Showerthought: I always thought the 'read the letters column' advice for old comics was just filler, but it actually explained a weird plot hole in my Amazing Spider-Man #212.

4 comments

4 Comments

That's so cool when that happens! I remember hearing a podcast where a guy said the old letter columns would sometimes have the writer explain a character's weird choice that didn't make sense on the page. It was like getting bonus content before the internet. Makes me want to go dig through some old boxes and actually read those parts for once.

finleym371mo ago

My uncle kept every letter column from his 80s X-Men comics. Reading them now, the writer explanations just feel like lazy writing they had to fix later. It kinda ruins the magic for me.

jenny421mo ago

My friend Mike found a full run of 90s Spider-Man in his dad's attic last year. He read every single letter column and said almost half of them had the editor explaining a plot hole from two issues before. It felt like they were just covering their tracks. I see what @rivera.shane means about bonus content, but for Mike it totally broke the spell. He said once you notice the patches, you start seeing the seams in every story.

karen_hill317d ago

Ugh, that's exactly how I feel about DVD commentary tracks now. Once you hear a director say "we ran out of money so we just had the monster walk off screen," you can't unsee the cheap parts. It does pull back the curtain in a way that can spoil the fun. I get why they did it, but it's like seeing the puppet strings. Makes you wonder if some stories are better left unexplained.