My first published Marvel Comics fan letter

Tales to Astonish No. 96 hit the comic book racks in my hometown of St. Clair Shores, Mich., on July 17, 1967.

I was 12, and I had Merry Marvel Marching Society fever, fueled by a fateful proposal from fellow fan and future comics and TV writer, and — about three years later — briefly my editor at Marvelmania Monthly Magazine, Mark Evanier.

This (yes, fawning) letter to Stan Lee and company was the first of many I’d eventually have published in Marvel and DC Comics.

Even as my media career unfolded, in print, on air and online, nothing matched the satisfaction of seeing my name and my words in the comics, alongside the exploits of the heroes (or, in the case of the stars of Marvel’s Tales to Astonish, the anti-heroes) of my childhood.

It was a thrill. It made me a celebrity in our little gang.

I bought a bunch of copies.

(Click for a more legible view.)

Share your memories below. What gave you a similar thrill as a kid?

(Slightly revised, July 10, 2017.)