 |
| Hudson Leick gains me my SFX immortality. |
Insanely, despite my way with words, my one success was in an issue of SFX magazine, about ten years ago, where, in the guise of a pair of lesbians, I demanded they print more pictures of Xena: Warrior Princess actress Hudson Leick. I actually wasn't that fussed about whether they published more photos of Hudson Leick or not. I just felt that a letter demanding more photos of an attractive woman might press the right buttons with an editorial staff of geeky types who liked to think of themselves as laddish, and therefore increase my chances of publication.
Reader, that ploy, shameful as it was, succeeded, and the Hudson Leick as Callisto photo above is the one they printed in response to it.
Sadly my earlier ventures into the vale of such egomania brought less success. And that's where comics come into it.
Despite sending a whole bunch of letters to Marvel UK when I was a child, not one ever got published - not even the one that pointed out the Silver Surfer shouldn't need to dodge when the Hulk throws boulders at him.
My sister, however, only ever wrote one letter to them. All it did was criticise them. That letter got published in Spider-Man Comics Weekly. I won't say which issue because then she'd probably kill me but it was a John Romita issue and featured the Spider-Slayer. I'm not sure what it says about me that, even after nearly forty years, there's still a little part of me in which it rankles that my repeated efforts failed where her single effort succeeded.
Still, I can always recompense myself with the knowledge that she doesn't have a blog like I do, one with a million adoring fans whose lives would collapse if I didn't tell them whether I like Supergirl #8 more or less than Supergirl #7. On top of that, I know that not everyone's had the nightmare experience with letters that I have, so I might as well ask you while you're here; have you ever had any letters to the editor published, and just when and where?
Hi Steve! I never had any letters printed in actual comics, but I did have one printed in Doctor Who Monthly ( as it was ) back in 1980, which mostly consisted of me moaning about the TV show's new title sequence, which I hated. ( And still do! ) And I also had one printed in the modern incarnation of Doctor Who Magazine, after a modest 25-year gap, in which I raved about the show's return in general, and the lovely Billie Piper in particular.
ReplyDeleteI still have nightmares about the Dr Who opening titles of the 1980s. Please promise me that never again will we see the Doctor winking at us from the depths of his time vortex.
ReplyDeleteI had letters printed in MWOM and POTA back in the '70s. I even had a letter printed in 2000 AD sometime in the '90s when I was freelancing for them (See? It's WHO you know.) I've also had a few letters (via email) printed in the current incarnation of MWOM and also FFA.
ReplyDeleteCan I have a No-prize please. (Sorry, flashback.)
I'm a bit younger than you guys, apparently, as I probably couldn't get a letter printed in 1980 being all of 4 years old. I DID however get a letter printed in the Powers comic(my lone attempt at writing a letter anywhere, in fact). Bendis was holding a contest to be a guest letter column editor for a month and anyone familiar with that column knows that is simply too sweet an offer to pass up. I was one of the entries he liked, I guess, but the contest was won by a female offering promises of sexual favors, so you see, it was over before it had begun, really.
ReplyDeleteI had a letter printed and I didn't even know it.
ReplyDeleteI sent an effusive note for the new X-Men team. Like so many, the tales of these new mutants, boldly drawn by Dave Cockrum thrilled me to my toes.
I was at college. Chances to swing by a shop with comics (well before specialty comics stores and "pull lists") were sporadic at best. So, I missed an issue of "Uncanny X-Men". Ah, well. Something to hunt for in the secondhand store later.
Then I began receiving the oddest mail. Catalogues and flyers from comic sellers from all over the USA. I'd ordered one or two of these in my time, but not this flood. How did they get my address?
Then it hit me. My letter had been printed! They were reading my name and address in the X-Men! Holey moley!
It took me almost a year before I finally laid hands on that missing issue and saw my name in a letters column.
I've had some letters printed in my time. Most recently in Conan: the Scarlet Citadel.
ReplyDeleteSteve Chung
I never wrote any letters to Marvel or DC, but I did twice have stories printed in the Birmingham Evening Mail, as I was an erstwhile member of that journal's "Chipper Club" and they invited members to submit a story every week.
ReplyDeleteAt the time I was convinced that I would one day become a journalist, only a very cruel and mindless careers advisor threw me off that track some years later.
Careers advisors really are a law unto themselves. I remember mine advised every boy in our class to get a job at a local steelworks - at a time when they were all shutting down.
ReplyDeleteI would rather they publish more photos of Hudson Leick than publish my letters.
ReplyDelete