the people that appreciated us on Friday night, because we worked hard on this stuff. We still ARE working hard. We’ve been working hard on all of this for FIVE YEARS, you guys.

So, here is a blessed I Love You to all the folks on Friday night who were complimentary and understanding and appreciative. You really and truly made my night. I heart my Clark Kent Fan Club.

To those who looked down their noses out of their pre-packaged bat-masks and glared in hatred at me from their non-detailed fake cat-ear shoddy-suits….(cough) well, I almost typed something involving the F word, but instead I’ll just pat you on the head and say, “There, there.”

…Or, as we say in the South, “Bless You.”

So here are our antics from the evening…

First up, a Cat Selfie…

Later, of course, Bruce had to pose by his car/boat thing.

…because that gave Selina something to STEAL…

Later on, Bats found the wind:

And at the end of the night, the shadows are the thing…