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Aleksei Green
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 July 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 640
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 8:47am | IP Logged | 1
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Nowadays letter pages aren't a part of comic fan lives , but years ago certain letter writers knownn as letter hacks were known for their prolific letters to the editors. T.M. MAPLE, ELIZABETH HOLDEN and the like were famous in fan circles for their thoughtful letters. Whatever happened to alot of the famous letter writers? I know that Kurt Busiek was known for his letters of comment. And he is one of my favorite writers.
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Jonathan Stover
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 June 2004
Posts: 749
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 9:00am | IP Logged | 2
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I believe The Mad Maple died a few years ago, and I think this came up in a thread sometime earlier where his real name was given. I really treasure the letters I got published when I went through my letter-writing phase, but I can see why -- with the internet -- the whole thing has died out. Still, it was neat to not only have a letter published in Sandman or Young All-Stars, but to have the writer respond to it there on the printed page.
For the record, I also pointed out that a nitpick someone had about Batman Year One was actually incorrect because, having had rabies shots (don't ask), I could attest to the fact that Miller's depiction of rabies shots was within the realm of correctness.
Cheers, Jon
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Brian Talley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5123
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 9:31am | IP Logged | 3
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Never had a letter printed, but I did win a no-prize.Of course my first wife, in a fit of being herself, destroyed it.
*sigh*
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Jonathan Stover
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 June 2004
Posts: 749
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 9:39am | IP Logged | 4
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Yeah, I've still got my No-Prize from Bill Mantlo for a letter to Micronauts. Letter didn't get printed, but I was only ten at the time, so I can't be too grumpy.
Cheers, Jon
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Aleksei Green
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 July 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 640
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 9:47am | IP Logged | 5
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I was reading a letter in an old FF issue commenting on John Byrne's Trial of Reed Richards. Some fellow really took offense at the outcome of that story. He called marvel comics 'lifehating anti Christian monsters' unfit to publish 'kids funny books'. That letter is hilarious to me. He sure took the storyline way too seriously. I
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Dale Gonsalves
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 April 2004
Location: Jamaica
Posts: 487
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 11:03am | IP Logged | 6
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I used to devour the letter pages.
The story I read somwehere goes
TM Maple aka Jim Burke started writing letters to comic books in 1977 and would always sign his name "The Mad Maple"
Editor Tom DeFalco changed his name to T.M.Maple when Jim Shooter outlawed the use of pseudonyms.
In Zot #21, from 1986, he revealed his true name, in letter #3,128. He also managed to sell a script to a small press comic company, and put out a fanzine in the late 80's. Unfortunately, Burke died of a heart attack in February of 1994.
His passing was noted both on Usenet and in the DC letter columns of the time
I'm trying very hard to remember other names, I can only come up with Kent A Phenis, Rickey and Barb Shroeder and Dale Cole from England.
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Mike O'Brien
Byrne Robotics Member
Official JB Historian
Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10927
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 12:35pm | IP Logged | 7
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Perusing through old issues of JBNM you find, if not the old TM Maple esque letter hacks, some other familier names, like...
David Farabee ("Big Tex Dave") #26, #25, #12
Glen O'Brien #23, #10
Robin Taylor #21
Brian Michael Bendis #8
Mike Gold #8
Brian Hibbs #29
and that's just JBNM - I know I've seen some of your names out there - am I wrong in remembering seeing Dave Pruitt's name in a lettercol somewhere?
Oh, and there was a Ben Simko in one of the JBNM, but I don't think it was our Bob.
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Emery Calame
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5771
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | 8
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I got a letter printed in Mecha #6(drawn by Harrison Fong) by Darkhorse back in 1989. Of course that was the last issue before they canceled it and made it a short lived feature in a three story anthology book.
Oh well.
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James Wright
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1062
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 1:40pm | IP Logged | 9
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I seem to remember someone called Uncle Elvis? I believe he had a lot of letters published in FIRST comics titles.
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Mike O'Brien
Byrne Robotics Member
Official JB Historian
Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10927
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 1:51pm | IP Logged | 10
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Uncle Elvis had a letter in JBNM, too - I almost noted it above, but he just missed the cut.
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 32051
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | 11
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Wonder what Bendis had to say? I don't want to dig out the issue.
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Ed Love
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 October 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 2711
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| Posted: 16 April 2005 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | 12
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there was a charles sperling back in the mid to late 80's. i mainly
remember because he was a member of an apa that i was part of. the guy
wrote a lot, and could really disect and tear a comic to shreds. i
remember he distinctly hated the challengers of the unknown limited by
loeb and sale and the time masters limited. the latter was actually
ironic in that the last issue they thanked many of the fans that had
written in and supported the series, mentiong charles among others by
name. however, i don't think sperling even read the whole thing, that
he stopped about halfway through.
i seem to recall a michael or malcolm bourne. i think that's right.
personally, i had a few published, though i figured i'd stand a better
chance of being not only published but in just reaching the creators
and listened to by going after small publishers. thus, i had a few
letters in ac's fem force back when they were using all the golden-age
heroes not tied up with dc, marvel, archie, and harvey and millenium's
doc savage mini-series
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