User:Doczilla/Sandbox/Comic book letter column
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Title: Should this be a section of a general letter column article? Maybe that could come later. Start with what we know.
A comic book letter column is a section of a comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear, with or without responses from series staff (writer, editor, editorial assistants).
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Earliest
Target Comics #6 (Novelty Press, 1940) "what just might be the first letter column in comic books" [1]
"Overstreet speculates that this issue may well have the first-ever letter column in comics, and notes that the page in question has an early mention of comic book collecting." [2]
[edit] Height of popularity
[edit] Decline
Several sources like News from Me mentioned in 2002 that the Washington Post reported DC's discontinuation of its letter columns. It would be nice if we could find the actual WP article.
A Dead-Letters Day Comic Books End Printed Mail Columns As Fans Turn to Web Article 1 of 9 found
Hank Stuever Washington Post Staff Writer December 10, 2002; Page C1 Section: Style Word Count: 925
Geekdom used to be so lonely, and that's why kids -- and grown-ups -- wrote letters to comic books. It was possible to walk to school via the longer (and safer) path and eat your lunch alone and think you were the only person in the world who was drawing panels of the Justice League of America on the back of your history folder. Beginning about 45 years ago, hard-core fans started to send in letters on sheets of notebook paper. They would praise superheroes, but also take umbrage...[1]
Who still does letter columns? Kirkman does. I should know. Dark Horse does, at least for Usagi and Hellboy and associated titles.
