The Wednesday Club is Geek & Sundry’s weekly talk show chatting about all things comics. This week, hosts Taliesin Jaffe, Amy Dallen, and Matt Key chatted about a comics mainstay: the letters column in the back pages, featuring passionate fans and their thoughts.
Letters columns have been a feature of comic books almost as long as they’ve been in print. While the advent of the internet resulted in some books removing them from most major titles, as comic creators and editors became more accessible than ever, recently the columns have returned to highlight cosplay, fan art, and more.
On this week’s episode of The Wednesday Club, Amy walked Matt and Taliesin through books old and new with notable letters columns. “They are one of my favorite things in comics,” she said. In fact, Amy once wrote in to the Lazarus letters column to send in her thoughts to writer Greg Rucka, who replied a bit starstruck himself.
Older comics boasted letter columns with names like Shazamail (Shazam/Captain Marvel), Plastic Postcards (Plastic Man), and H.A.T.E. Mail (Agents of H.A.T.E.). More recently, comic books like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Wicked + Divine have continued the tradition.
Take a look at the gallery below for recommendations from this episode.
While most collected editions and trade paperbacks remove the letters from the book, letters columns can be found in the single issue copies of some of your favorite titles.
The Daily Wednesday
Did you know The Wednesday Club is kicking off their own letters column with questions and comments from viewers? Send in your thoughts, comic recommendations, questions, and more to Matt, Amy, and Taliesin at [email protected] and you might just see yourself on the next episode.
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Featured Image: Marvel Comics
Other Images: Marvel Comics and Image Comics
