Like all efficient, well-organized 20th century citizens, the DC Comics superheroes took time out from their busy schedules to deal with their correspondence.
In fact, letter columns were a rather late arrival in the superhero comic books, given the fact that reader letters had been published in science fiction and pulp magazine even before comic books existed. But no DC Comics title had a letters column as a regular feature until Superman 124 (Sept. 1958).
Here we see the early letter column logos for the founding members of the Justice League of America. The Martian Manhunter and Aquaman were also founding members but, as backup features, didn’t have their own letter columns.
Coincidentally, the first issue of Wonder Woman to feature a letter column — No. 115 (July 1960) — was also the first I bought, at age 6. Unlike the other DC superheroes, the Amazing Amazon “answered her own letters,” and in a uniformly kind-hearted manner.
My favorite response was the one to Alan Hillard of Brooklyn, who wanted to know if he could have a small piece of her rope.
“Much as I would like to, I cannot!” replied Wonder Woman. “All my equipment is imaginative — born out of the magic of the mind! Your mind, by virtue of your imagination, has magic too, enabling you to ‘travel with me on my adventures through the pages of Wonder Woman comics! This is the same ‘magic carpet’ found in books, since the first page was written!”
No comments:
Post a Comment