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Let this thread serve as somewhere you can share letters & emails you might send to comic books & their publishers!
When I was 12-13 years old, I wrote Bob Harris, then Avengers writer, a letter telling him he was doing a great job restoring the Avengers to greatness and then offered a few additional suggestions (like adding the Wasp now that Hank was Giant Man again). At age 13, I was very sure of myself.
I actually hand-wrote the letter and had my Mom type it, so I don't think any copies exist.
That was about 16 years ago. I've now written a second letter to a comic book company, this time an email. It was to Dynamite Entertainment regarding Zorro.
Here it is:
Dear Dynamite Entertainment,
I’m a longtime comic book collector and between my father and I (my father being a child of the early Silver Age), we collect a vast amount of comics that encompass most of DC and Marvel’s output as well as a wide range of independent comic book companies, including many of your excellent publications. I have not written a letter to a comic book publisher in at least 15 years.
The reason I’m doing so now is because it took the amazing Garth Ennis coming to Dynamite to get me interested in the company, as I picked up his Battlefields titles and loved every one of them. In the last few months, I’ve now picked up two properties I’ve been aware of my whole life, but have never really followed (like most readers I suspect): the Lone Ranger and Zorro. Both comic books under Dynamite’s guiding hand are excellent and have made me huge fans of the properties for life. So much so that I’ve gone out of my way to hunt down all of the back issues for both titles since your relaunch.
I’m writing specifically about Zorro, which I would rank among the very best comic books currently being published today by anyone, anywhere, in any format. Matt Wagner has weaved together a tale of Zorro’s origin and then the growth of his legend that is exemplifies what it means to be ‘iconic’. Wagner has been a true master of comic books for many years and in recent months between this and other works (including the thus far excellent Green Hornet: Year One) he’s reminding the rest of the comic book industry how to write a comic book. Meanwhile, the artwork by Francesco Francavilla is alarmingly fantastic to the point where I will now seek out whatever he does hereafter.
It’s with this praise that I’m imploring you to keep producing Zorro comic books by Wagner & Francavilla. I’ve noticed they were not among the solicitations for the summer of 2010 and that is a tragedy if Zorro will not be continuing. Unfortunately I came in late, but that should give you hope that an audience exists—they just need to make their way to Dynamite and Zorro. I know I’m doing my part in spreading the word among the various online outlets I frequent to get people to try out Zorro; I feel one issue will be enough to get the most jaded comic book fan to stay on because the quality is so potent.
I’m quite pleased with what Dynamite Entertainment is doing these days and look forward to the many new comic books you’ll be producing in the coming year given recent announcements about the King Features properties (specifically Mandrake, the most under-utilized property of all the icons King Features owns). But you must make sure you keep both Zorro and the Lone Ranger going, as they have become your flagship titles in quality and best represent what Dynamite is bringing to the table that few others are.
Look forward to more great things.
Desmond ----------- (blocked so my full name isn’t online) Stamford, CT
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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in the 80s, I sent letters to GL, Mage and probably one other (maybe Legion).
I got listed in a readers roundup in GL, and my guess for the "Guess Kevin's middle name" contest was included in a roundup in Mage.
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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Wrote a letter to Legion about the Brainy/Dawnstar tracking lost Legionnaires to the primitive planet. Hand written, and it got printed in the second issue of the baxter reprints.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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I got a letter printed in Firestorm and I think Green Lantern (that one was about the Adam Strange back-up feature)
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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When I was just a kid (pre-teens), my Uncle wrote a letter to Jack Kirby's "Viking Heroes" comic book and had it printed. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, especially because Jack Kirby is sacrosanct among my family. Seriously, he's like how Xerses was viewed in Ancient Persia.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Several years ago I wrote an email to the defunct Black Bull company about Garth Ennis's "Just a Pilgrim". I know I wrote a few others when I was younger (maybe one to Marvel Age?), but none of them got published.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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I had a letter printed in one of the JLI books around 1990. I had written a filk about the issue where Beetle and Booster build a casino on the island of Kooey Kooey Kooey, sung to the tune of "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle":
Just sit right back and you'll here a tale, A tale of the JLI. It started at their embassy, Transporters standing by. Beetle was a cunning businessman, Booster not so sure. They built a casino on Kooey Kooey Kooey So they'd no longer be poor. Killowog constructed it in only three days' time, If not for Big Sur's winning streak, At least they'd have a dime. The island then left the ground below And then floated away With Booster Gold, Blue Beetle too, The Island's Chief, His nephew, Big Sur, The Major and Aquaman, Here at Club JLI!
-------------------- The only character in all of literature who has been described as "badnass" while using the phrase "vile miscreant."
From: The Pyngwyn Colonies of Planet Hyustyn | Registered: Aug 2005
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I had about 20 letters published and was namechecked about 10 times more. Two of my letters wound up in Legion comics, one in v.2 # 280, and the other (badly edited) in Baxter # 2, I believe.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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I wrote a letter to the TMK Legion speculating that the SW6 Legionaires were really from Earth 2. They printed an excerpt of my comment. The first and only letter I've ever written to a comic book
Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
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I had part of a letter printed a few years back in X-Factor. Not sure what issue 'though.
Before that? I'm pretty sure it was in Arion, Lord of Atlantis, so, uh, a couple years back now... (Somewhere between '82 and '85, I guess, so I was still in high school.)
Registered: Aug 2006
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I had a couple of letters printed back in the late 70s/early 80s. One in DC Comics Presents praising the artwork of Jose Louis Garcia-Lopez. Another in Weird Western suggesting a team up between Scalphunter and Adam Strange.
-------------------- No regrets, Coyote.
From: Missouri | Registered: Oct 2003
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