Jackie Earle Haley at Atomic Comics & Gaming, March 26, 2009
Yes I was out all day basically, sorry I couldn't get this post up sooner.
I get woken up with a call from _ryouseiteki_ at 7am, lol, but that’s cool, I had to get up soon anyway and start heading out.
Blah blah blah drive drive drive…
Got to Atomic Comics around 10am, bit early. Waited in car and watched the comic shop from across the street where I was parked. Two people were in line already. Met _ryouseiteki_, went to stand in line. Talked with two other gentlemen there.
Slowly LJ people started arriving - met some great people. Waited around with them, talking, until noon, when they opened the shop and we went in, got our tickets for the signing. I bought the variant action figure of Rorschach, the one without his mask on. Then we went all the way across town to get food at the mall (LOL yeah it was the one mall everyone knew how to get to?) and got a few posters (city poster and Rorschach with grappling gun poster) from Spencer’s. Barely made it back in time to the comic shop, there was already a big crowd inside.
THEN Jackie Earle Haley comes walking through the front door at 3 and WALKS RIGHT PAST US. It was crazy. He wore his blue glasses and was clean shaven (head) and wore jeans and a black shirt and jacket (he wore like 3 layers, but it was raining and chilly that morning.) Rocking the facial hair. He is not really that tiny, he’s taller than me. Not as short as people think :)
They had set aside some stuff for him to sign first (for the store probably.) He starts signing stuff and looks up at everybody and says, “So I guess there are a lot of comicbook fans in San Antonio, huh?” *everybody chuckles* “That’s good.”
Some guy: “Thanks for coming out.”
Same guy?: “You are so BADASS.”
And then someone yelled something about him getting much deserved recognition. I was busy trying to get a good photo of him, but heads + shoulders of people all around me blocked the view.
Anyway, we were the first few in line. I walked up to the table and said hi and thank you like a bajillion times, it’s like my mind gets stuck on a loop and that’s all that comes out of my mouth, just “Thank you, thank you so much,” blah blah blah. So the book-giving conversation went something like this:
Me: I don’t know if you can accept gifts, but….. *takes fanbook out, gives to him* It’s a collection of messages and thank you notes from fans all over the world.
JEH: *eyes go wide* Oh wow, that’s cool…*flips through it quickly* Wow…
Guy next to him: That’s really cool.
JEH: Yeah.
Me: *giggle*
JEH: *puts book to side, signs stuff* So did you put this together? Compile all these from where? The internet?
Me: Yes, online fan communities who wanted to send in their messages since they can’t be here or meet you in person. So I really hope you get to read through it eventually.
JEH: Well I’m going to have fun poking through this. My wife will get a kick out of it.
He genuinely seemed to appreciate the book, and the guy next to him was like, “Man, that’s really cool.” So that’s awesome because I think he might've been one of the co-owners of the store (and even he liked our book!)
And I fail because I didn’t get a picture of him with it because they said NO PICTURES so none of us in the front of the line got a picture with him (until later). We thought we couldn’t take pictures. So yeah, sorry guys =( However, dark_half did manage to get short video of him getting the book here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8PxjIhVBb8
AND thegivingbee has pics of him receiving the book on her LJ, check it out.
And in case you missed it, our fanbook made it onto the mysanantonio.com news blog picture, it’s on the table next to Jackie and he has his water bottle cap on it I think: http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/geekspeak/2009/03/jackie-earle-ha.html
In that picture you can also see the portrait of Rorschach that someone painted and gave to him.
eta: Wow, crackedwraith just pointed out a message left in the comments section. How amazing is that? That's incredibly nice of her to take the time to do that. Just, wow!
So we waited around the table where he was signing, behind this wall structure, and took photos of him from there. He waved at our corner but I didn’t have my camera ready =(
One of the managers allowed us to come back in line and take pictures with him. We waited around until the end when everyone had left and the manager let us take a group photo with him, where nobody wanted to touch him lol, as he was standing in the middle of our group. I brushed the back of his hand with mine. And then moved it away, because awkward much? Soooo…we all said thank you to him AGAIN, and left before they forcibly kicked us out. The shop people gave him replicas of the gun or something or other, and he was talking to the staff and press people as we were leaving.
Jackie was extremely nice and very humble. He stood up and sat down every minute of the time that he was there, because he had to sign things at the table and then stand up to take pictures with everyone. He must’ve been overwhelmed and tired afterward. He is apparently friends with one of the shop owners and it was actually HIS idea to do the signing in the first place. How cool is that.
After the signing, we went to see Watchmen at the IMAX. It was a blast, and there were two guys sitting behind us. When they walked up to the seats we just happen to be giggling and talking about Rorschach and Nite Owl and gay scenes and the guy behind us said to his friend, "they’re going to be as bad as you!” -and I’m assuming he meant as giggly and fangirly? - Then the other guys says: “This movie is so gay. I think you’ll like it. I love it.” Or something to that effect. LOL. I swear that’s what I heard.
Now I guess this is what you’re really here for:
I would totally show you guys the full size versions of these if they weren't so crappy! Seriously it's all...watercolor-like...full-size. These are as decent as I could get them, hence the smaller size for better quality.
techn0ir! Got ya ;)
This is where I *just* missed him waving at us.
These are some of my favorites:
He's leaning over to take a picture with a little girl here, so cute.
Me and Jackie.
Autographed things:
And a poster which I was too lazy to scan, but you get the idea. And yes he does sign the Rorschach symbol!!
Well there ya go, what went down in a nutshell.
I just wanted to add - Thank You to everyone who contributed to the fanbook. You are the coolest people ever.
I get woken up with a call from _ryouseiteki_ at 7am, lol, but that’s cool, I had to get up soon anyway and start heading out.
Blah blah blah drive drive drive…
Got to Atomic Comics around 10am, bit early. Waited in car and watched the comic shop from across the street where I was parked. Two people were in line already. Met _ryouseiteki_, went to stand in line. Talked with two other gentlemen there.
Slowly LJ people started arriving - met some great people. Waited around with them, talking, until noon, when they opened the shop and we went in, got our tickets for the signing. I bought the variant action figure of Rorschach, the one without his mask on. Then we went all the way across town to get food at the mall (LOL yeah it was the one mall everyone knew how to get to?) and got a few posters (city poster and Rorschach with grappling gun poster) from Spencer’s. Barely made it back in time to the comic shop, there was already a big crowd inside.
THEN Jackie Earle Haley comes walking through the front door at 3 and WALKS RIGHT PAST US. It was crazy. He wore his blue glasses and was clean shaven (head) and wore jeans and a black shirt and jacket (he wore like 3 layers, but it was raining and chilly that morning.) Rocking the facial hair. He is not really that tiny, he’s taller than me. Not as short as people think :)
They had set aside some stuff for him to sign first (for the store probably.) He starts signing stuff and looks up at everybody and says, “So I guess there are a lot of comicbook fans in San Antonio, huh?” *everybody chuckles* “That’s good.”
Some guy: “Thanks for coming out.”
Same guy?: “You are so BADASS.”
And then someone yelled something about him getting much deserved recognition. I was busy trying to get a good photo of him, but heads + shoulders of people all around me blocked the view.
Anyway, we were the first few in line. I walked up to the table and said hi and thank you like a bajillion times, it’s like my mind gets stuck on a loop and that’s all that comes out of my mouth, just “Thank you, thank you so much,” blah blah blah. So the book-giving conversation went something like this:
Me: I don’t know if you can accept gifts, but….. *takes fanbook out, gives to him* It’s a collection of messages and thank you notes from fans all over the world.
JEH: *eyes go wide* Oh wow, that’s cool…*flips through it quickly* Wow…
Guy next to him: That’s really cool.
JEH: Yeah.
Me: *giggle*
JEH: *puts book to side, signs stuff* So did you put this together? Compile all these from where? The internet?
Me: Yes, online fan communities who wanted to send in their messages since they can’t be here or meet you in person. So I really hope you get to read through it eventually.
JEH: Well I’m going to have fun poking through this. My wife will get a kick out of it.
He genuinely seemed to appreciate the book, and the guy next to him was like, “Man, that’s really cool.” So that’s awesome because I think he might've been one of the co-owners of the store (and even he liked our book!)
And I fail because I didn’t get a picture of him with it because they said NO PICTURES so none of us in the front of the line got a picture with him (until later). We thought we couldn’t take pictures. So yeah, sorry guys =( However, dark_half did manage to get short video of him getting the book here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8PxjIhVBb8
AND thegivingbee has pics of him receiving the book on her LJ, check it out.
And in case you missed it, our fanbook made it onto the mysanantonio.com news blog picture, it’s on the table next to Jackie and he has his water bottle cap on it I think: http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/geekspeak/2009/03/jackie-earle-ha.html
In that picture you can also see the portrait of Rorschach that someone painted and gave to him.
eta: Wow, crackedwraith just pointed out a message left in the comments section. How amazing is that? That's incredibly nice of her to take the time to do that. Just, wow!
So we waited around the table where he was signing, behind this wall structure, and took photos of him from there. He waved at our corner but I didn’t have my camera ready =(
One of the managers allowed us to come back in line and take pictures with him. We waited around until the end when everyone had left and the manager let us take a group photo with him, where nobody wanted to touch him lol, as he was standing in the middle of our group. I brushed the back of his hand with mine. And then moved it away, because awkward much? Soooo…we all said thank you to him AGAIN, and left before they forcibly kicked us out. The shop people gave him replicas of the gun or something or other, and he was talking to the staff and press people as we were leaving.
Jackie was extremely nice and very humble. He stood up and sat down every minute of the time that he was there, because he had to sign things at the table and then stand up to take pictures with everyone. He must’ve been overwhelmed and tired afterward. He is apparently friends with one of the shop owners and it was actually HIS idea to do the signing in the first place. How cool is that.
After the signing, we went to see Watchmen at the IMAX. It was a blast, and there were two guys sitting behind us. When they walked up to the seats we just happen to be giggling and talking about Rorschach and Nite Owl and gay scenes and the guy behind us said to his friend, "they’re going to be as bad as you!” -and I’m assuming he meant as giggly and fangirly? - Then the other guys says: “This movie is so gay. I think you’ll like it. I love it.” Or something to that effect. LOL. I swear that’s what I heard.
Now I guess this is what you’re really here for:
I would totally show you guys the full size versions of these if they weren't so crappy! Seriously it's all...watercolor-like...full-size. These are as decent as I could get them, hence the smaller size for better quality.
techn0ir! Got ya ;)
This is where I *just* missed him waving at us.
These are some of my favorites:
He's leaning over to take a picture with a little girl here, so cute.
Me and Jackie.
Autographed things:
And a poster which I was too lazy to scan, but you get the idea. And yes he does sign the Rorschach symbol!!
Well there ya go, what went down in a nutshell.
I just wanted to add - Thank You to everyone who contributed to the fanbook. You are the coolest people ever.