Oh, that’s awesome, Greg.

I have a few comics that I stupidly traded away when I was early on into comics collecting that I haven’t replaced. I think I’d be able to replace them in trades either now or in the not too distant future. Granted, mine were early ’90s books, but the sentimental value is the same. Wolverine 51 and the Marvel Tales issue that reprinted the first Hobgoblin are 2 of the 3 I bought with a gift certificate and from there I’ve been hooked ever since. Reading all I could about comics and characters, and obsessive list making from Overstreets….

Dang, I need to find a copy of Jeff Rovin’s Encyclopedia of Superheroes, because that book was one of the ones that really did it for me. The one local library had a copy, but I believe they must have sold it off at a sale, and I missed it. Off to look it up….

This is beyond nerd, but the one thing I miss in tpb collections is the letters pages. I know there’s probably next to no appetite for wasting reprint pages on those, but I always loved reading the letters in my 90s Batman books, I guess it was like a better-moderated proto-internet. I bet Sandman, for example, had some great discussions in the letters, particularly if it was Gaiman doing the replies.

Gavin, I’ve picked up a few issues of Sandman in cheapo bins (not primo copies, but readable decent condition ones) solely because I wanted to read the original letters pages. It’s interesting to find out what the readers were talking about with the book at the time the book was coming out. I believe that Shelly Roeberg/Bond did the replies, iirc.

Same reason I got hooked on Cerebus, I think. Lively back matter (as the kids call it these days) that hinted at how big the book was. And seeing things like a picture of Rich Johnston WELL before bleedingcool or even Lying in the Gutters at CBR is a kick.

I agree with Gavin on the letter pages, and it’s part of the reason why if I want to read an old title that is readily available in bargain bins, I’ll choose the actual back issues over trades.

I’m a little bit in the same boat as Greg. I got out of comics for 4 or 5 years after college. But it wasn’t until I was back into comics that I started selling off my childhood collection. I worked in a used book store and didn’t make much money, but knew I could get pretty good prices for my stuff from work, so I sold a bunch of stuff that I figured I’d never want to read again. About half of it I’m still ok with the fact I sold, but the other half I wish I still had. I’ve just recently replaced the entire “Original X-Men” run on X-Factor, all out of bargain bins. Used Comixology to get the various crossover X-Men issues from Inferno, etc., for cheap. All told I think I replaced 70+ issues for around $30.

Interesting, you started to get back into comics right when my initial interest began to dwindle, and my personal golden age ended (1984/85) after a roughly 10-year run. Anyway, congratulations on that milestone.
If I had room in my current house, I’d probably try to do something similar myself, because your point about the Age of Availability is pertinent. In fact, based on the web-searches I’ve done, I think in many cases it would be doable to simply repurchase the actual original issues I had, as so much of that stuff from the ’70s and ’80s (barring the still ‘collectable’ stuff like the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne run on X-men, Miller’s first Daredevil run or New Teen Titans) is really cheap. So much for our comics becoming these priceless collector’s items worth thousands, which everyone was saying back then…

And Gavin, you’re not alone in missing the letters pages in the reprint books. I think not including them in the Essential and Showcase volumes was a particularly bad decision.

Good to know I’m not alone!

If anything, I think there’s more need for letter columns in this day and age, where you pay $3.99 for a comic you can read in under 5 minutes. A couple of pages of text at the end would improve the reading lifespan a little.

Let’s see, I know Sex Criminals from Image has a letters page (at least in issue 2) and I know there are a few others around. Joe Casey’s books at Image (Sex and Bounce) have back matter, I believe. Astro City at Vertigo has one letter and the rest of a “letters page” online, which is an interesting compromise, at least. I’m blanking on others, but yeah, letters pages are awesome. In old comics, it’s fun to see the same names around, and to see that some people went on to become comics creators themselves.

I like the letters pages in old comics as well, I always thought Stan’s Soapbox was awesome and still read them today. Trades always seem to lack that special something.

I have always thought that the books (trades, back issues etc ) I am buying now was to recreate what I used to have as a kid. The good thing is most of what I used to have I can get again except for a complete run of Master of Kung Fu which I regret parting with. I’m hopeful that the rights issues can be worked out and it gets reprinted. They are almost to the sweet Superman 70′s stuff in the Showcase books so I hope they continue those. I also want the 60′s, 70′s Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane stuff but I have gotten those cheaply in back issue but want them in the Showcases for availibilty and ease of reading. It is amazing that so much is available. Now the time to read everything on the other hand.

Also enjoy old letters pages. One of my favorite things is reading future pros like mark gruenwald or Kurt busiek’s letters. Lots of other guys too, but those two wrote a lot of interesting letters.

While I usually buy trade or hardcover collections, I’ll get individual issues if they’re cheaper. I bought a bunch of recent X-Factors cheap (15-30 something) to bring me up to the point at which my trades/hc’s start (Secret Invasion tie-ins).

As much as I like the availability of trades, digital editions, etc, I miss hunting down back issues. There was a unique joy and satisfaction in completing runs of Howard the Duck, Suicide Squad, Journey, and the rest. I liked the letter columns as well, especially in Steve Gerber comics and those edited by Mike Gold. I can’t say anything negative about getting, say, Superman: Phantom Zone for a reasonable price, but it’s not the same.

I lost over 2,000 comics in a house fire about 12 years ago, and I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing. I’ve downloaded a few (both legally and otherwise) over the years, and I ordered a couple of dozen through an online retailer, but I never really made an effort to replace everything. But I think you just might have motivated me to step up my efforts.

Quite a few Marvel books have letter pages still. Daredevil and Deadpool both do, and Deadpool’s especially is pretty entertaining since it’s the writers responding to letters as Deadpool. Fearless Defenders did, too, but that’s going away. Thor, FF and Fantastic Four also do. I’m sure there’s some others I’m forgetting or don’t know about.

It is kind of surprising that the Essential/Showcase editions don’t include the letter pages. I guess it would probably mean one less issue of actual comics, but that’s a trade off I’d gladly take. Seems like plenty of other people would, too.

Maybe they should just do an Essential/Showcase edition of all of TM Maple’s letters. I’m pretty sure that guy read and wrote in on every single comic the Big 2 put out for decades. I’d totally buy that.

that is cool greg that you wound up thanks to the essential /showcases and marvels essitnals that you regained the collection and some memories reading the original stories when young for it proves that a comic fan never truely leaves the fanbase. plus a trip down memory lane for you too.

Most Marvel books still have letters pages. I can’t think of one off the top of my head without a letters page.

The Avengers books don’t have letters pages. They all have an info type page, and it’s the same one in all issues. X-Men Legacy also doesn’t have one. Not sure about any of the other X books.