Does Marvel write it's own fan letters?

[Kitsune]

I was reading the letters page in AMS a few days ago and all the letters were all positive about the OMD/BND thing. In fact one inDuhvidual claimed that those of us who think Peter making a deal with the devil and dropping 20+ years of continuity into the trash are a "vocal minority." What I want to know is does Marvel actually sift through the thousands of angry letters to find the three people who actually like this stuff, or do they cut out the middle man and just write their own propaganda?

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

I've had a few printed over the years....

 

[Captain Useless]

I've had a few printed over the years....

I bet they paid you to say that.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I was reading the letters page in AMS a few days ago and all the letters were all positive about the OMD/BND thing. In fact one inDuhvidual claimed that those of us who think Peter making a deal with the devil and dropping 20+ years of continuity into the trash are a "vocal minority." What I want to know is does Marvel actually sift through the thousands of angry letters to find the three people who actually like this stuff, or do they cut out the middle man and just write their own propaganda?

Um... we are a vocal minority. The comic's sales back that up. I doubt very much that Marvel writes its own fan letters; there are plenty of people who actually, honestly enjoy BND and (fewer) who enjoyed OMD.

 

[Sugarculted]

I was reading the letters page in AMS a few days ago and all the letters were all positive about the OMD/BND thing. In fact one inDuhvidual claimed that those of us who think Peter making a deal with the devil and dropping 20+ years of continuity into the trash are a "vocal minority." What I want to know is does Marvel actually sift through the thousands of angry letters to find the three people who actually like this stuff, or do they cut out the middle man and just write their own propaganda?

Well, I don't know...he may be right about the 'vocal minority'. Considering how much *****ing and whining came from OMD, yet fans still lapped up BND regardless of the mess it's causing.
I think they check through the large amount of letters, to essentially find the letters of praise. Like the employer at my LCS mentioned, they can do whatever they want to characters like Spidey...fans will still continue to love it and write in.


I've yet to write to Marvel though...I've done so with Image, but not with Marvel. Perhaps I can vent my anger at the decision of Way and Dillon on the new DP?

 

[Xofenroht]

No, that's ********. I've seen some hate mail published in the ASM column post OMD. Check out the earlier post-OMD issues.

 

[Manic]

The complainers? A vocal minority? Surely, you jest. I mean, it's not like Spider-Man's sales remained good despite OMD.

 

[Kitsune]

Um... we are a vocal minority. The comic's sales back that up. I doubt very much that Marvel writes its own fan letters; there are plenty of people who actually, honestly enjoy BND and (fewer) who enjoyed OMD.

Where are you finding them? I have yet to talk to a single person who enjoyed the ending to OMD.

 

[K4tzm4n]

Well, I don't know...he may be right about the 'vocal minority'. Considering how much *****ing and whining came from OMD, yet fans still lapped up BND regardless of the mess it's causing.
I think they check through the large amount of letters, to essentially find the letters of praise. Like the employer at my LCS mentioned, they can do whatever they want to characters like Spidey...fans will still continue to love it and write in.


I've yet to write to Marvel though...I've done so with Image, but not with Marvel. Perhaps I can vent my anger at the decision of Way and Dillon on the new DP?

I'll be with you on the Way/Dillon part!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Where are you finding them? I have yet to talk to a single person who enjoyed the ending to OMD.

I listened to a lot of comic podcasts and read a lot of stuff when OMD was coming out. The majority opinion was that it sucked, but there were a few who said it not only would lead to good things for Spider-Man, but that it was a good story itself. I think one of them was a host on Fanboy Radio.

And, remember, even if the majority opinion on comic book podcasts and websites is that OMD was bad, comic book podcasts and websites themselves represent only a small portion of the comic industry's readership. We're a niche within a niche market and, like I said, OMD and BND both still sold pretty well.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

I bet they paid you to say that.

you'd lose that bet.

 

[iloveclones]

Since you're trying to imply something sinister on Marvel's part, I have read before that in the early days, Stan Lee and Co. did make up some letters. They were eventually surprised that people did end up writing in, in droves. So if it's good enough for Stan the Man...

I don't see any reason why a magazine has to print letters that are unflattering to their product (which by your own admission, Marvel does). They are certainly under no obligation to be "fair and balanced". There are plenty of forums for readers to "express" themselves nowadays. It would be like the producers of Lost or Desperate Housewives going out of their way to advertise that some people think their show(s) suck. That's insanity.

 

[Galact-Gal]

No, they don't have to be 'fair and balanced' in their letter columns, but I personally like it when they are. I mean, when somebody bothers to write intelligent criticism, it's nice to know that somebody at Marvel has actually read it. There have been times when, in response to a critical letter, the writer or editor was able to explain something that wasn't clear in the comic in question.

(And, just FYI, I've had a couple of letters printed, too. )

 

[iloveclones]

You guys should post them (or at least the issue they were in!)

 

[Kitsune]

Okay, Well in my not so humble opinon BND has been okay, but it's not good enough to overpower the stink of <Censored> coming from OMD

 

[fifthfiend]

I was reading the letters page in AMS a few days ago and all the letters were all positive about the OMD/BND thing. In fact one inDuhvidual claimed that those of us who think Peter making a deal with the devil and dropping 20+ years of continuity into the trash are a "vocal minority." What I want to know is does Marvel actually sift through the thousands of angry letters to find the three people who actually like this stuff, or do they cut out the middle man and just write their own propaganda?

The people who are gonna be inclined to write into a comic's letter column are the people who are reading the comic and at this point in time as concerns Amazing Spider-Man that's primarily going to be people who like BND.

I mean maybe you're right and some actual majority, say two hundred thousand people picked up OMD/BND, looked them over and said wow this is a huge sack of ****, but that still leaves the hundred thousand-plus people who apparently like BND enough to be buying it three times a month. And it's been a couple or three months now so at this point the people who thought it sucked ass are generally gonna have moved on an' go read something else, so it's gonna be the people who enjoy it enough to keep buying it who are still writing letters.

Short of organizing a mob to go torch the corporate headquarters capitalism as here practiced doesn't have a mechanism for voting in the negative, so there could be a million people who thought OMD blew ass and Joe Quesada still wouldn't have to care as long as he has a hundred thousand suckers who were willing to pay for it with their money.

And really I mean come on, the first lesson of the internet is that there's no stupid thing you could pay somebody to say that someone won't say all on their own, for free.

 

[Themanofbat]

I was reading the letters page in AMS a few days ago and all the letters were all positive about the OMD/BND thing. In fact one inDuhvidual claimed that those of us who think Peter making a deal with the devil and dropping 20+ years of continuity into the trash are a "vocal minority." What I want to know is does Marvel actually sift through the thousands of angry letters to find the three people who actually like this stuff, or do they cut out the middle man and just write their own propaganda?

There have been a few letters in the BND books that clearly state that they are giving up Spider-Man comics "forever" thanks to OMD... we all have the books, they are in there, so it's not all "positive" letters...

And contrary to your sarcastic remarks, there are far more than three people who like the new direction of BND... there are more than three right here in this thread.

However, you are entitled to like and dislike whatever you want... though it's not nice nor fair to make fun of those that do.

Just my two cents...

Short of organizing a mob to go torch the corporate headquarters capitalism as here practiced doesn't have a mechanism for voting in the negative, so there could be a million people who thought OMD blew ass and Joe Quesada still wouldn't have to care as long as he has a hundred thousand suckers who were willing to pay for it with their money.

Same goes to you bub...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He is fundamentally right, though, barbs aside. That's one of the things that annoys me about the comic book industry's setup.

 

[Elijya]

Back in the days when most (Marvel) comics had letters columns, I recall reading a few titles where whoever responded to them was pretty much begging for people to write letters in to that series because they'd had a major lack of fan-mail. If Marvel wrote their own fan letters, they would have done that there and not made a big deal of asking for people to write in.

That was a smaller title, though, so I'm fairly certain a major title like Spider-Man has no shortage of legitimate fan mail from either side of a debate to print.



On a similar note, there have been arguments going on in letters columns for months at a time in some books like Young avengers and Alpha Flight (back when Northstar came out) that begin when someone writes a letter in saying how they don't appreciate a homosexual character. Obviously that's not an opinion Marvel has, but they DID publish the letters of complaint. And they responded to it by then publishing the dozens of letters written in holding the opposite view.

 

[fifthfiend]

Same goes to you bub...

Ha ha ha ha, TMOB's a mark.

 

[Themanofbat]

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

This is actually a good question. I do think Marvel writes it's own fan letters..to a certain extent.

 

[Xofenroht]

I'm having trouble figuring out why Marvel would need to write it's OWN fan letters. Seriously...

 

[The Major]

Well, I don't know...he may be right about the 'vocal minority'. Considering how much *****ing and whining came from OMD, yet fans still lapped up BND regardless of the mess it's causing.
I think they check through the large amount of letters, to essentially find the letters of praise. Like the employer at my LCS mentioned, they can do whatever they want to characters like Spidey...fans will still continue to love it and write in.


I've yet to write to Marvel though...I've done so with Image, but not with Marvel. Perhaps I can vent my anger at the decision of Way and Dillon on the new DP?

Buying the comics doesn't mean they all love it. The big franchises have a huge division of readers who collect out of habit even when they hate what they're reading.

 

[BrianWilly]

Which is the stupidest thing ever.