A few months ago we showed you a letter column from one Frank Miller about Amazing Spider-Man from 1977. Now, another letter to Marvel has surfaced, this time from A Song of Ice and Fire series author George R .R. Martin.
The image comes to us courtesy of Coheed and Cambria singer and comic creator Claudio Sanchez who tweeted it today. The letter, published in Avengers #12, was the fantasy author showing his profound love for Fantastic Four #32 and Avengers #9. “I have finally come to the decision to have both mounted in bronze and set on a pedestal in the center of my living room,” he wrote.
The issue of the Avengers was written by Stan Lee with art by Don Heck in 1964, both of whom Martin thought were extremely talented. “What a story! It was beyond words; the fast-paced action, solid characterization, and that terrific ending all gave it that extra oomph an catapulted it into the great class. Stan old boy, you can put another notch in your pen for this materpiece,” he wrote, “And that art! I’ve always like Don Heck’s work but on this occasion he outdid himself.”
And even though Martin enjoyed the issue of FF, he was very particular about which villains should and should not continue on in the series. “I feel that the only foes of the F.F. has worthy of becoming regulars are Namor, Doc Doom, the Hulk and the Rd Ghost. A few others, like the Hate Monger and the Molecule Man, were great in their first appearance but still not worthy of returns, as a comeback would destroy the effect of the first tale,” he wrote, “Some others like the Thinker, the Puppet Master, the Moleman and Diablo have definitely deserved eternal exile…please, whatever else you do, do not bring back these chaps.”
Come on, tell us how you really feel George! I love when these things surface. Martin was all of 16 when he wrote to the letter column, just one year before he won an Alley Award for ”Powerman vs. The Blue Barrier,” his own superhero story and 47 years before his series would be adapted to the HBO series Game of Thrones. With all his success maybe he did manage to bronze the issues. I’m betting not but I’m sure he still owns them, he’s a long-time Marvel fan and collector of Silver Age comics.
August 31st, 2011 at 4:18 am
That was a great letter, and not one I had seen before. I have, OTOH, seen George’s first published letter to the Marvel letter columns — it’s in Fantastic Four #20, and can be seen at http://www.marvelmasterworks.com/marvel/mm/ff/images/lp_ff020_2.jpg