The Poster [One-Shot Novel]

The Poster

I don't always play video games. But when I do, I have a ball. I especially like watching people play video games on YouTube. And sometimes, I like to watch cutscenes from a video game if the game has a good story and/or good voice acting. The best example would have to be the DC fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us, and its sequel Injustice 2. The graphics are good, and the voice acting is superb. Although there are some voice actors I wish had voiced certain characters [like Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor, Ron Pearlman as Deathstroke, Mark Hamill as Joker, and Loren Lester or Scott Menville as Nightwing], but I didn't let that bother me. I was an instant fan. I was such a fan that I bought a poster of the game. This poster to be exact.

This is where the story gets a little weird. You see, when I was a junior, I attended a career oriented skills center school known as Tri-Tech. I took this class known as Radio Broadcasting. And in this class, we did this thing known as Make Your Day. We had to do something for one of our classmates in order to make their day.  The person who chose me, her name was Heather Parks. She was a redhead that was interested in the radio business, and I'd be lying if I said she wasn't cute. Anyway, she decided to surprise me with a poster of Injustice, because she knew I was a big superhero fan. I think all my friends and followers know that by now. Anyway, when I got the poster, I was surprised it was the same one as the one I bought. Now Heather didn't know I had the same poster. I told her this, but I kept the poster because I didn't want to be rude and give it back to her. And she meant well. So I made a promise to her. I promised that I would try to get the voice actors to autograph the poster she bought me. Heck, I would've been alright with just Kevin Conroy [Batman], or George Newbern, [Superman], or Tara Strong [Harley Quinn and Raven] autographing the poster. For almost 3 years, I wasn't sure how to get my poster to be autographed. You see, I don't get the luxuries of going to comic conventions and getting autographs from celebrities I've always wanted to meet. Then, Warner Bros. Animation decided to do Batman the Killing Joke. 

Not only was it going to have Mark Hamill come out of retirement and have him reprise his role as The Joker, but there was more. Kevin Conroy was going to return to voice Batman for this. And Tara Strong was going to reprise her role as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl! With these three reprising their roles for this movie, I was super excited. Especially since, out of all the women who have voiced Batgirl so far, Tara Strong would have to be my most favorite voice actress who has voiced her. A close second and third would have to be Mae Whitman and Rosario Dawson. But Tara is the voice I imagine for Babs whenever I read a Batgirl comic. Tara is to Batgirl the way Kevin is to Batman, and Mark is to Joker. I was so excited, I decided now was the time to send my Injustice poster. I wanted Tara to autograph my poster. So I wrote a heartfelt letter to her about how I was so excited for the movie, and thanked her for reprising her role just for the movie. I even included a drawing I did myself where two of Tara's most famous voices, Batgirl and Harley Quinn, were bickering over which voice Tara enjoyed doing more, and her most famous role, Raven, held them back, telling them to knock it off. So I sent the letter, the drawing, and the poster, all to her. I put extra packaging for her so that she didn't have to pay to send it back. And I sent it, paying for everything. Those who have written to Tara have stated that they got a response at a minimum of 3 months. This was in June of 2016, a month before The Killing Joke was to receive its theatrical release on July 25. I was expecting the autographed poster to come maybe on my birthday, tops. I even said in the letter that I'd be alright with the poster coming on my birthday, kind of a birthday surprise. [My birthday is on September 24th.] Anyway, there was this day in August, I think it was a Monday. August 15th, to be exact. I decided I wanted to go watch Sausage Party in theaters. I was ready to leave my home, when I saw this tube outside the door. I took a look, and saw it was from Tara Strong! I went back inside with the tube, and opened it. Once I opened it, I saw my Injustice poster. And it had Tara Strong's autograph on it!!!!

That's her signature, right next to the character she voiced, Harley Quinn. She even added a little heart to her name. I was beyond happy. Tara went out of her way to autograph my poster. It took over two years, but I finally did it! And I still have it. As for the old Injustice poster, I gave that to a friend. But anyway, that's my story, I'm glad I told it. And thank you Tara Strong, for making me very happy. Bless your heart!