25 Things – News From ME

The letters printed in letter columns in no way represented the consensus of the readership. They may have been the ones that reflected what the letter-selector wanted to believe represented the readers' opinions. Some letters were phony or so heavily edited that they didn't even represent the letter-writers' views.
Most of the editors were very sharp, creative and benevolent. But a couple of them were managing with the same kinds of skills you'd employ if you were running a Jiffy-Lube.
No freelancer was paid what he or she was worth.
And most of those on staff were not either.
When a new comic failed to sell and was canceled, that might have meant that the readers weren't interested in it. But at least as often, it meant that the company didn't know how to market it and/or that the publisher gave up on it too quickly.
Approximately 50% of editorial alterations made on the work of the writers and artists were made mainly because someone in the office wanted to look like they were making a vital contribution.
When a popular writer or artist was replaced on a comic, the readers would always hate the new guy for a while, no matter who it was.
The sales figures published in the little Statement of Ownership boxes that ran in some comics were sometimes rough approximations and occasionally pure fiction.
When one artist did the inking on the penciled art of another, the penciler might like the finished product because "He inked it just the way I would have." Or he might have liked it because "He did things I never would have thought to do." The penciler might also have disliked the result for either reason.
Still, most artists would vastly have preferred to ink their own work. And better artwork would frequently have resulted if they had.
Your work being turned in late was a major crisis which demonstrated unprofessionalism on your part no matter what the reason. Your check getting to you late was an understandable delay that was no big deal and no one's fault so don't complain about it.
An awful lot of people who worked in comics could not look at a page of comic art and recognize who had drawn or lettered it.
Better comics generally resulted when one writer was more or less in charge of a feature or character for a long time and could make it his or her "own."
But it was usually a personal mistake for a writer to get possessive about a strip or character if they did not own the copyright. That made it jarring when they were replaced, as everyone eventually was and is.
In the constant struggle to get books to press on time, the unsung, unappreciated hero was usually the letterer.
The credit for Editor often did not tell you who was really doing the work you'd normally associate with that job title. There were Editors who never even read the comics they theoretically edited.
While there certainly were writers and artists lacking in ability, poor artwork was more often the function of miscasting.
And it was rarely the result of the artist "hacking it out" or just doing a "grab the money and run." Some of the guys who were maybe not good enough for their assignments tried like hell.
If a comic underwent a major change of writer and/or artist in its first six issues, the comic would probably fail.
From about 1970 on, if a reader bought an issue of Heroguy Comics, he wanted a full book of new Heroguy material; no back-up features of other characters (not even Herogirl or Hero-Dog) and no reprints of old Heroguy adventures. Reprints were fine in their place and their place was in comics devoted wholly to reprints.
From about 1970 on, readers rarely had the patience to love a comic that did not come out monthly.
For some reason, many readers never caught on to the oft-true practice where the great artist who drew that great cover was not the person who drew the insides. It was a lot like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football when Lucy held it for him.
A couple of my favorite writers and artists had deep, permanent loathings for each other.
If as a writer, you pitched an editor three or four ideas for stories and the editor bought any of them, it would be the one you liked the least. This is true with any kind of writing in any field at any time. It's the same with artists submitting rough sketches.
Comics were a great field to work in for a time while you tried to work your way towards something with greater possibilities. And if you got to an "all the work you can handle" situation, that was not always good because it gave you a powerful disincentive to try anything else. I am very glad that I got into the field but even gladder than I never made it my entire profession.