Who's Who in the CBU 2010

Name: Regie Rigby

Regie is a strange, almost ethereal creature. Who can plumb the hidden mysteries of his dark and murky past - a past which contains a terrible secret. A secret that taught him that with great power comes great responsibility, that criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot and just who exactly knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

By day, he assumes the appearance of a mild mannered teacher, bringing the joy of literature and the English Language to classes of enthralled and enthusiastic students. But by night?

By night he goes home and writes lesson plans. Sorry. That's as interesting as he gets. Really.

The rumours about rooftop struggles with underworld uberfiends, the gossip about the hidden cave filled with hi-tec equipment and the suggestion that his car might be fitted with turbo lasers are all nonsense.

When he's not teaching he reads comics. Sometimes he combines the two activities. When he's not doing that he's either playing computer games or asleep.

Letters

By Regie Rigby

Well, everyone and their Bathound seems to have an opinion on this, so it only seems right that I should throw in my twopenn’orth. (Incidentally, knowing I was going to talk about this I’ve deliberately avoided reading too much comment on the issue either on this site or elsewhere.)

It’s been a little over a week since I heard that DC comics had decided to ditch their letters pages. Apparently, in the DCU we don’t need a lettercol, because in the DCU we’d all rather use our PC’s and Macs to communicate our views. Apparently, in the DCU we all find the limited space available in Batsignals or Detective Comments too restrictive, and in the DCU we would prefer the excess of space afforded by message boards and chatrooms.

Hmmm.

I’ve deliberately waited a while before saying anything because I wanted to make sure I didn’t go mouthing off with a gut reaction.

Besides – my gut reaction wasn’t really printable.

You see, it might be so that in the DCU people would rather use a message board. Actually I’m not convinced, but for the sake of argument I’ll conceed that such a thing is possible. But I don’t live in the DCU, and if I remove a long string of expletives my reaction to the news is this:

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!

Have they gone mad? I mean don’t get me wrong – I like to surf the ‘net as much as the next man, and I think that message boards and chatrooms are fine and noble forums to express opinions and discuss comics. But the whole point about cyberspace is that it exists outside comics. Not every comics reader chooses to visit the little online worlds we all think are so important. Why should they? More to the point, not every comics reader is able to catch the cyber surfing wave.

This may come as a shock to regular web watchers, but there are a lot of people who don’t have regular access to a computer. Some people can’t afford them, others simply choose not to own one! Yes, unlikely as it sounds there is no legal requirement that any individual comics reader should own a PC. Frankly it is unreasonable of DC Comics to assume that message boards, chatrooms and fansites are anything like a suitable replacement for the letters page.

Now, I accept that I’m biased, it’s just that I also happen to think I’m right. Long standing readers of Fool may be familiar with my love of the lettercol. It was a letter in Batman #435 that rekindled my love of comics in general and Batman in particular after all. It was a letter in the old Sandman letter column that led me to the Dreamlovers fanzine, through which I met Barb Lien, through whom I met Park Cooper, who led me here to Silver Bullet. (Indeed, Barb Lien met Park Cooper the same way, which given that Barb is now Barb Lien-Cooper is a powerful endorsement of the ability lettercols have to bring people together…)

I know that online communities are strong and vibrant places – all you need to do is to check out the various message boards here at SBC to see that. But these are communities which belong to themselves, and which are only available to those who choose to seek them out. The letters page is a forum available to every single reader of a comic. The only price of admission to party is the price of the comic itself – and every letter published there is available to every reader of every story.

It seems self evident to me that the internet will never match that.

Of course DC Comics will tell you that their postal address continues to exist, and that they will continue to read every letter you send in. Obviously the cynic in me says “shyeah – right…” but even if I accept DC at their word, I have to say that they’re missing the point. I mean of course most comics letter hacks are intending to communicate their views to the editor of the title, in an attempt to push the story in the direction the letter hack would prefer. But the editorial team is the minor audience.

I don’t think that Comics letter hacks really believe they will influence the editorial direction of the books they write to. Whatever the world might think of comics reader, we’re not that gullible. No, writing to a lettercol is a way of communicating with other fans (and as I said, unlike message boards by definition in a lettercol you’re communicating with all other fans). On occasion, lettercol debates have become both extended and heated – they can certainly be a place where a sense of community can build. (The lettercols of Preacher, Strangers in Paradise, Transmetropolitan and of course Sandman spring immediately to mind) but they can also give dedicated writers their place in the history of comics.

Most readers of my age will remember dear old Uncle Elvis. Variously described as “a real treasure” and “that asshole”, Uncle Elvis was a regularly published correspondence in a whole host of comics, from Spider-Man to Grendel and beyond. While inspiring agreement and vitriol in almost equal measure from other reader, Elvis was always good for provoking an argument. One or two sharp eyed Fool readers have also correctly identified Rol Hirst, scribe of The Jock, as recommended here a few weeks ago as a certain William Rolston Hirst who has also earned fame as a letter hack in the past. (and he got namechecked big style on Newsarama as such recently. Not that I’m name dropping or anything…)

Now, getting yourself noticed on the ‘net is all very well (I for one have no complaints) but gassing about it online will never make you as part of a comics history as getting your name in the letters page will. Now, some comics pros may well argue that this is simply fan vanity (indeed, Steve Dillon argued this at Comics ’99, just after Vertigo decided to ditch the letters page) but that’s easy for them – they get their names on the book every month.

Besides, the lettercol also allows the creative team a space in which to editorialise, and Grant Morrison launching a passionate attack on the American anti drugs policy in an online discussion is somehow not nearly so powerful as him launching the same attack from the letters page of a DC book (as he once did in an Invisibles column).

Now, many comics don’t feature lettercols, and they survive perfectly well. But I’d argue that they’re diminished I think.

So, take heed dear reader – I don’t do unequivocal opinions very often, and I don’t criticise my beloved DC all that often either. But they’re wrong about this. They were wrong when they cut the lettercol from the Vertigo titles and they’re wrong now. It seems like a long time ago, but back in May 1999 I wrote:

So do me a favour. Whatever comics you read - send them a letter. Even if there’s been no letters page in the book for months, write anyway. (Well, you can e-mail it if you really insist, but mail it to the comic, and not the website) Tell them what you think of what they're doing with the characters you love. Tell them how the book has affected your life. Tell them anything you like. Just write. Make sure they have something to print.

Like so many other things, if we don’t use letters pages, we’ll lose them. That would be a tragedy.


This I think is still true. DC might be a lost cause, but there are any number of more enlightened publishers who do still devote a page or two to the ramblings of their readers. Write them. E-mail them. But do it now.

Right, I’m off to see what everyone else said about this.