Brian Hayes wrote to Weird Western Tales in 1977

 

Back in the 1970s I wrote a few letters to editors of a few comics and a few of them saw print. My strategy was to write to comics that were less popular so that I would have a higher probability of my letter getting selected.

One of my letters was printed in the "Trail Talk" of Weird Western Tales #38, dated February 1977. This was the last issue of WWT to feature Jonah Hex who would graduate to his own title the following month. I am startled to read now that I was not enamored with the artwork of Garcia Lopez because I have long considered him a master of visual storytelling and draftsmanship. My letter instead sings the praises of artist George Moliterni, a man whose name I have not heard for over 40 years! (I looked up that gentleman and see that he was Argentinian with birth name Jorge Moliterni and that he also drew the Denny O'Neil-written Three Musketeers story in 1976's DC Special #22.)

The long sentence in my second paragraph  of my letter was the victim of an editing mishap because I would not have written anything so ungrammatical. The text of my missive is difficult to read in the image below so here is a transcription:

Mr. Orlando,

I was truly pleased to read that #35 won't be the last issue of Weird Western Tales. I assume the last minute un-cancellation wasn't because of an upsurge in sales but rather because the new higher-ups at DC realized that it was the last remnant in the comics industry of an all but dead genre and that it was a superb effort in its own right and that it should be preserved, even if at a loss. And I agree.  

Garcia Lopez has been announced as permanent artist. If it's not possible for George Moliterni adds something to the mood of the strip that Lopez just doesn't have. Regardless of how things work out, WWT has my support.

Brian Hayes, Chicago, Illinois