The Somewhat Dubious “Best” of the Letter Columns

 

 

Today at ComicsAlliance, I’m reacting to the news that DC’s going to be bringing back letter columns (offsetting one of the two pages of story they’re cutting out of their comics) by pointing out the absolute heights of discourse that have appeared in lettercols over the years, starting with the charming missive above!

I owe a lot to my friends for pitching in with these (Mike, Andrew and Bully have covered a lot of this stuff before and provided a wealth of ’em), so go check ’em out and learn that while the comics might’ve changed, the fans never, ever do. Plus, as an added bonus, a reminder that Ebony White from The Spirit was straight up racist.

And as a bonus, here’s one sent over by Andrew that I couldn’t fit into the actual piece, because it’s totally awesome. I’d forgotten about this, but back in the day, the letters to Metamorpho were answered in-character by Rex “Metamorpho” Mason himself. And as I’ve said before, he was a straight-up pimp:

 

 

Further evidence that Metamorpho was the greatest book of its time.

3 thoughts on “The Somewhat Dubious “Best” of the Letter Columns

  1. Qualuudes? Doctor-prescribed speed? Bourbon at lunch? Who did more of these, Lee & Kirby or the letter-column brigade? We’ll never know!

  2. Wow, I remember that Doom Patrol letter – another good one from the Morrison run was the letter complaining that Rhea Jones, in “reborn” form, was being portrayed in the nude (but no problem with the giant eyes in her chest and back, apparently) – eventually prompting the magisterial editorial comeback, “Would it be OK to show her masturbating sometime? It’s a matter of taste, isn’t it?”

    Um, yeah…