Dear Editor: Forty-Six Years Later

Regular readers may be familiar with my occasional Dear Editor feature, which spotlights fan feedback from the vanished era of comic book letter pages.

A few months ago, I posted a "Dear Editor" letter from a young lad named Tony Armalis, originally published in a 1961 issue of Superman. Well, imagine my surprise when this comment appeared in my email inbox this past weekend:

"Mark, this is unbelieveable! I was having a hard time
sleeping, out of boredom did a search on my name, and
came up with this. I remember writing this letter back in
'61 at the ripe age of 14. I really got a kick out of this."
–Tony Armalis

Although the crux of the joke for that particular "Dear Editor" post was the editor's strange reply, I still have to hand it to "Grown-Up Tony" for having a good sense of humor over the whole thing. As surreal as it was to hear from him, I can only imagine how surreal an experience it was for Tony to see a letter he wrote forty-six years ago discussed on some geek's website.

I suppose in the age of Google, this sort of thing isn't quite the star-crossed cosmic coincidence it might have been in years past....but still....what're the odds?

Comments

[Siskoid]

Priceless!

[Dr. Retro]

How cool is that!?!?!

I actually wrote a couple of letters to the editors but don't know if they ever got published. Maybe some day they'll surface on some geek's blog.

And speaking of blogs, you've got the best comic blog on the world wide web! I've been reading for several months now. Informative and entertaining. The world did need another comic blog. Keep up the great work.

[Mark Engblom]

Siskoid: Ain't it, though?

Dr. Retro:Hey...what's up, Doc? (Sorry...couldn't resist)

Thanks for your kind words regarding my blog! (blush) It's good to know people like you are enjoying it. Looks like you're a brand new blogger yourself (I enjoyed your "maiden post"), and I'll definitely be following your efforts! Thanks for stopping by!

[Ivan Wolfe]

what're the odds?

To quote Han Solo:

Never tell me the odds!

[Brian Disco Snell]

My question is, is the editor still around?

[Mark Engblom]

Nope. The editor in question was most likely Mort Weisinger, who died in 1978.

Needless to say, I'd be even more surprised if Mort sent me an email.

[Shar]

I was shocked a couple of years ago to see a letter I'd penned that was published (late 60s) on a Legion website. Brought back nice memories...

Dr. Retro: I'll be reading your blog too. Amazing how many of us were turned on to DC because of the Batman TV show! (And DC led to Marvel and so on and so on...)