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 Think they're outdated?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.

[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.