Rick Phillips has been a fan of comic books since before he could even read them. He runs the site Comic Book Letterheads Museum. Recently, I had the chance to talk with Rick about his blog and his interest in comic book letterheads.
ephemera: How did you become interested comic book letterheads?
Phillips: Well, I may have misnamed the blog site as Comic Book letterheads can also mean the title of the comic book as well as the title of the story or the letters page. I decide to have it concentrate on the letter page letterheads as it seems to be a dying art form. In the early days of comics the fans of the books would write in and hope that their letter would be published on the letters pages of that book. The comic book company would have a snappy title for the page and it would appear at the top of the page with original artwork. As time went on and the internet took over with blog sites, e-mail and message boards the letters page disappeared. The comic book companies relied on these new forms of communications to connect with their readers. As a result the letterheads for the letters pages became a dying art form. I have always loved seeing the heroes in a friendly manner. It showed how they always were trying to connect with their audience. Superman may be flying a bag of mail to his home in Metropolis or perhaps one of Marvel's heroes may be smiling back at you as you read his letters page.
ephemera: We're all for saving dying art form on this blog, Rick. It's a very interesting area to concentrate on. What have you discovered blogging about comic book letterheads?
Phillips: Mostly what I never seemed to realize when I read them as a kid was that Marvel usually relied on a snappy title by itself. DC seemed to take greater pains to give art to the letterheads. It seemed like they cared more. However there was a brief time when DC only gave the title. During that time they were worse than Marvel. Marvel would at least give a colorful background and better lettering. It was around 1970 when this happened at DC, and they took a bare bones to the letter page titles as you can see in the letterhead that I have sent for Wonder Woman's letterhead titled, "The New Wonderful World of Wonder Woman."
ephemera: The comic world is such a mysterious and fascinating world. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter as a blogger?
Phillips: Well, those are time and supply. As you know, Marty, I have a lot of sites. It is sometimes hard to get them posted at the same time. I have work and family obligations like the rest of you I am hoping to start a new career as a writer and recently had my children's book "Dinky the Elf" published by Morning Sun Publishing. So, I may have to cut back on my blogging from time to time. In the supply area, due to some financial obligations, I had to sell most of my comic book collection before I started Comic Book Letterheads Museum. Reader s of my blog started sending me in letterheads. The biggest supplier has been Robby Reed of the blog site Dial B For Blog. John of Pop Culture Safari had been doing research for a post on the letter page art and he sent me the art that he had for that post. Other sites that have contributed have been Aquaman Shrine, The Phantom Stranger, Devil Dog Diary, Dispatches from the Arrowcave,and El Jacone's Comic Book Bunker. These sites and their owners I have now called them Benefactors and I provide links to their sites if it is a "G" rated family site. ephemera: That's a clever way to generate some blog income. I ought to adopt it here. What are some of your favorite posts?
Phillips: Well, one of them is the art for Jason's Quest from Showcase Comics. It was the first that Robby Reed of Dial B For Blog sent me. It was a total surprise. At first it was sent to Rob of the Aquaman site by mistake but he then forwarded to me. Others are "Cape and Cowl Comments" from World's Finest Comics, "Flashgrams" from the Flash and "Let's Level with Daredevil" from Marvel's Daredevil book. I love the titles and the art from these letterheads.
ephemera: What are your future plans for the blog? How do you see it evolving?
Phillips: Well, I don't have any plans to make any big changes at this time. I plan to keep doing what I have been doing. From time to time I have been putting up full letters pages to show what the letters were like that sent into the letters pages. So, any changes that happen are happening slowly. I am just happy that I am able to contribute and help preserve this art form.
ephemera: Thank you, Rick.
