Letter Pages in the DoX era

[AppleJ]

Letter pages have largely disappeared from the X-Books in the Dawn of X. No doubt some of this could be due to the originally accelerated publishing schedule and/or maybe limited staff for answering them?

Just curious who is missing the presence of letter pages? Who isn't? Do you wish they'd come back? Think they're outdated? Without them, do you still bother to write in? Do creators like them? Hate them?

Discuss!

[Ambaryerno]

Tbh, so much of the letter column these days are just cheerleading. It seems we only see the pay on the back positive comments while burying the criticism.

Not long ago I was going through my 90s DC Trek books, and when looking over the letters pages I was astonished at some of the negative comments (some were even of the “You’re ruining Star Trek you talentless hacks!” variety) they not only printed, but ADDRESSED. Lately it seems Marvel specifically, and publishers in general, try to pretend there’s no criticism about their direction at all and that everyone love what they’re doing.

IMO unless they decide to be honest about the reaction again, what’s the point?

[AppleJ]

Tbh, so much of the letter column these days are just cheerleading. It seems we only see the pay on the back positive comments while burying the criticism.

Not long ago I was going through my 90s DC Trek books, and when looking over the letters pages I was astonished at some of the negative comments (some were even of the “You’re ruining Star Trek you talentless hacks!” variety) they not only printed, but ADDRESSED. Lately it seems Marvel specifically, and publishers in general, try to pretend there’s no criticism about their direction at all and that everyone love what they’re doing.

IMO unless they decide to be honest about the reaction again, what’s the point?

Yeah, that's fair! I think the last time I saw a letter published that was critical was toward the end of the X-Men: Gold run.

I can understand not wanting to publish critiques that are not constructive or specific or use profanity, but it would be refreshing to see at least those that make very valid points addressed now and then.

I also miss the ability to ask questions about why certain choices were made and gain insights into the writers POV or a vague idea of what we might expect down the road in a story. And when something is praiseworthy, it would also be nice to have an official avenue to voice that support.

[Wiccan]

Tbh, so much of the letter column these days are just cheerleading. It seems we only see the pay on the back positive comments while burying the criticism.

...At least that's better than when Guggenheim took a letter from someone who didn't like Rachel/Kurt and said it came out of nowhere just for him to brag about how actually, he was a continuity expert and Rachel/Kurt came from Claremont and I don't remember the rest but he essentially said the reader was an idiot and ended the reply very bitterly and like he had just ~owned them~ lol.

[franckd]

...At least that's better than when Guggenheim took a letter from someone who didn't like Rachel/Kurt and said it came out of nowhere just for him to brag about how actually, he was a continuity expert and Rachel/Kurt came from Claremont and I don't remember the rest but he essentially said the reader was an idiot and ended the reply very bitterly lol.

X-Men Gold letter pages were such a joke. I had some good laughs, and in some ways, they were accidentally more entertaining that the book itself.

[PrezValentine]

X-Men fans already harass creators enough on Twitter. No need to give an officially published platform, nor just publish positive opinions to pat themselves on the back.

[spirit2011]

Hickmn answering fan questions? haha not happening

[franckd]

X-Men fans already harass creators enough on Twitter. No need to give an officially published platform, nor just publish positive opinions to pat themselves on the back.

I don't understand why people harass creators... I mean, ok, you can hate a run, a take, but harassing creators make no sense. That's ugly. And it won't change anything that has been published.
And publishing only positives letters is so vain. Especially as readers are not stupids and understand the manipulation quite easily.

[PrezValentine]

I don't understand why people harass creators... I mean, ok, you can hate a run, a take, but harassing creators make no sense. That's ugly. And it won't change anything that has been published.
And publishing only positives letters is so vain. Especially as readers are not stupids and understand the manipulation quite easily.

Considering I see Brazilian fans of Jean Grey calling Hickman (as a person) garbage or idiots on his replies constantly, I see no reason for him to ever want to address fans in general. And I'm not even being paranoid, I'm talking people with Jean avatars and "Jean grey fan" or stuff on their names. Can't imagine what the other writers have to read whenever they don't please a certain group. Giving this kind of fan another platform is stupid.

[houndsofluv]

letter pages are kind of obsolete , we can just hop online to see what other fans are jiving with . it circumvents the kind of filtration other posters have mentioned .we get teasers/creator statements from elsewhere too .

[franckd]

Considering I see Brazilian fans of Jean Grey calling Hickman (as a person) garbage or idiots on his replies constantly, I see no reason for him to ever want to address fans in general. And I'm not even being paranoid, I'm talking people with Jean avatars and "Jean grey fan" or stuff on their names. Can't imagine what the other writers have to read whenever they don't please a certain group. Giving this kind of fan another platform is stupid.

As a Jean Grey fan myself, I can't deny what you say. Actually, I was talking about it lately, in the JG appreciation thread : I remember that one Jott shipper sent death threats to Greg Pak, when Endonsg was released. Because he was unhappy that Pak didn't end Scemma.

I was horrified.

Actually, some Jean Grey fans are quite scary (and stupid) : when you want something for you fav, just say positive, just stay nice. For a creator, is so much nicer to read "please, can you give more panel time to Jean? You're a very talented writer and I'm sure you can come up with an amazing storyline for her"

instead of "I hate the way you're writing Jean. You're an imposter hack with no talent. I can't wait for you to be fired"...

Some Jean fans are so toxic, that writers end up associating their toxicity with the character.

And you know what, I'm not super happy with Jonathan Hickman's Jean. I said it a few times on this forum. But I tweeted him only twice, and only said nice things (luckily it was not difficult, as I love many of his ideas)

[Veitha]

As a Jean Grey fan myself, I can't deny what you say. Actually, I was talking about it lately, in the JG appreciation thread : I remember that one Jott shipper sent death threats to Greg Pak, when Endonsg was released. Because he was unhappy that Pak didn't end Scemma.

I was horrified.

Actually, some Jean Grey fans are quite scary (and stupid) : when you want something for you fav, just say positive, just stay nice. For a creator, is so much nicer to read "please, can you give more panel time to Jean? You're a very talented writer and I'm sure you can come up with an amazing storyline for her"

instead of "I hate the way you're writing Jean. You're an imposter hack with no talent. I can't wait for you to be fired"...

Some Jean fans are so toxic, that writers end up associating their toxicity with the character.

And you know what, I'm not super happy with Jonathan Hickman's Jean. I said it a few times on this forum. But I tweeted him only twice, and only said nice things (luckily it was not difficult, as I love many of his ideas)

The fanbase does play a little bit of a role in defining the way a creator sees a character, I agree. And I can't really blame the creators, because if I received death threats after using a certain character I'd rather write another character than even try to understand that character better.

[AppleJ]

Maybe there is just a problem with the kind of discourse happening on social media and that is bleeding over into letter pages?

Looking back in letter pages from older issues, while I definitely see criticisms, overall they seem more civil and less entitled and far more like genuine curiosities and questions and discourse. If fans go to the trouble to thank or praise a writer for a story, I don't see publishing that as vain so much as showing appreciation for those fans. What I would find disingenuous would be only publishing only praise especially if it's a minority of the letters being sent.

But I do agree, the impression that I get from Jonathan Hickman is that he doesn't really care how you feel about the story he wants to tell, whether it's praise or criticism. So in that respect, he probably doesn't care about letter pages at all and could be informing that decision not to include them in X-books.

[franckd]

The fanbase does play a little bit of a role in defining the way a creator sees a character, I agree. And I can't really blame the creators, because if I received death threats after using a certain character I'd rather write another character than even try to understand that character better.

You're right. I had this problem with Lady Gaga fans 10 years ago. I was on a music forum, dedicated to the n°1 selling female singer in France (Mylene Farmer), and many Gaga fans came there to claim that Gaga was better. And they were insulting Mylene and her fans. Then I noticed they pretty much did the same on many, many websites about the singers. You know what, I loved Gaga first album. But after her fans harassment, I couldn't even listen to one of her song.

Same applies with some Jean Grey fans : they're so mean, so obsessed, that it can be quite scary for a writer I suppose. Those fans have so much negative energy, that I understand why some writers don't want to deal with them, or with the character. That stupid, those Fans are just shooting themselves in the foot...

[spirit2011]

Considering I see Brazilian fans of Jean Grey calling Hickman (as a person) garbage or idiots on his replies constantly, I see no reason for him to ever want to address fans in general. And I'm not even being paranoid, I'm talking people with Jean avatars and "Jean grey fan" or stuff on their names. Can't imagine what the other writers have to read whenever they don't please a certain group. Giving this kind of fan another platform is stupid.

It's not like Hickman isn't screwing over Jean, he did that karen poll and asked people to vote against her.
I barely see people going after him.

and letters are filtered throught staff

if writers can't take any criticism and it is considered harassment these days. hard to communicate

Maybe there is just a problem with the kind of discourse happening on social media and that is bleeding over into letter pages?

Looking back in letter pages from older issues, while I definitely see criticisms, overall they seem more civil and less entitled and far more like genuine curiosities and questions and discourse. If fans go to the trouble to thank or praise a writer for a story, I don't see publishing that as vain so much as showing appreciation for those fans. What I would find disingenuous would be only publishing only praise especially if it's a minority of the letters being sent.

But I do agree, the impression that I get from Jonathan Hickman is that he doesn't really care how you feel about the story he wants to tell, whether it's praise or criticism. So in that respect, he probably doesn't care about letter pages at all and could be informing that decision not to include them in X-books.

Maybe ther eis other writers and editors that want to talk with fans throught the letters, but I can't see Hickman caring baout that

The fanbase does play a little bit of a role in defining the way a creator sees a character, I agree. And I can't really blame the creators, because if I received death threats after using a certain character I'd rather write another character than even try to understand that character better.

This is really a bad excuse to put on fans all the crap writers do with a chaarcter

it is completely unreal