A little break from Doctor Who this week. Happy New Year.

INSPIRATION

This story comes right out of my childhood when Mego made all sorts of Superhero figures be they from Marvel or DC. A time when Batman and Robin would team up with Spiderman to battle the Joker. Ah happy times. You see this isn't about fitting into any comic continuity or establishing boundaries between publishing houses. This is good old fashioned comic fun where the world is full of superheroes. (Image from Mego Museum)

CAST

Daredevil and the Green Goblin are from Toybiz's Superhero Showdown line. Batman is made by Takara as part of their Microman range. Commissioner Gordon and the SWAT team are a DC Infinite Heroes three-pack by Mattel.

The extras show blurred on page one include Lt Uhura (2009 Star Trek), Carmen Cortez and Donnegon from Spy Kids, Alan Grant from Jurassic Park and several Corps builders from Lannard.

SHOOTING

This story took a long time to get off the ground. At the time there were several superhero storylines that I'd written but just not made. This one at least was partially shot in Spring 2006. At the time I had a large paper cityscape put together and I'd used it to make Batgirl V Predator. But the images I took for this story were uninspiring and would have needed a lot of work to edit out the backgrounds. My enthusiasm waned.

Jump forward to 2007 and my nephew (at the time a fan of AFT and all things Marvel!) asked me to do more superhero stories. I decided to bite the bullet and get this one made.

The reshoot was all done on green screen (ok, orange and yellow). Instead of looking real, I went for a stylised comic-book look with photoshopped backgrounds. The forty or so images need were taken in a matter of hours.

EDITS

The edit too about a week, with each frame needing special attention.

CONTINUITY

This is a loose continuation of the Hunter/Prey Batgirl story which ends revealing that an alien egg is beneath the waters of Gotham. Clearly some villain has found it and is offering it to the one that can kill Batman. Among the papers and photos the Green Goblin looks through, I was going to put a photo of the Joker, suggesting it was him - but who knows?

TRANSMISSION

I'm not sure when it originally appeared on the site but it was probably in mid/late 2007.

It's was re-published on 30 December 2023 with behind the scenes images for the first time.

Batgirl: Hunter/ Prey part three

 

INSPIRATION

This one was a case of being inspired by the release of figures. First of all in 2004, Takara released a 2 pack of Batman and Batgirl. I was blown away by the superb figures and outstanding articulation.

Batgirl in particular was very inspiring in her slinky sexy look. I've always been a sucker for female superheroes and began to wrack my brains for a story for her.

Then Takara made their Aliens v Predator figures and the story became obvious. Back in 1991, Batman had faced off against the Predator. Now it's Batgirl's turn.

CAST

The Takara figures are joined by two Lannard Corps cops as the warehouse security guards and Batgirl's cop mate Joe is a Chap Mei 'Cops & Robbers' policeman.

The Batski boat seen at the start of part 2 is from Batman Returns. The Alien egg in the last frame comes from the Takara alien figure.

The Predator's aerial is the weather vain from the Saga Bespin Luke Skywalker figure while the power unit is from Lannard's space corps figures.

SHOOTING

It took ages to get this story off the ground. Early plans had included using video animation to take advantage of Batgirl and Predator's superior articulation but all this held the story up. 

Eventually in late April 2006, I put together a group of paper backdrops and buildings that could be moved around to form different streets and shot several stories back to back (including stories for Spiderman and Catwoman)

Rather stupidly and annoyingly, I didn't check any of the photos I was taking and many of them were blurry. By the time I realised, the sets were already in the recycling. Since most of the blurry shots are action shots, I think I just about got away with it.

EDITS

The story went through very few edits from original draft to finished piece. Early versions of the script showed the Predator ship crashing and referred to Batman being called away to Metropolis to explain why Batgirl is here alone. In the end I decided there was no reason why Batgirl couldn't just carry the story without him being mentioned.

As was usual at the time, the story was presented as individual images. For this re-presentation, they've been edited together into a proper comic format. This was done on 30 Nov 2022.

TRANSMISSION

I don't have a record of when Batgirl v Predator was originally posted but it would have been some time in late 2007. It was re-presented between 22 July and 5 August 2023.

CONTINUITY

My AFT superhero stories existing in their own universe and don't link to any DC or Marvel continuity though Batgirl's cop friend is inspired by a character (called Joe) from the Batgirl Year One comic series.

The fate of that alien egg was picked up on a couple of years later in the licence busting Batman v Daredevil: A Stranger In Gotham. 

Sadly, the Superman v Supergirl story I'd planned using the Takara figures (test image left) never happened but the other superhero stories were Spiderman: Target, Catfight In Gotham (and a sequel!), Hulk Unleashed and Silver Surfer: Sunburst. Which would you like to see next?

Batgirl: Hunter/ Prey part two

 

Batgirl: Hunter/Prey part one