oh Lisa that sucks, I'm sorry you weren't able to make it
Great photo! I can't wait for Patrick to get back to tell us about it.
oh Lisa that sucks, I'm sorry you weren't able to make it
Great photo! I can't wait for Patrick to get back to tell us about it.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
Neil and Patrick... honestly, I'd be just as thrilled to meet Patrick, I think.
Only I'd have nothing for Patrick to sign.
Looking forward to his write-up about the event.
What did Neil read from?!?
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
Remember, Remember, The Fifth of November, The Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot.
he didn't tell me, but he did say that neil said to tell sarajean and pam "hello!"
No way !!!!!!!
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
that's what the text i got said.
Wow. It's like I was there!
sarajean, why didn't you tell me we were going ?!?
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
i wish i had known ahead of time, i would have run a brush through my hair.
And I'd have put on a nicer t-shirt !
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
Hi! Just got home. It was awesome, of course.
Took lots of pics with the real camera, and the one with the cellphone camera posted upthread which I sent to sj as Neil was reading. (Thanks for posting that, sarajean.)
Gotta go be a dad now since I've been gone all day. Later I'll tell you more and post some photos.
By the way, I didn't make that up. Neil Gaiman really did tell you two hello.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
Looking forward to pictures and details, Patrick.
I hope you told Neil hello from us back!?!
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
You goofball. I told him you guys said hello first.Originally Posted by turtlex
I hit the wall last night and fell asleep on the couch. But I will post more later. Gotta go to work now.
"...that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." ~ Ray Bradbury
um, i typed this as patrick was posting:
well, i know my last message to patrick asked him to make sure he said "hi" for me, so i'm thinking that was his response.
i don't know how he just knew your name, though, pam.
Last edited by sarajean; 07-20-2009 at 06:46 AM. Reason: patrick mongoosed me. <_<
Obviously you didn't realize that Neil and I are likethis... actually, not, but I just figured he uses my name all the time anyways....
Pam's of the world unite !!
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
Post 1 of 3
On Sunday morning I left the house about 8:45am, drove to San Francisco, found a little comic shop nestled away, then drove around a while because parking sucks in the City. I found a place to park, then headed off by foot to the comic store with a couple books in hand. I joined the end of the line way down the street.
This event was limited to the first 100 people who had called (as I had one week earlier) or come in to pre-order the new hardback of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" - Batman's swan song story written by Gaiman. The limit was based on the Neil telling the owner he would come in for about an an hour and a half. I had my doubts because doing a reading and signing up to 200 books would almost undoubtedly take longer than 90 minutes. The staff continually repeated that there was a 2 book limit for the signing.
As I was waiting in line, a couple workers came by, checked IDs and credit cards to make sure we all were the pre-order people we claimed to be. Then they handed me a book and a playing card with a number on it. I was #74 which was to be my order number for the signing to take place after Neil's reading.
I can't even see the destination from the back of the line:
Heading in for the reading at about 11am:
The photo below was just as I walked into the comic shop. They had moved all the racks off to a corner so people could stand. No chairs, but who cares. It was clear (to me anyway) that this place had probably been a garage long ago:
The owner of the shop, Brian, came out and stood at the top of the little staircase to the backroom and gave a short introduction. He knew Neil from way back when Neil had done a couple signings there much, much earlier in his career. This occasion is that store is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Brian was clear that they/we were very lucky to have Neil stop by because, at this point in his career, he really doesn't need to do comic book store signings.
Then, to much applause, Neil Gaiman appeared from behind the black curtain:
I'm still at the office. I'm going to have to continue the recap later tonight. Sorry about that. In the meantime, how many pics of Gaiman do you want to see anyway?
Last edited by Patrick; 07-23-2009 at 08:15 AM. Reason: grammatical reasons
all of 'em.
Awesome Patrick. That place looks so tiny!
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
Yes.all of 'em.
All of them.
Please.
And more details!
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
Yep, ditto that!
Post 2 of 3
Hi! Sorry for the delay. Work, exhaustion, children and margaritas all conspired against me.
Ok, you said you wanted a lot of photos, so you'll get them.
Neil Gaiman appeared from behind the curtain, all dressed in black. He discussed our goal of world domination and talked about his long relationship with Brian, the shop owner. Here is a really low quality video of the start of his talk.
[ame=http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j158/JHPatrick/BookSignings/?action=view¤t=071909-Gaiman-Vid2.flv][/ame]
Neil told us that a long time ago, there was printing mistake in Sandman, Issue #8. Corrected versions were run but were limited in number. Those issues were given out to a few comic shops with the intention of being given away as freebies. Most of those shops sold the "free" issues. Worse, some took them to San Diego and sold them for big bucks given their scarcity. Neil said that, unlike the others, Brian had given all his away. In fact, rather than only give them to his existing customers, Brian had left copies all over the City to get word out about Sandman and in hopes of maybe getting a new customer or two. Gaiman really respects how Brian handled things all those years ago. And that's why Neil was taking time out of his vacation on a sunny Sunday to visit Brian's shop again and do this reading and signing.
...
Next Neil said that he would like to read from the new hardcover Batman, but that he had never figured out how to do a good live reading from a comic book. So instead he would read from another book, "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" Amanda Palmer is a woman who took a lot of pictures of herself in various situations, but in all of the photos she appears dead. She asked Neil to write captions and stories to go with the photos. As this was a wholly original request and unlike anything anyone had ever asked of him, he accepted.
Neil would show a photo of Amanda Palmer dead, and then he would read the story he wrote for the picture. Another sketchy video of part of one story follows.
[ame=http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j158/JHPatrick/BookSignings/?action=view¤t=071909-Gaiman-Vid3.flv][/ame]
Neil read four or five of these stories and let slip that he got a girlfriend out of the project.
...
...
Amanda Palmer is the singer in the duo, Dresden Dolls, and is also now Neil's girlfriend. The name of the book is also the name of her debut solo album. For any Dresden Doll fans out there, Amanda showed up later during the signings.
Then about half an hour after filing into the store, they kicked us all out while they put the store back together (bookracks in place, etc.) and set up a table in back for Neil to sign people's books. It was 11:30am and right on schedule.
Two videos and six photos are enough for any single post.
Story to continue in a new post shortly.
Patrick - I don't think I've ever seen Neil in anything except black !!! It's so great you got to experience that!
The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert...
...And The Gunslinger Followed.
“I’m always on the Batman rule, sir.” - Kate Kane / Detective Comics 857
"It is the story, not he who tells it." Except to us collectors who have to put limits somewhere. - jhanic
Thanks for the photos Patrick.
What about the signing, did you get to talk to him, and what did you get signed?
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
thank you, patrick!
Post 3 of 3
After we all filed out of the store between the reading and the signing, I took a photo of the place.
As I mentioned earlier, this event was supposed to last 90 minutes, so the event was scheduled to wrap up at 12:30pm. The reading was all done and we were outside after a half hour, which meant we were right on schedule at 11:30am. The workers had repeated, like a mantra at every opportunity all morning that Neil would only sign two books per person. However I thought, "No way in hell is he going to sign a hundred people's books, especially not at two per person, in one hour." And, as I think I mentioned, I was #74 out of 100, so I knew I was in for a long wait.
All I could think was, "I wish hadn't imbibed so heavily last night."
Also I thought, "I hope Gaiman does not stick to his stated 90 minute limit."
The good thing is that because we were all assigned numbers based on when we had showed up that morning, we didn’t have to stand in line while we waited. They called people's numbers four or five at a time, so there was always a line of only about ten people in the store. I talked to other people standing around waiting, I went down the street to a coffee shop, etc. At about 1:15pm or so (over two hours since the start of the event), they finally called my number. I went in and got in line.
I was finally in the store! I could see Neil Gaiman signing other people's books! He was being very mellow and very gracious. He was thanking people for coming. Wait, Gaiman was thanking us??
(These photos are a bit blurry because we were asked to turn off the flash on our cameras.)
...
Finally it was my turn at the table. Yes, I was nervous. Yes, I forgot whatever little I planned to say. No, I did not drool on him, although I easily could have. A nice lady offered to take photos with my camera and I handed it to her, after which I promptly forgot I had even brought a camera.
I babbled about how much I loved all his work, about how cool he was to come to this comic store in San Francisco, how stoked I was to meet him, blah blah blah…
Neil inscribed my "Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader?" He drew Batman in my book. I love Batman and I love Gaiman. I was irrationally happy.
...
...
I told Neil that I read "Wolves in the Walls" (a children's book of his) to my sons and that they love it. He said that he thinks it's great for kids to have the opportunity to grow up on stories like that.
Meanwhile he signed my new "Absolute Sandman, Volume I" that I posted about last week. He drew Morpheus. Sweet.
...
Then I told him that I have a 1-month old daughter and that I read her his book, "Blueberry Girl," released a couple months ago. I told Neil that it was already flatsigned, but I would appreciate it if he could just inscribe it to my daughter. He was happy to do so and, of course, he signed it after inscribing it - even though this was my third book.
[Side note: So the book is actually signed twice - on separate pages.]
...
"Love and blueberries…" This last is my favorite of the three because it is so sweet and he is a kind man.
Just as I was reluctantly leaving the signing table, I turned back and said, "Oh yeah! My friends sarajean and Pam said to tell you hello." He said, "Well. Tell them that Neil Gaiman made a point of telling them hello back."
I walked back to my truck a few blocks away, my feet not quite touching the ground and drove the 80 miles home.
The End.
omg, i've got tears cos of the blueberry girl inscription.
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