Fan Mail

I have been rereading a run of old "Fantastic Four" comics lately, the 'Heroes Reborn' relaunch from the late 90's, and Chris Claremont was the writer for a large span of issues (#'s 5 - 32). He spent most of the run dragging in all of his less-than-spectacular minor characters from his "X-Men" and "Excalibur" tenures, practically relegating the team to bystander status in their own book. Not to mention corrupting the book with a 'been there, done that' alternate future family member (the super-annoying Valeria Von Doom), a move which had previously caused me to drop the X-books he's written where he spent more time on the incredibly lame Rachael Summers (Cyclops & Jean Grey's potential future daughter), Cable (Cyclops and Madelyn Pryor's son all grown up in the future, and decades older than his parents) and Bishop (a mutant cop from several generations in the future, where all the X-Men are dead) rather than focusing on present-day (at the time) worthy mainstays (and my personal favorites) like Colossus, Nightcrawler and Iceman.

Anyway, I was reading the letters page in "Fantastic Four" #23, cover date November 1999, and there was a particularly well-written missive that I agreed with whole-heartedly. Imagine my surprise and exclamation when I realized it was a letter I'd sent in and gotten published! Check out my long letter of praise and constructive criticism, and laugh with (or at) me...