I SOOOO miss comic book letter columns!
Back before texting and "Insta-Face-Tweet-Snap-Gramming", people actually used to write letters... not only to one another, but to the editors of their favorite comic books! These letters were often interesting, and invariably fun! It is a part of the comic book reading experience that is now gone forever!
...Unless, like me, you have your own "Adventures in Comic-Boxing" by rooting through your long (...or short) boxes to unearth those special, yet forgotten, treasures!
The letter columns were the place to interact with a book's editor (...or editorial staffer) to express your opinions by forming actual sentences with words, via a thought process that didn't reek of snark, sarcasm, or outright trolling as its default setting!
(Don't try to read the small text! Some highlights will follow below!)
Ah, but to our subject...
While "comic-box adventuring", I chanced to read LOIS LANE 99 and 100 (DC Comics, Cover Dates: February and April, 1970 - respectively), and thoroughly enjoyed the "It-Could Only-Happen-In-a-Silver-Age-DC-Comic", Bizarro-Perry-Mason-like story of Lois on trial for the murder of her rival Lana Lang... with SUPERMAN as prosecuting attorney, and BATMAN for the defense (!)...
...With a last-minute courtroom surprise by defense attorney Batman...
...That would stun even "Old Perry"!
"Perry MASON", that is... not Perry White!
And, after a two-part nail-biter like THAT, what could be a better chaser than the issues' letter columns!
So, either Lois DIDN'T kill Lana after all, or maybe there's some anthrax in that envelope that Lana is opening! If no deadly chemicals are involved, I'll merely suggest that you make up your own "poison pen letter" joke, to save me some time!
Whatever's in that letter, though, it was potent enough to transform Lana from a redhead to a blonde!
And, before I do some variation on "Hair Color Today, Gone Tomorrow", let's finally get to some of those letters...
In anticipation of the 100th issue of LOIS LANE, we have these thoughts that ACTUALLY APPEARED in the letter column of LOIS LANE # 100...
Hmmm... Somehow, I must have missed LOIS LANE # 500 in 2014 (...Or perhaps it just became too unrecognizable for me to notice, in the wake of modern DC's continuous stunts such as "The New 52" and "Rebirth")!
...And, by 2070, I will undoubtedly be dead! ...So much for collecting LOIS LANE # 1,000!
Isn't it great that "a young girl in the late 1940s" was (...and hopefully STILL IS) reading these comics and sharing them with her children in 1970!
How great would it be if, by now - or in more recent times, she is also doing so with lots of grandchildren! Though, hopefully with Gold, Silver, and/or Bronze Age comics - that are so much better than the comics of today, SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP excepted!
WARNING: Always read the STORIES before the letter column, because ya never know what's gonna get spoiled (Also from LOIS LANE #100)...
...WHAT?! ...LANA'S NOT DEAD?! ...AND YOU, MISTER EDITOR, SPOILED IT FOR ME BEFORE I COULD READ IT FOR MYSELF?! ...DAMN!
To be fair to "Mister Ed." (...No, not HIM!)...
...I don't believe the term "SPOILER WARNING" was in common use (or, that it even existed) in late 1969.
...And, besides, maybe the "SPOILER" was wrong because Lana had yet to open the chemically-booby-trapped envelope!
But, before she does, let's slide backward to two letters from LOIS LANE # 99 - with two VERY DIFFERENT exchanges on the topic of romance!
Here's one decidedly steeped in literature... (Click to Enlarge, if needed!)
...And here's another kind entirely...
Ya gotta love it! Ya gotta love it ALL! A salute to those who wrote these letters! I hope you're still out there enjoying this stuff!
...And I hope you're all having you own special "Adventures in Comic-Boxing"!
10 comments:
Bongo Comics had letter columns in their issues all the way to the very end last year - and the great majority of those missives were penned by pre-teens. I thought it was heartening that techno-savvy Gen Zers would take to an activity that is so "Twentieth Century". I think that proves that traditions such as comic book letter columns could thrive in modern times; We just need forward-thinking publishers and editors to keep them from obsolescence.
TCJ:
Pre-teens? Really? That’s great!
Too bad there are so few “forward-thinking publishers and editors” remaining!
More of them seem to move in endlessly repeating circles (Ahem, DC) … or actually “move backwards”, as did my most recent former publisher.
Not gonna happen but, if I *were* ever in charge of a comic book, I would run a letter column, invite thoughtful and/or fun comments, and reply in kind with great enthusiasm!
Then again, that’s exactly what I do HERE, so the Spirit of Comic Book Letter Columns will never truly die, as long as this Blog remains active!
DC seemed to manage the lettercols best, purely in my own opinion. I liked the fact that most letters received an editorial response instead of just dangling there without acknowledgement. I particularly enjoyed the Sugar and Spike letter columns. In the early days of Gladstone there were also some great letters--and the turnover rate was pretty quick.
My one moment in the spotlight came in the early 90's in Detective Comics #668--one of the chapters of "Knightquest." I had been so particularly moved by a particular Batman issue that after reading it I sat speechless for about half an hour--and then my first action was to get out my electric typewriter and compose my letter to DC. I believe I had written letters before as a child--to DC for "Sugar and Spike" and to Marvel on "The Flintstones"--but this was the first time a letter of mine had gotten into print. Needless to say, I bought a few extra issues to have on hand.
I, too, lament the passing of the letter columns. It's a great way to find out reader response to various stories and characters, makes one feel connected not only to other readers but more strongly connected to the material itself. It's kind of reassuring to know that there are other comics fans out there, that one is not reading, evaluating, and collecting all by oneself.
I hadn't realized you were such a fan of the Lois Lane title. This post makes me want to check out more of that series, of which I have heretofore only collected a handful of issues. These glimpses are truly tantalizing.
My forays into non-Disney, modern American comic-books are few, but Marvel's fun Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and charming Moon-Girl & Devil-Dinosaur both still have striving letter columns, covering three whole pages and also including fanart and other pictures submitted by the writing fans. They're fun.
(Some of the French Disney comics have something like this, too, but it's much less fun to read because the "letters" are usually two sentences long, are from quite young readers, and ask questions that a long-time fan can't describe as anything but "inane" from their own point of view, though you can't blame the kids for this — and the answers are in the same tone. "Dear Mickey Parade, who is Glomgold?" "Flintheart Glomgold is the second-richest duck in the world and a long-time enemy of Scrooge McDuck! Fun fact: like Scrooge himself, he was created by… Carl Barks!".)
Scarecrow:
You write: “My one moment in the spotlight came in the early 90's in Detective Comics #668--one of the chapters of ‘Knightquest.’”
And, with no possible inkling that we’d both someday end up here discussing it, I have undoubtedly read that letter, as I read ALL of them – with great interest and enjoyment!
“DC seemed to manage the lettercols best, purely in my own opinion. I liked the fact that most letters received an editorial response instead of just dangling there without acknowledgement.”
I couldn’t agree more! Overall, there was a greater sense of engagement in DC’s letter columns than anywhere else. Whether it was Silver Age readers trying to “point out mistakes” and the editor’s “sometimes reasonable” and “sometimes just funny” ways of explaining them away, or having the later characters of Guy Gardner and Lobo CONDUCT THEIR OWN LETTER COLUMNS, with the types of responses only “they” could provide! I wrote to those titles, not only because I enjoyed them, but so “they” could answer me!
In the ‘90s, Superman editors kept readers deeply engaged, over their four monthly titles (perfectly spaced at one-per-week), by offering a “Baldy Award” for the best letter in each issue – and never telling the readership-as-a whole exactly what a “Baldy Award” was! The only way to even find out what a “Baldy Award” is, was to win one! …I won THREE of them!
They sure couldn’t keep a tantalizing, fun secret like that today, because folks would put photos of their “Baldy Award” on "Insta-Face-Tweet-Snap-Gram" for everyone to see… just like they would with their latest restaurant meal!
I, myself, don’t have all that many issues of LOIS LANE that predate the later 1960s, though I did get a coverless copy of # 2 for a reasonable price recently. Since the title ended in 1974, and was folded into the greater whole of SUPERMAN FAMILY, with the JIMMY OLSEN title and the Supergirl feature from ADVENTURE COMICS, that would mean less than a decade’s worth of issues.
The earliest issues of the title, as best I can estimate from those I *do* have, and from reprints in later issues, largely consisted of Lois’ schemes to get Superman to marry her and the strange romantic dynamic they had where each tried to constantly “out-trick” the other, Lois temporarily falling for someone else only to find her way back to Superman, and, of course, that “Old DC Silver Age Standard” of Lois (or ANY title character) undergoing “weird transformations”, or assuming strange guises. These were classically drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, and are both appealing and fun for traditionalists!
Later issues saw relevance (or at least “comic book relevance”) emerge, Lois achieving greater independence, and becoming more of a crusading reporter / action hero (with and WITHOUT “Super-help”)… finally ending with “a subway ride to another planet”! You know THAT had to appeal to me!
I like BOTH approaches, especially as an overall view of how DC rolled with the changing times – and it wasn’t always easy for them, but they managed!
Finally, back to your earlier comment: “DC seemed to manage the lettercols best, purely in my own opinion. I liked the fact that most letters received an editorial response instead of just dangling there without acknowledgement.”
I’ve always preferred the “response” type of letter column and, while it was not my intent when I started this Blog, I’ve clearly reflected that without even realizing it until sometime later! Funny how stuff works, isn’t it?
Achille:
Very glad to hear that, in spite of all the “so-called advances”, that good, fun letter columns still exist somewhere! Three pages? Wonderful!
As far as the French Disney comics go, I can very much understand the “annoyance factor” for the more knowledgeable older fan – but this is important too, in the sense that THIS may be how they initially learn, and eventually reach the point of criticizing good translations, becoming Internet trolls, and so on! :-)
Maybe it would be more palatable if it were done in a way similar to what George Wildman did with Charlton’s POPEYE title, but everyone has to get their “primary knowledge” from somewhere – and I wish we had more if it in those dark days of my own youth!
Yes, it's a shame letter columns seem to be on their way out. After all, people could send emails to the editor, and no doubt at least some would, if the publishers would just encourage the practice!
This post reminds me of a Gladstone issue of "Uncle Scrooge" I have, which features a letter column! After reading this, I'm feeling inspired to post said letters to my blog someday! They're (to borrow a phrase from another studio's character) fanriffic! (Pun intended).
These letters you've posted, and the responses to them, remind me that DC used to have a feature called "Johnny DC" not too many years ago, in which readers would send letters to the editor, and "Johnny DC" would respond! I recall seeing a "Scooby-Doo" issue in which someone wrote, "Dear Johnny DC: I can't get my mind off Scooby-Doo." To which Johnny DC replied, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
Fun stuff, and fun times. (Or should I say... fanriffic stuff and fanriffic times!)
Great to see you here again, Sergio!
In the later years, I did send e-mails to the letter columns! It was probably easier on all involved. The comments would be sooner received by the editor who, in turn, could copy/paste (and edit, if necessary) them into the book's letter column format! Win/win for everyone! …So, why did it stop, when the process got even easier?
Oh, I love that “Johnny DC / Scooby-Doo” letter! And, I’d also enjoy seeing your own Blog post on this subject! Let us know if and when that happens, and I’ll link to it!
Honored rival, Joe Torcivia,
We feel it's our duty to tell ya
Through something you might call a letter,
Though call it a warning, you'd better…
We know the Faction of the Fooling Fish
Once dropped by and caused you lots of anguish;
So feast your eyes
Upon our files
Concerning these malignant things!
You'd better call the Scarlet Wings!!!
—A Concerned Cupid
https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2019/04/09/cupid-fact-file-444-the-faction-of-the-fooling-fish/
(Dear Cupids - and Fishies:
Thank you for your “Letter to the Editor”.
My advice is that you DO “get your mind off Scooby-Doo”… at least some of the time.
And, in keeping with your presumed “romantic” motif, perhaps half of you should “think you are Superman”, and the other half “think you are Lois Lane”!
Who knows what might result. – Ed.)
(PS: HERE is your link. – Ed.)
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