I had an amazing 10 days in California – we started our book tour at Comic-Con where we met the press, signed books, and chatted with lots of fans. Fans – not of us, but Batman fans, Baleheads, and people who were curious about this first biography of Christian Bale.
Any concerns I had about haters were averted. You see, people will post anything anonymously on the Internet, but in person, the people who came to see us where engaging, friendly, and really supportive. And given that Christian’s biography is really a story about fan power, Comic-Con was the very best place to go! By Monday, we heard the good news – the first run of the book had almost sold out!
Our booth was right beside Marvel legend, Stan Lee. I saw Mark Hamill, Shia LaBeouf, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, some TV stars of yesteryear – I’ll add their names when I look them up on the IMDB, but the original Boomer from the 1970s Battlestar Galactica was there. Although some people complained that Comic-Con has changed into a massive studio and TV network showcase, it’s still very much about fans celebrating fandom, and the enthusiasm in San Diego was infectious!
In Los Angeles, I stayed with friends and got to do more press and star-sightings in Century City and Malibu and Culver City. I had forgotten how beautiful and sweet smelling the oceanside could be.
Fan power would be part of Christian Bale’s life again last week. When the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado happened last Thursday, a Facebook and Twitter campaign was launched to ask Christian to visit the wounded. A lot of editorials across the country debated about the wisdom of Christian showing up in Batman costume. The Warner Bros types also didn’t want to appear culpable for the tragedy. After President Obama’s visit, Christian and his wife finally reacted to the fan pressure and flew into Colorado yesterday – wisely without the Batman garb. There’s now word that Anne Hathaway may also attend, and it continues to open up the debate about fan petitions – look at the stars who have been invited to people’s proms!:) If a celeb ignores the petition, they look heartless. But if they respond, they’ll get inundated with invites. It’s a tough decision.
Anyway, thank you to all who made our Comic-Con appearance so much fun and memorable! Thanks very much to the awesome staff at Barnes & Noble Manhattan Beach – we were told our short 1.5 hour appearance exceeded their book sales expectations! And thank you all for making this book such a success – your listening and reading out there prove that fans always matter!
Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman 