Strange Tales from a Silver Age Lettercol

One of the reasons I love old (read: Gold and Silver and early Bronze Age) comics is the uniqueness of their letter columns. These ‘Lettercols’ offer amazing insight into youth culture of their period and give us an understanding of what it was like growing up then.

So during a recent reading of Strange Tales #126 (1964) I came across a letter with two strange aspects. Here it is:

Asbestos Man! Can’t you think of a more dated concept for a comic book villain? WGTB will always count Stan Lee a genius, but apparently even the greats can be dated and err sometimes.

There’s also mention of Rheumatic fever in this letter. This illness, common in North American young people in the 1950s and early 60s, has all but disappeared in the developed world. I hope this young person got well quickly and went on to live a rich and fulfilling life. Still, it's interesting to see how far medical science has come in the past 50 years.

So there you have it. Insight into life in the early 60s courtesy of a Silver Age comic book. We’ve also attached are some great panels of the legendary Steve Ditko’s artwork for this particular Strange Tales. The copy we picked up was rather damaged, but given it's the first appearance of Dormammu, it was still a great find.

(All images from Marvel's Strange Tales #126, November 1964)

Archie Goodwin and a great Lettercol Exchange

One of the great things about reading pre-2000s comics are the Letter Columns. They had awesome titles, dated vernacular and even their own culture and personalities. And while the internet brought us many great new things (like this blog) unfortunately, it also brought about the decline and eventual elimination of these forums where fans and casual readers alike got to write about their comics.

This past weekend, WGTB picked up a copy of an old sentimental favourite: Marvel’s Star Wars (#22 from April 1979). It was only 25 cents and we needed it for our library. The tale was an unremarkable pre-Empire Strikes Back story but when we arrived at the letter column any buyer’s remorse about departing with that shiny quarter was gone! In it, we were treated with a remarkable letter/response exchange between a thoughtful and polite fan and the great Archie Goodwin.

(Marvel Comics Star Wars #22, April 1979)

Goodwin is often cited as the "best-loved comic book editor" and it’s responses like this that justify the superlative. Goodwin takes the fan’s critical observations of science-fiction seriously and uses them as a ‘teaching moment’ about the creation and development of comic book stories and characters.

Enjoy!