KID'S MIGHTY MARVEL MAILBAG...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

For those who may be interested, I finally managed to find the photocopy of my letter published in The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL back in 1977 - so, as promised, here it is.  I'd forgotten the number, but I also uncovered a copy of a later letters page reply which identified the particular issue - #226.  Now all I need to do is discover in which number the reply was published and I'll be a very satisfied man.

Unfortunately, the copy of my missive is far too faded to reproduce well, but I managed to discern what it said and retyped it so you can read what my younger self was saying in 1977.

******

TOO REAL?

                Dear Marvel,

                It is well-known by comic fans today that Marvel is the world's largest

                and most popular comic book publishing company compared with all

                the other companies in this field of artistic endeavour.  It is also well-

                known that Marvel characters are supposed to be more realistic than

                characters portrayed by competitors.  In Marvel the characters have

                money problems, romantic hang-ups, feelings of inadequacy, vanity,

                jealousy, fear, etc.  In Stan Lee's best-selling book, "Origins of Marvel

                Comics" he comments about the role comic books play in our society 

                today.  He says, "Or call it (the comic book medium) perhaps a rem-
                edy, a pictorial tonic to relieve the awesome affliction that threatens
                us all, the endlessly spreading virus of too much reality in a world
                that is losing its legends, a world that has lost its heroes."

                Well, it is my opinion that "the endlessly spreading virus of too much
                reality" has finally infected the media which was originally created to
                provide an escape from it.  Or, if you prefer, to offer relievement from

                it.  Let me digress for a moment.  You meet a friend who has just been to

                the cinema and when he starts to relate how the hero, who was wrongly

                imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, escapes from jail, overpowers

                two guards, hijacks a truck and finally brings the real criminal to

                justice, you immediately think it's a film worth going to see.

                But what happens when you see the film and find out that this action

                only takes up forty minutes out of two and a half hours viewing time,

                and that the rest of the film is concerned with the hero's mother taking

                a heart attack, his father running off with the next-door neighbour's

                wife, his brother joining the army, someone feeding poisoned milk to

                his cat and finally strangling his budgie?  You'd probably go looking

                for your friend with a double-barrelled shotgun.

                Now, if that was reversed, and there was two hours of exciting car

                chases, cliffhanger exploits and other death-defying feats, with the

                hero's personal  life only taking up a half-hour scattered throughout

                the picture, then perhaps you'd think it was a really enjoyable picture,

                and you'd  probably invite your friend out for a drink the next time

                you meet him.

                And now, in case you're wondering what all this has to do with Marvel

                comics, I'll explain.  It used to be, in Marvel, that the story was con-

                cerned with the hero trying to capture the villain who set out intriguing

                traps, made sinister schemes and plotted the hero's downfall.  Occasion-

                ally, the personal lives of the characters would be hinted at in order to

                inform the reader that, although it was a superhero mag, the people in

                it were normal, with faults and follies the same as we ourselves.

                Nowadays, I have noticed a growing tendency in your mags (especially

                American) to have the story centered  around the heroes' personal lives,

                with an odd super-villain or two thrown in to provide a bit of action, and

                to remind us we're reading about superheroes.  Don't misunderstand me,

                I'm not saying cut out private lives altogether, all I'm asking is don't play

                them up so much.  A bit of soap-opera is okay once in a while in an odd

                magazine or two, but when you pick up at least ten or twelve mags

                regularly every month and you read nothing but  "O Henry" type of

                stuff, it gets kind of boring.  After all, what would YOU rather watch,

                a James Bond movie or "Crossroads"?

                                                                                                                             Gordon Robson,

                                                                                                                        Glasgow, Scotland.

                We-e-e-ll, from time to time we've had criticism tossed at us, hurled

                at us or gently pushed across the table at us.  But to you, Gordon,

                goes the distinction of being the very first critic to suggest that we

                have too much REALISM in the mags.  That "realism" is one of the

                cornerstones of Marvel.  How do we defend it without defending

                Marvel itself?  So at this stage we're gonna wait for the reaction

                from Marveldom.

******

And here's the reply from LANCE HANSON a few issues later:

BACK TO REALITY

                Dear Sir (and Gordon Robson),

                I absolutely disagree with Gordon Robson's letter in MWOM 226
                about comics having "too much reality".  He wrote, "Which would
                you rather watch, a James Bond movie or Crossroads?"  I would
                watch  James Bond.

                Well, it is my opinion that "the endlessly spreading virus of too
                much reality has finally infected the media which was originally
                created to provide an escape from it, " he wrote.  Very silly.  If I
                wanted laughable comics I would buy them.  But I don't, I buy
                comics to think about what I am reading.  I buy my comics for
                reality.

                If Mr. Robson wanted reality in Marvel, why not buy "Howard
                the Duck"?  Take peter Parker, student at a university.  The death
                of Gwen Stacy shook him, but he soon got out of it..  His friendships
                and hardships with Mary Jane Watson.  His super-hero career does
                not affect him in any way.

                Gordon, make a choice.  Either take a risk of embarrassment and
                read "Funny" comics or read comics filled with signs of reality.
                Think it over again.  You might feel differently.

                                                                                                                                 Lance Hanson,

                                                                                                                   Dudley, W. Midlands. 

I'm sure I replied to Lance's letter, but no longer recall whether it was published or not.  Going by his response to my James Bond comparison, it seems plain that he didn't quite get what I was saying.  In fact, I'm far from convinced that he quite got what he was saying either, as his logic lacks cohesion, based, as it is, on a misunderstanding of my basic point.

Looking at my letter all these years later, I can only wonder why I used an obsolete word like 'relievement' instead of 'relief', but apart from that (and using the word 'media' instead of 'medium'), it wasn't too bad, considering.  So, how do I wrap this up?  Ah, I know... "Make Mine Marvel!"

******

UPDATE: Since first posting this, I've now acquired a replacement copy of the actual issue.  It's like holding a little piece of history in my hands, which helps roll back the years to 1977 as if it were only a couple or so years back.  Incidentally, I now realise why the photocopy of my letter was so faded - the letter itself as printed in the comic wasn't too sharp to begin with.  Still good to have the 'original' back in my possession though.