| Posted: 01 October 2016 at 7:06am | IP Logged | 1
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I love letters pages! That includes letters pages from older issues. It really is great to pick up a comic from a year when I wasn't around (i.e. 1969) and get a feel for what folk were thinking at the time. That applies not just to comics, but anything else, either. It might, for instance, be interesting - and this is just one example - to read newspaper letters from people who were around before WWII started. Or perhaps letters, if such exist, from people who were around when planes first started flying.
One of the main reasons I rarely buy TPBs of classic stories, or order issues via comiXology, is the lack of letters pages.
I bought BATMAN #232 (1971) from comiXology recently. Good story, first appearance of Ra's al Ghul. Sadly, no letters page. It might have been nice to read a 1971 letter. Obviously, it wouldn't have been about Ra's al Ghul, but it might have covered some interesting topics.
And when I buy TPBs - my recent purchase was "The Many Deaths of Batman" - it's all good, but, obviously, no letters page reprints pertaining to those particular issues.
It is why, when it comes to back issues, I just prefer to go to comic stores. Take our host, for instance: pick up 80s issues of FF and SUPERMAN and you'll get to read reactions to what Mr Byrne was doing at the time. Read those same stories in TPBs and you don't get that.
Although it would have cost me a lot to buy the 1971 first appearance of Ra's al Ghul - one eBay copy was 90 quid! - part of me wishes I had the money for that. It is why now I head to eBay or comic stores. Also, on a related note, gotta love those old comic ads, i.e. Charles Atlas' bodybuilding course, x-ray specs, blow-up skeletons, etc. ;)
Any thoughts?
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