Letter pages in trades?

[Agentum]

One thing i really miss with trades and archives are the letterpages, would it be so hars to include them at least in the hardcover reprints.

It often a lot of questions and opinions on the comics in those.

Like when i read the Omnibus FF book that have the old letters included, somebody asked how old the heroes was, and got the answer that Mr. Fantastic and Thing was in the late 30s, a lot older than heroes is supposed to be nowdays :)

Do you read the letters even in old comicbooks?, i do.

[scratchie]

Do you read the letters even in old comicbooks?, i do.Sometimes. Nowadays, I usually find it more entertaining to read the old "Bullpen Bulletins" and such. It gives you a good sense of what was contemporary with what you're reading, and what Marvel thought was going to be hot in the upcoming months.

[Sir Tim Drake]

Old letters pages are often very readable, as well as being a good source of quotes for the "Quote of the Week" thread. ;) I also enjoy discovering letters from future professionals or people I know. Letters pages are one reason, though not the biggest reason, why I prefer original issues to TPBs.

My favorite letterhack is the late T.M. Maple. (Maybe I should say the late M. Maple, in order to avoid redundancy.) He was a sharp critic and it's fascinating how much of his psychology he revealed through his letters. Someone ought to publish a collection of his complete letters.

[J'onn J'onzz]

Alas we miss the Mad Maple...I started a remembereance thread on the Dial B for Blog Message Board on accident. That would be a huge book! I know I'd buy it though! Yes I definately read letters columns. I hate how they dropped them though... GRR... :mad:

[telerites]

I often look through the letters pages first to see if there are any now current comic creators with letters as Sir Tim mentioned but also because it's just plain fun. I always read Stan's Soapbox and Bullpen Bulletins in the earlier Marvel books. The DC content wasn't as lively but the Ask the Answer Man was kind of fun.

It's always fun to me to see what other comics were on sale at that time too.

I think to myself what I should have bought back then and saved. Alas, my kingdom for a time machine....

[The Wayner]

I always read the letters pages. Heck, in some of the dreck I wade through they're the best thing, lol.

And ah, good ol T.M. Maple... I'd definitely read a book consisting of his letters/replies.

[Apathy Boy]

Over the past year, I've gone on an orgy of 25-cent comic book hunting, amassing a thick stack of '80s DC books that I am only now starting to sort through.

I was amused by a letter in FURY OF FIRESTORM #18 written by a fan who took great umbrage to the use of the word "punk" to describe Ronnie's girlfriend Doreen. Being punk isn't just about wearing tight clothes or colouring your hair, the letter writer stated; it's about attitude. Of course, the writer concluded, I would lose all respect for you if you actually listened to me, a lowly writer with aspirations of making it in the comic business.

The letter writer? Ed Brubaker. Which is weird, because I never figured him to be a fan of flame-headed superheroes with big poofy sleeves.

Anyone else come across letters written by comics creators before they were famous? And for comics that you wouldn't normally have associated them with? I notice that a lot of my DC COMICS PRESENTS have letters from some fellow named Todd Macfarlane...

[The Wayner]

I'll have to go back through my FIRESTORM issues and read that letter from Brubaker!

I was going to mention that I always liked reading T.M. Maple's comments on the FIRESTORM series, too.

As for other creator names popping up, I always like to run across one of Kurt Busiek's letters.

[jaguarshark]

I was thinking about this just recently. When I really got back into comics last year, I decided I wanted to focus on trades, but when I was going through a bunch of my loose single issues the other day, I noticed how much fun it is to have everything in context... the ads, the letter pages, and in Marvel books, the Bullpen Bulletins. I love knowing what else was coming out at the time, what was popular in society in general, and what people's initial reactions to stories were. I love trades; I love having entire arcs in one ad-free book for a much lower price than the individual issues would cost, but the original issues, with the letter pages etc. do so much to add to a comic as not just a good read, but a pop-cultural artifact.
However... I don't know that adding them to trades is a good idea. First of all, letters pages were always a bit behind the actual issues, so if you included them in trades, you'd be including letters about issues not in the trade, and possibly not relating to the story.
Basically, it seems to me that the original issues are like watching a show when it's on TV, and the trades are like watching them on DVD, without the ads and everything, just seeing the story for it's own merits. Something like the Batman: Year One trade, for example, benefits from having no letters pages, and would also benefit from placing the covers and intro pages at the back of the book, because the issues flow so well and are clearly intended to be one giant read, without interruption.
And besides, if you could get letters pages in the trades, you'd lose some of the fun of buying original issues!

[Agentum]

It's fun to see that especially in old Marvel comics some sugestions by the fans is really put in the comic later.
And other letters that predict the future almost perfectly.

And some letterpages is as fun as the comic it is in, like the letters in the 90s The Demon run.
ok i understand that letters is from older issues, but trades that starts from nr1 thats no problem, and with others you can cut out the first letterpages.

But this will never happen of course, nobody likes to collect letterpages.

But still thats why i like the singel issues over trades, in all other ways i prefer the trades.

[scratchie]

I'll have to go back through my FIRESTORM issues and read that letter from Brubaker!

I was going to mention that I always liked reading T.M. Maple's comments on the FIRESTORM series, too.

As for other creator names popping up, I always like to run across one of Kurt Busiek's letters.Who is this T.M. Maple guy? Did he write in to anything besides Firestorm?

There are one or two issues of The Defenders from the 70s with letters from Ralph Macchio (presumably the future Marvel editor, not the actor who played Chachi). He seemed to have made the jump from fan to pro really quickly as he was writing a KISS special by the end of the 70s.

[The Wayner]

There are one or two issues of The Defenders from the 70s with letters from Ralph Macchio (presumably the future Marvel editor, not the actor who played Chachi). He seemed to have made the jump from fan to pro really quickly as he was writing a KISS special by the end of the 70s.

Scott Baio played Chachi. The famous Ralph Macchio you're trying for was the Karate Kid. ;)

[The Wayner]

Who is this T.M. Maple guy? Did he write in to anything besides Firestorm?

T.M. Maple was all-over letters pages back in the day (or, at least, in the titles I read). More often than not, he didn't just write a few comments or shout "Make Mine Marvel!" or any of the usual spill, but composed lengthy bits that could easily rival some of the issues the letters appeared in. Whether I agreed with him or not, it was always fun to find a book with a T.M. Maple calling card in it.

As for who he was... I have absolutely no idea. But I'd love to know! Anyone know a behind-the-scenes story on T.M. Maple?

[Agentum]

If you know he is dead then somebody must know who he was.

Frequent letterwriters is quite common, some must have written a letter after every issue.

[The Wayner]

Not sure, but I think you're referring to me when you mention:

If you know he is dead then somebody must know who he was.

I think this stems from me saying I don't know who T.M. Maple "was". If so, I only phrase it that way because I've always felt 99.9% certain that "T.M. Maple" was a pseudonym. One that has since long gone outta circulation aside from classic fan circles.

And if I'm totally wrong on my observation, and you were referring to something else... well. Uh... I'm an idiot. :p

[The Wayner]

This explains all:

The T.M. Maple Memorial Leaf Pit (http://webpages.csus.edu/~sac53175/maple1.htm)

[Mike Kuypers]

You can find numerous references to T.M. Maple all over the Net. Here's a webpage (http://webpages.csus.edu/~sac53175/maple1.htm) in his memory.

Oops. The Wayner and I had the same idea! :D

[The Wayner]

Mike: And to think I saw your initial typo! ;)

[Hombre]

There are one or two issues of The Defenders from the 70s with letters from Ralph Macchio (presumably the future Marvel editor, not the actor who played Chachi). He seemed to have made the jump from fan to pro really quickly as he was writing a KISS special by the end of the 70s.

Macchio's letters were probing expositions on Marvel's mid 70s comic literature whose depth of insight must have made them the best possible references for him.

Also notable is the parable of one Ms. Ann Nichols, who was apparently an avid Marvel fan in the 1970s, as can be seen from her typically gracious letters to the Avengers and other titles, and is today a well known X-Men aficionado whose issue summaries appear regularly elsewhere on the Internet.

[Mike Kuypers]

Mike: And to think I saw your initial typo! ;)

:o What can I say? From this side of the computer screen you and Scratchie look a lot alike!

[Agentum]

Not sure, but I think you're referring to me when you mention:



I think this stems from me saying I don't know who T.M. Maple "was". If so, I only phrase it that way because I've always felt 99.9% certain that "T.M. Maple" was a pseudonym. One that has since long gone outta circulation aside from classic fan circles.

And if I'm totally wrong on my observation, and you were referring to something else... well. Uh... I'm an idiot. :p
Well Tim Drake wrote "My favorite letterhack is the late T.M. Maple".

Your link explained it.