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Reading through the Bat-Box, I'd forgotten that I had a letter published in BATMAN #590, the third part of the Matches Malone story by some unknown guest writer guy named Brian K. Vaughan. The letter was sent via AOL (dial-up memories!), and was about how I totally thought Harvey Dent was behind the shooting of Commissioner Gordon in OFFICER DOWN. I was eighteen years old.
That wasn't my first published letter, though. The first was in BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN #4, the New Year's Eve issue. It was the only letter to take up an entire column and a half in length (I was a long-winded bastard even then), and went on about how I totally thought Harvey Dent was the killer because of all the obvious red herring clues. Jeph Loeb himself responded to my litany of Two-Face "clues" by responding, "John Hefner from Cabin John? Hmmmm..." I was thirteen years old.
Of course, I was adorably wrong on both counts, and I look over these and other such published letters with a mixture of embarrassment and pride. Yeah, I was wrong, but I was interestingly wrong enough to be printed in the back of comics! I can say, with pride, that my writing has been published by DC Comics on at least four occasions!
And by Dark Horse on one, in an issue of BUFFY, which I hope never, ever sees the light of day ever never no.
I look forward to the day when I'm famous enough for these letters to be discovered by fans as collector's items and/or blackmail material. Now if you'll excuse me, I must track down and burn all copies of SCARE TACTICS #7.
What about you guys? Did any of you ever get your letters published in comics? Either way, don't you miss letter columns? They could be a source of rah-rah propaganda thanks to the selective choices of editors, but they gave voice to readers and fans in ways that internet message boards just can't today.
That wasn't my first published letter, though. The first was in BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN #4, the New Year's Eve issue. It was the only letter to take up an entire column and a half in length (I was a long-winded bastard even then), and went on about how I totally thought Harvey Dent was the killer because of all the obvious red herring clues. Jeph Loeb himself responded to my litany of Two-Face "clues" by responding, "John Hefner from Cabin John? Hmmmm..." I was thirteen years old.
Of course, I was adorably wrong on both counts, and I look over these and other such published letters with a mixture of embarrassment and pride. Yeah, I was wrong, but I was interestingly wrong enough to be printed in the back of comics! I can say, with pride, that my writing has been published by DC Comics on at least four occasions!
And by Dark Horse on one, in an issue of BUFFY, which I hope never, ever sees the light of day ever never no.
I look forward to the day when I'm famous enough for these letters to be discovered by fans as collector's items and/or blackmail material. Now if you'll excuse me, I must track down and burn all copies of SCARE TACTICS #7.
What about you guys? Did any of you ever get your letters published in comics? Either way, don't you miss letter columns? They could be a source of rah-rah propaganda thanks to the selective choices of editors, but they gave voice to readers and fans in ways that internet message boards just can't today.
