My first work as a writer about comics

About a month ago, Sean Kleefeld wrote a blog post called "My Short Career as a Letterhack," in which he talks about writing to comic book letters pages in order to get on the radar of editors. I can relate, because when I first got it into my head that I wanted to write comics, that was an approach I took too.

For me, it wasn't so much about being remembered by editors as it was simply a way of connecting to the comics industry on a deeper level than just reading the books. I started seeing some of the same names pop up on comics pages a lot (possibly even Sean's; I know I read at least those Marvel Knights issues he was published in) and figured that I could do that too. And since it would mean submitting a piece of writing to an editor and competing with other pieces of writing for print, I saw it as sort of a first step towards being published.

Sean posted a cover gallery of comics that his letters appeared in, so I'm doing that too. My time writing letters was much shorter than his, ended when I got reliable access to the Internet and was able to write about comics that way. But I had a good time with it and was able to figure out what kinds of letters editors were looking for.



Milestone had a Letter of the Month deal where they'd send one letter-writer a signed copy of the issue in which he or she was printed. I got picked for talking not only about Hardware, but Milestone in general and what it meant to me.





I grew up a Marvel kid, but tried a bunch of DC comics shortly after their Zero Hour event and wrote in to tell them about that.



I was a huuuuge Azrael fan, and loved getting to gush about that character to the folks making comics about him at the time. Sadly, the series didn't stay awesome it's whole run, but the issues with Barry Kitson on art were amazing.



I'm also really happy that I got to tell Peter David and Company how cool their Aquaman was.



My last published letter was the nerdiest of all as I expressed my appreciation that Malibu's Deep Space Nine series offered a more plausible explanation for the existence of Thomas Riker than Star Trek: TNG did on TV.

And Now the News: One Dino-Flick; Hold the Grudge

Michael Crichton pirate movie



I didn't know that Michael Crichton finished a pirate novel before he died. I guess it takes Steven Spielberg's making a movie out of it for me to learn these things.

The He-Lion's Lair



Pappy's got the story.

The Asylum's The Land That Time Forgot



I've quit paying attention to new Asylum releases, no matter how awesome they sound on paper. That's because I know that even if there's a great story to the movie (unlikely), they'll ruin it with cheap (if any) special effects.

So, Robert Hood's talking about me (however indirectly) when he says that The Land That Time Forgot "will not be forgiven by many net-critics for being made by the notorious Asylum — but at the risk of sounding like an apologist for the company, I don’t think such an attitude is fair."

He goes on to point out that the Asylum's crappy effects are still better than the goofy puppets in the Doug McClure version and similar B-movies. And of course he's absolutely right. My big beef with the Asylum is that they tend to market themselves as something better than they are, but really once you know what they are you can't say anymore that they tricked you. The question then is: taken for what you know Asylum films are, is it possible to still enjoy them on their own merits?

Hood obviously thinks so. He recommends the movie for people who "like dino-flicks — and don’t carry grudges." I certainly like dinosaur movies; I'm curious to see if I can get past my grudge. I think I'll try The Land That Time Forgot with a more open mind and see how it goes.

Pixar's Dinosaur movie?



/Film speculates that Pixar is probably working on a dinosaur-themed short film. They have to connect a lot of dots to come up with that, but it's some really strong dot-connecting. I wouldn't bet against them.

Diamond Bomb



Sleestak's having a lot of fun creating his own pulp heroine called Diamond Bomb. I love the world he's building for her and the art he's collected to support the illusion is fantastic.

The Anchor interview



My fellow Robot 6 member Tim O'Shea talks to Phil Hester about his new immortal-Viking demon-hunter series.

Sword of Shannara newspaper strip



Like Tom Spurgeon, I had no idea that there'd ever been a Sword of Shannara newspaper strip. Fortunately, Steven Thompson's got them all and is willing to share.

The Unauthorized but True Story of Adventures of Superman



If you pay constant attention to my sidebar (and why wouldn't you?) you've maybe noticed that I've been watching the old Adventures of Superman series off and on for a while. It's mostly cheesy and formulaic, but there's such love in it from everyone involved that you can't help but feel good while watching it. And some of the episodes are actually quite entertaining even from an objective point-of-view.

So it's cool that Tim O'Shea had another interview this week with Michael J. Hayde, author of a book about not only the George Reeves TV show, but also the radio program that preceded it. I want to know more about the TV show and I know nothing about the radio version, so I'll be needing this book.

No more Milestone at DC?



This is really, really disappointing.

I've been resisting talking about this.



I mean, a) it's hardly an adventure comic, and b) it's nothing more than a publicity stunt that - because it's set in the future - doesn't actually affect the status quo of Archie's never-changing world at all.

So, why am I discussing it now? Mainly because Glen Weldon's article about Imaginary Stories in general has helped me put the "event" in perspective. Since Archie's world really is never going to change - and he's never going to pick between Betty and Veronica - why not do a speculative story about what would happen if he did? This one happens to be about what would happen if he picked Veronica. I'd be shocked if they aren't already planning a second mini-series about what happens if he picks Betty. I'd rather read the Betty one, but since an in-continuity decision is impossible, I'm actually kind of pleased that they've come up with an alternative way of telling that story.

Oooh, Batman. Burrrrrn!

Rocket burns Batman so bad in Justice League of America #30 (by Dwayne McDuffie and José Luis). I'd forgotten how much I missed her.

Black Canary vs. the Trinity

There's one more Black Canary comic that's been causing a stir, so I should mention it. Folks seem to be having a problem with a scene in which JLA Chairwoman Black Canary confronts Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman for holding secret meetings in a hidden room.



A lot of the commentary is around Ed Benes' art and I get that. I find it pretty easy to ignore, but yes, he does like to draw booties and crotches. The panel above isn't at all indicative of most of Benes' poses in the scene.

Where I disagree with critics though is about Dwayne McDuffie's writing. Black Canary does accuse the "trinity" of undermining her authority as leader of the JLA and I've read a couple of posts questioning exactly how they're doing that. After all, they're not countermanding her orders in battle and none of the other members know about the secret meetings. Black Canary herself had to do some serious detective work to find out about them.

So, yeah, I agree that they're not really undermining her authority as far as the rest of the team is concerned. But Canary's response here isn't really about the rest of the team. It's about her. It's an emotional response to finding out that the three heavy-hitters of the superhero community in general and the JLA in particular don't trust her enough to include her in their little club. "Undermining" may be a poor choice of words on Canary's part, but I don't think they necessarily are on McDuffie's. It's exactly the kind of thing someone would say out of their emotion when they feel personally and professionally threatened. I like it. It humanizes Canary.

In a perfect world, I'd have much more to say about the return of the Milestone characters in this issue. I've been waiting for this day and I'm twelve kinds of excited about seeing where this goes. But the sad fact is that it's been so long since I've read these guys' adventures that I don't remember much about all but a couple of them. I really need to dig out my old Milestones again. And probably post about them.