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Marvel No-Prize

Started by Tatterdamillion,

27 posts in this topic

seanfingh

seanfingh

Posted
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Anyone here have stories about trying to win or winning a No-Prize from Marvel comics back in the day. Would one actually receive a prize? I tried once but I got no reply.

 

I have a No-Story about it. Here it is . . .

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Tatterdamillion

Tatterdamillion

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Cool Greggy. Did you "earn" that or was it a gift or bought. Thanks, I was more interested in hearing if any of you nerds ever wrote in because you noticed a "hole" in a story or some other discrepancy in a comic and whether your letter was responded to in the letter pages. Mainly I'd like to hear any stories on the subject.

 

I wrote in to Daredevil once, I forget the issue but the villain was The Bengal on the cover and for some reason while reading the book I was irked that DD called him the Bengal though his name was never said and I was pretty sure the two had never met before. It seemed fake to me that DD would be calling him the Bengal. I basically wrote in to complain about that, though I forget the reasoning I had for Daredevil knowing his name, as you had to give an explanation to cover the blunder made by the writer. I remember my reasoning behind DD knowing the villains name was really weak. I regretted sending that letter almost immediately.

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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as you had to give an explanation to cover the blunder made by the writer.

 

I really hated when they made that change, as even as a kid, I could tell it reeked of "sensitive writer syndrome" and that they expected all their readers to be drooling fanboys.

 

In a way, it was a loss of innocence for Marvel fandom, and then later, when Jim Shooter angrily stopped the entire program.

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rodan57

rodan57

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I sort of interpreted it as a way for Stan to slide quickly over plot holes or errors in a polite, gee-golly-gosh manner: acknowledging but not making a big deal over it; using phrases like, "sheesh" or "boy, did we blow that one". In other words, more "it's only a comic book" as compared to a fanboy's obsession with detail.

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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I sort of interpreted it as a way for Stan to slide quickly over plot holes or errors in a polite, gee-golly-gosh manner: acknowledging but not making a big deal over it; using phrases like, "sheesh" or "boy, did we blow that one". In other words, more "it's only a comic book" as compared to a fanboy's obsession with detail.

 

It's actually the opposite, as the "gosh we screwed up, here's your No-Prize" was the original method. The later method that followed involved a detailed process whereby you were required to create a bizarre fiction that properly explained why the writers actually did not make a mistake, and all was well in fanboy land.

 

First: "Hey Stan, on page 2 of DD 103 you had Daredevil swinging on his billy club, but that was destroyed last issue!"

 

Second: "Hey Stan, on page 2 of DD 103 you had Daredevil swinging on his billy club, that was destroyed last issue, but we all know that in-between panels, DD called up Reed Richards and had him grab another from the Negative Zone, then immediately transport it into his pouch - the writers wisely didn't cover that, as it would take away from the story and any true fan should have realized what happened."

 

Fanboys are so immersed in the material, that they feel the need to explain away all potential plot holes and errors, no matter how nonsensical, rather than admit the writers are human and make mistakes.

 

Normal people see an error, laugh and think "man, did they pull a boner with that one!", while a fanboy will find the same error, but force himself to think of an explanation, otherwise he'd need to face the awful truth that "The Creator" is human and fallible.

 

Check out StarWars.com and you'll blow a gasket looking at all the incredibly bizarre fanboy explanations for obvious and blatant mistakes by Lucas.

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rodan57

rodan57

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Posted
I sort of interpreted it as a way for Stan to slide quickly over plot holes or errors in a polite, gee-golly-gosh manner: acknowledging but not making a big deal over it; using phrases like, "sheesh" or "boy, did we blow that one". In other words, more "it's only a comic book" as compared to a fanboy's obsession with detail.

 

It's actually the opposite, as the "gosh we screwed up, here's your No-Prize" was the original method. The later method that followed involved a detailed process whereby you were required to create a bizarre fiction that properly explained why the writers actually did not make a mistake, and all was well in fanboy land.

 

First: "Hey Stan, on page 2 of DD 103 you had Daredevil swinging on his billy club, but that was destroyed last issue!"

 

Second: "Hey Stan, on page 2 of DD 103 you had Daredevil swinging on his billy club, that was destroyed last issue, but we all know that in-between panels, DD called up Reed Richards and had him grab another from the Negative Zone, then immediately transport it into his pouch - the writers wisely didn't cover that, as it would take away from the story and any true fan should have realized what happened."

 

Fanboys are so immersed in the material, that they feel the need to explain away all potential plot holes and errors, no matter how nonsensical, rather than admit the writers are human and make mistakes.

 

Normal people see an error, laugh and think "man, did they pull a boner with that one!", while a fanboy will find the same error, but force himself to think of an explanation, otherwise he'd need to face the awful truth that "The Creator" is human and fallible.

 

Check out StarWars.com and you'll blow a gasket looking at all the incredibly bizarre fanboy explanations for obvious and blatant mistakes by Lucas.

 

I see. I must admit that my close 'adult' study of Marvel ends somewhere in 1966 and my personal 'youthful' collecting memory ends with the death of Gwen Stacy. It seems that the No-prize became a bit of a monster ... bit of a shame.

 

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silverage12c

silverage12c

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There is a comic store in Vegas that advertises in the yellow pages, 2 time no prize winner and a member of MMMS. I dropped by his store and sure enough, he has them framed on the wall. I will scan the ad and pop it into this thread later today.

I've been there, too --- it's Cosmic Comics on E. Tropicana, as I recall. I remember being very tempted by a low-grade AF #15 he had on his wall for $1250. Nice guy, and a decent little shop.

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Whitey

Whitey

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Anyone here have stories about trying to win or winning a No-Prize from Marvel comics back in the day. Would one actually receive a prize? I tried once but I got no reply.

 

I was in junior high school when I received a no prize. I was thrilled!

I think I wrote a letter to Daredevil, but I don't really remember what the content was. I was complaining about something I think.

Anyway, I can't seem to find it. I'm sure I didn't throw it out, but it's gone missing somewhere. Hopefully it will show up again some day.

 

Whitey

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Paratrooper

Paratrooper

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Cool Greggy. Did you "earn" that or was it a gift or bought. Thanks, I was more interested in hearing if any of you nerds ever wrote in because you noticed a "hole" in a story or some other discrepancy in a comic and whether your letter was responded to in the letter pages. Mainly I'd like to hear any stories on the subject.

 

I wrote in to Daredevil once, I forget the issue but the villain was The Bengal on the cover and for some reason while reading the book I was irked that DD called him the Bengal though his name was never said and I was pretty sure the two had never met before. It seemed fake to me that DD would be calling him the Bengal. I basically wrote in to complain about that, though I forget the reasoning I had for Daredevil knowing his name, as you had to give an explanation to cover the blunder made by the writer. I remember my reasoning behind DD knowing the villains name was really weak. I regretted sending that letter almost immediately.

 

I wrote to Penthouse one time claiming that their stories NEVER true, and that hookers cost waayyyy more than what they stated. They never replied nor did they refund my lifetime subscription fee. Sales thread cumming up shortly.

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