Cool article. A few weeks ago I was re-reading all of my Yummy Furs and Underwaters and noticed all of these names as well. But there is one more I remember that I think was in an issue of Underwater. There is a letter from a Tom Kaczynski. I am at work so I don’t have the issues in front of me but I am pretty sure about this.

See, Haeg and Clowes had a correspondence going inasmuch as I think Haeg would send him his work and Clowes would write back through on post cards with feedback etc. (see http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/06/29/zines-of-the-cities/).

Then, as a joke, Haeg had his girlfriend (now wife) write Clowes this sad letter explaining he’d how Haeg had died. He even made a fake funeral program to go with the letter. The program was sort of jokey, but Mr. Mike is totally the kind of person who would have a ridiculous pre-written program at his funeral, so why not believe it?

I can’t remember how taken in by it Clowes was. As I recall, there might have been a condolence letter. Anyway, I’d be pissed too if someone joked with me like that.

I still think that’s one of the best/worst stories I’ve ever heard and I totally wish I’d thought up the gag first. I wonder how Clowes remembers it now.

I guess there is always that distinction, too, between ‘artist’ and artist. I barely consider myself in either category, but when I received some words of encouragement from one of my heroes, I was so chuffed and proud. So I appreciate the circularity of the argument – as the article says even people’s heroes have heroes – but I really like it when the letters aren’t mutual backslapping.

Being so new to the scene, and with only two issues under my belt, means that I haven’t got that many people writing to me yet. When (if!) that day comes, however, I’ll be putting a letters page in my comic for sure, and in my case, I’d hope that the page would be about the letter writer and not the comic writer (me). I’m not that interesting, y’see!

Since I’m not doing periodicals, letters are hard to swing, but I have put together a print newsletter and the letters page is a part of that.

I’ll mail you a copy. Since it’s the first issue, there’s no letters page YET, but there is an invitation to send some in.

This other type are letters from cartoonists before they became well-known–often before they even started cartooning. When I read those (always years later, obviously), I get a little thrill learning something about the inchoate development of that cartoonist. They can sometimes be quite revealing–even embarrassing!