shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 25, 2017 7:52:17 GMT -5
I continue to struggle with the absence of letter columns in anthologies reprinting classic comics. Right now, for example, I'm making my way through Steve Gerber's Howard the Duck, and I couldn't imagine enjoying the series half as much without having the letter columns to read alongside the stories, as the conversations there were such a large part of the reading experience.
I'm assuming companies aren't leaving the letter columns out just because they assume no one cares. It isn't a significant extra expense to provide the letter columns as a supplement, so I'm assuming there are other complications. Is it a legal concern -- perhaps a legal question of whether the publisher "owns" letters written in by readers, or maybe it's more pragmatic -- not every issue ran a letter column / do you print the letter column with the story it's responding to or the story it was published with?
I guess I'm just curious: why do you think publishers aren't including letter columns in their anthology editions?
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Post by The Captain on Apr 25, 2017 8:07:39 GMT -5
Quite to the contrary, I would bet they're leaving the letters out because they don't think anyone today cares what someone wrote about Avengers #174 or Detective #462 30+ years ago. They're selling books containing comic book stories, and while for some of us hardcore collectors and fanaticists, the history surrounding the comics is interesting, most new readers today are going to be by and large uninterested.
Cost is probably another consideration. If every letter column added 1 page to each comic reprinted, that would add 33 pages to a Marvel Omnibus, which would be roughly the length of almost two issues. They would either have to increase the size of those editions, which does add cost, or publish more of them for a series. For a series that ran for a smaller number of issues, like Tomb of Dracula, putting 35 issues per Omnibus worked out to two collected editions, while their option with the letter columns would be to make three smaller editions collecting 23 or so issues or making the Omnibuses 35 pages larger, which may be problematic from a binding, size, and cost standpoint.
However, with all that said, I'm willing to concede that my theories may be completely offbase and that I may just be talking out of my ass.
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Post by MWGallaher on Apr 25, 2017 8:38:58 GMT -5
Evidently, many of Marvel's Omnibus editions do reprint the letters pages! According to the GCD, the Howard Omni doesn't, but a quick look through the listings shows that they are included in the Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, and Incredible Hulk Omnis, to name but three! And here's some photographic evidence!  |
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Post by The Captain on Apr 25, 2017 8:50:19 GMT -5
Evidently, many of Marvel's Omnibus editions do reprint the letters pages! According to the GCD, the Howard Omni doesn't, but a quick look through the listings shows that they are included in the Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, and Incredible Hulk Omnis, to name but three! And here's some photographic evidence! I knew they did for the longer series, as I have the first FF, the first two X-Men, and the first Avengers (which I have yet to read), but I wasn't sure for the smaller ones. I don't remember seeing the letters in the Masterworks editions, but I'm getting forgetful in my advancing age and may just be having a moment. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 25, 2017 9:03:03 GMT -5
The Warren Magazine Hardcover Archives from Dark Horse (Creepy & Eerie) and Dynamite (Vampirella) all include the letter pages as well as the fan club pages, bullpen pages and selected ad pages
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 25, 2017 9:12:28 GMT -5
Evidently, many of Marvel's Omnibus editions do reprint the letters pages! According to the GCD, the Howard Omni doesn't, but a quick look through the listings shows that they are included in the Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, and Incredible Hulk Omnis, to name but three! And here's some photographic evidence! I had no idea. Thanks for this! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 25, 2017 10:04:09 GMT -5
As to legal rights, I do believe there was usually legalese, in the fine print, that letters became the property of the publisher.
It's a shame that other series don't include them, as they were often as vital a feature as the main story, especially with certain editors and titles. Diana Schutz had lively discussions going in Grendel and cat yronwode had the same in Miracleman. Mike Gold's books always had interesting letters and so did things like Grimjack, Scout, Nexus and so many of the classic independent titles. With DC and Marvel you can often find future pros, like Wendy and Richard Pini, in the pages of Silver Surfer. Some books had regular writers, like Master of Kung Fu. There was an Asian-American letter writer who penned some thoughtful correspondence on the depiction of the Asian characters, especially the coloring used. Those columns add so much to the history of those titles.
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Post by MDG on Apr 25, 2017 10:33:05 GMT -5
The Warren Magazine Hardcover Archives from Dark Horse (Creepy & Eerie) and Dynamite (Vampirella) all include the letter pages as well as the fan club pages, bullpen pages and selected ad pages The Warren ad pages are very much part of the "Warren Experiencing," especially since they were all for Warren's Captain Company. A few people have said that the magazines were essentially product catalogs with stories included. Also, in the archives, the extras probably help fill out the issues where there are stories reprinted from earlier issues. It's a shame that other series don't include them, as they were often as vital a feature as the main story, especially with certain editors and titles. Diana Schutz had lively discussions going in Grendel and cat yronwode had the same in Miracleman. Mike Gold's books always had interesting letters and so did things like Grimjack, Scout, Nexus and so many of the classic independent titles. With DC and Marvel you can often find future pros, like Wendy and Richard Pini, in the pages of Silver Surfer. Some books had regular writers, like Master of Kung Fu. There was an Asian-American letter writer who penned some thoughtful correspondence on the depiction of the Asian characters, especially the coloring used. Those columns add so much to the history of those titles. Mark Evanier and William Messer-Loebs included some great text pieces in their books as well. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 25, 2017 11:25:21 GMT -5
As much as I'm not a fan of anthologies, I think I'd be more likely to purchase them if they were perfect duplicates of the originals, right down to the advertisements. I remember when Marvel released the Marvel Milestone Editions in the early 1990s. They were EXACT duplicates of key issues, page by page, only with a silver border around them and glossy paper in order to distinguish them from the originals. I'd love to see an anthology do that.  |
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Pat T
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Post by Pat T on Apr 25, 2017 11:32:14 GMT -5
The recent .1, .2, &.3 editions of Avengers, which took place between issues 16 & 17, had old letter columns in them. I enjoyed reading the reactions
of the readers back then. Even then,there were old timers predicting the end since all the Avengers left and were replaced by villains. Comic readers
haven't really changed at all.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 25, 2017 14:03:44 GMT -5
I honestly had no interest in letters pages when the comics were new. And I have less interest now. There are a few exceptions, most of them being letters pages where the creators were actively involved. But the standard company fair from the 60s-80s...bleh.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 25, 2017 15:25:05 GMT -5
The Warren Magazine Hardcover Archives from Dark Horse (Creepy & Eerie) and Dynamite (Vampirella) all include the letter pages as well as the fan club pages, bullpen pages and selected ad pages The Warren ad pages are very much part of the "Warren Experiencing," especially since they were all for Warren's Captain Company. A few people have said that the magazines were essentially product catalogs with stories included. Also, in the archives, the extras probably help fill out the issues where there are stories reprinted from earlier issues. Just to point this out: The Warren Magazine Archives skip all reprint material. They just tell you to refer to an earlier archive. If a magazine was all reprint, as they were from time to time, the archive will only publish the cover and letter page Also, as I said, the Archives only reprints select ad pages, if any. No more than 3 pages per magazine |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 25, 2017 20:36:42 GMT -5
I honestly had no interest in letters pages when the comics were new. And I have less interest now. There are a few exceptions, most of them being letters pages where the creators were actively involved. But the standard company fair from the 60s-80s...bleh. I find I generally read the responses to the letters first... that will usually reveal if the letter itself is worth reading. I do find it amusing to see what predictions and expectations people had at the time that we can now look at in hindsight, but quite a few of the standard letters, like 'can't x star' or 'can y have their own series' or 'I miss z, can he come back' are pretty useless, IMO |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2017 20:50:40 GMT -5
I agree with The Captain on this. While I do kinda think vintage letters pages are semi-interesting, I would imagine that the vast majority of people interested in buying/reading reprints of old comics have zero interest in old letters columns.
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Post by berkley on Apr 25, 2017 23:03:48 GMT -5
As much as I'm not a fan of anthologies, I think I'd be more likely to purchase them if they were perfect duplicates of the originals, right down to the advertisements. I remember when Marvel released the Marvel Milestone Editions in the early 1990s. They were EXACT duplicates of key issues, page by page, only with a silver border around them and glossy paper in order to distinguish them from the originals. I'd love to see an anthology do that. Great idea except for the glossy paper and the over-bright colouring that goes with them. |
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