Golden Age Letter Columns

[strannik01]

Letter columns were not all that widespread during Golden Age. Most of the publishers either didn't have them or had them very sporadically. Out of all the defunct publishers, Novelty Press is one of the few that had letter columns in most of the titles it published. Looking at them, one gets a very interesting perspective on what kind of people read comics during the Golden Age and what sorts of things they wanted in their comics. And so, I would like to post a small sample of the letter pages that I've come across during the course of my research.

This letter column is one of the earliest Novelty Press letters pages I found. It was originally published in Target Comics #2 (Volume 2), which was originally published

In this letter column, we see a reader taking issue with Calling 2-R strip (in my opinion, one of the most fascinating and underrated Golden Age comics) and another reader offers a tidbit of information that would become terribly ironic in a few months.



The next letter column was published in Blue Bolt Comics #2 (Volume 2). It was released in July 1941.

In this letter column, we see the roots of something that would become a recurring trend in later columns - readers praising characters because of how "real" they are.



For the record, the Dick Cole the readers praise as a "typical American boy" was a product of scientific experimentation that made him borderline super-human.

The next letter column appeared in Target Comics #5 (Volume 2), which was published in October 1941. In the previous issue, the readers were asked whether of not Spacehawk should be canceled.

The opinions... varied:



In the next letter column, we jump forward to November 1947. It appeared in Young King Cole #4 (Volume 3).

Here, we see a reader shipping our old friend Toni Gay(le) with Young King Cole, while a male reader explains why he likes Toni so much.



And finally, we have a page from Guns Against Gangsters #1 (Volume 2), which was published in the fall of 1949.

The editor lectures readers about gun control and a female reader explains why Toni Gayle is such a great role model.



Tune in next time as I delve into the days of the original scans_daily and repost the first appearance of the weirdest Golden Age patriotic hero of them all - Yankee Doodle Jones.

Comments

[psychopathicus_rex]

What was the terribly ironic bit of information? I'm not seeing it.

[strannik01]

The fact that Target Comics were popular in Japan.

[psychopathicus_rex]

And why was that ironic? Was this just prior to WW2 or something?

[strannik01]

Oops, I forgot to include the date for this one. This issue was released in the spring of 1941. On December 1941 - well, you know your history.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Ah. Yes. Those comics probably didn't STAY popular in Japan for long afterwards, did they?

[curlyjo1]

Interesting how much of the fanbase (or the segment of fanbase inclined to write letters) was female.

[skalja]

The idea that American comic books have always been for men with women as a recently appearing minority share is a myth. I'm not sure if the gender split was 50/50 in the Golden Age, but women/girls were definitely a major part of the readership, and a target audience for ads, etc.

[sharky_chan]

I was just talking about this with a comic store owner, strangely enough. I almost want to say women were 50/50 or maybe even the majority of comic book readers up until genres like Westerns and romance fell out of vogue...

[junipepper]

Thanks for posting this. It's very interesting. I'm a bit of a U.S. history buff, but mostly 18th-19th century. The comics themselves and, especially, the letters are such a cool window into mid-20th century social history. I don't really know a lot about this period -- certainly not as much as I ought to, considering that my parents were both born in the 1930's and this is the time of their youth.

It looks like you've done quite a bit of research; I appreciate your sharing it!