In 1977 when Jeremy Eaton was 13 years old, he sent a letter to the editor of
The Incredible Hulk. They ran his letter, along with his mailing address. Shortly after, he received a letter from Wendy Wilson. Jeremy saved the letter and posted it on his blog. It's a terrific story.
Wendy lived in Kingston, Jamaica. Her letter arrived in early August, just a few weeks after I’d first discovered my name and address had become a part of the Marvel Universe. Her envelope, a delicate, soft, airmail blue, cut like a cyclone through my introverted, adolescent existence, spewing a flurry of feminine considerations. She told me of her eyes. Black eyes, she said, with a poetic force beyond her years. She told me of her hair. Black hair, she teased. She told me of her body. Slim build, with lovely shape, she smiled, seeming to literally breathe from the lightly-scented, decorative note paper, stationary that featured an illustration, in the lower left-hand corner, of two Keane-styled children, a boy and a girl, dressed respectively in overalls and a petticoat, tromping barefoot through a pasture of bright daisies. This idyllic drawing was accompanied by a script-written quote: “We’re not the only ones in love… we just think we are”, to which Wendy had coyly added Remember m, remember e, put them together and remember me. She went on to inform me she was, in no uncertain terms, a very pretty and attractive girl, very romantic and fun-loving. She told me her favorite sports were lawn tennis, table tennis, and basket ball (two words in Jamaica, apparently). She told me her ambition was to become an airline stewardess, “otherwise known as a ground hostess”. She told me that, in her spare time, she would be a singer.
Nearly twelve months my senior, Wendy was, in essence, a fourteen year-old siren, a rock I’d gladly have smashed into, ultimately perishing of starvation, thirst, and delirium. In my already-fevered imagination, one fed on the hyperbole of Smilin’ Stan Lee and the voluptuous curves of Jack Kirby (the curves of his female characters, not his), I saw Wendy calling me onward, urging me to leave my 25¢ vessel, a flimsy, pulp-hewn, four-color yacht held together by staples, to join her, to lose myself in her smooth, brown limbs.
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'Almost' being the key word here.
When I was thirteen, 'almost' was about all you could hope for. :)
If this happened now, "Wendy" would be a 57 year old gay man living in his mother's basement in Schenectady.
Well...but comics 'almost' get me laid all the time, /in my mind/!!!!1!!1
I grant you his documentary evidence is pretty significant, tho.
Wow. It really does sound like a 419 thing. If he had written back it would have lead to "Send me your money to help me get to the USA and I'm yours."
The commenter that reveals he was contacted by an "Amy Adams" after his letter w/ address was published is too much of a coincidence.
OK Boing boingers, certainly there is enough information on the net now days we could track her down? Addresses, names, schools, dates, ages, etc.
Yes, I think he made it pretty clear (in a subtle way) that "Wendy" was just some guy trying to con him.
really adorable :)
379 alumni from Queen's High School in Kingston, Jamaica are already here! Join them now and get back in touch.
http://www.classmates.com/directory/school/Queen's%20High%20School?org=36330
Oh come on there's a lot of details in there. Even if it's a trick, it's a thorough one! Play along and hunt "her" down!
Map to Queen's High School for Girls in Kingston, which is fairly close to DeHaney Park, a part of Kingston in her address.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=queen's+high+school+kingston,+jamaica&jsv=107&ie=UTF8&ll=18.026159,-76.818552&spn=0.032402,0.058365&t=h&z=14
Can anyone figure out the name of that street? "31 Buc(something) Ave"
Buckram, Buckner? It could be lane rather than Ave.
I spy comment spam @9.
Looks like he would have been bang outta luck anyway..
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060312/news/news5.html
Wow, the tone in that article is a bit scary, huh?
just what the hell is it with Jamaicans anyway? This murderous, ignorant homophobia brings them all into disrepute since it is never challenged.
There's something wrong with Queen's high school being infested with lesbians.
"Come back to fresh fruit."
Some fairly prominent ragga and dancehall artists got dressed down in the UK a little while ago over the whole anti-gay thing, and it looks like that (amongst other things) lead to this:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/mojo/37/reggae-calls-truce-with-the-gay-nation
Basically; Beenie Man, Sizzla, Capleton and Buju Banton formed an alliance that would not continue promoting the homophobic diatribe common in ragga. Though I doubt that means they'll actually promote the idea of being gay.
Hello? HELLO! That was an invitation for the Tribe of Bob Marley to stand up and speak out against hatred. Don't tell me no Jamaicans read BoingBoing.
Oops! My apologies, Holtt. The wording of the #9 comment looked at first glance to me like it was written by a bot!
aha. interesting exerpt:
"As in the American bible belt, Jamaican attitudes towards same-sex relationships are deeply rooted in religion. Jamaica is said to have more churches per capita than any other nation (over 16,000 when last counted), and a preponderance of Pentecostalism means many on the island adhere to a literal interpretation of the Old Testament, while Sizzla, Capleton and many of their peers follow the radical "Bobo Dread" variant of Rastafari, which preaches fundamentalist values. Small wonder, then, that their lyrics have often echoed the sentiments of Leviticus."
I wonder why gay people everywhere don't murder every christian they meet? Oh right. Because they are better.
Because they are better.
Hello? Over here with the machete.
"...the unwillingness of students to finger the lesbians"
:)
@cha0tic
I was just about to point that out, too. :)
The entire article read like The Onion, except slightly less believable. I actually had to look up the Jamaica Gleaner in Wikipedia to figure out that it wasn't a parody news site.
Boggles the mind.
Do you know what the real problem with this is? It sets up an unrealistic standard. A man or boy reading this might dream of one day meeting a woman who will like him for being into comics, and this will not happen. /sigh/
#25: Because women into comics who would like men into comics don't exist - they are merely a distant, distant fantasy.
... Well. I guess I'll be up all night wondering who broke into my apartment and snuck in all this sequential art, then. And this Spider-Man tank top, what's up with that?!
"Because women into comics who would like men into comics don't exist - they are merely a distant, distant fantasy."
...I guess no one here has had a Japanese girlfriend? ... That cant be true.. :0/ My girl reads comics everyday....
I would say that the vast majority of Jamacians while respecting Bob Marley's work and music would balk at being described as being Bob Marley's Tribe.
Jamaicans are by an large Christians, protestant in particular and Anglican in specific.
Marley was a Rastafarian, he worshipped The Lion Of Juddah, Haile Selassie.
Which doesn't fly with most Christian doctrine.
It's all flying spaghetti moster to me, but I thought I should make the point.
What an awesome story. I LOVE that stationary.
Did you read the comments at Jeremy's post? Because something similar happened to several people responding - including ME! I guess Marvel's policy of publishing addresses lead to a lot of pen pal link-ups back then, not all of them, uh, with very happy endings!
I have a little crush on Wendy Wilson now, though.
Totally untrue. Women love dorks, at least I do. I've been stalking the 18 year old that works at Game Stop for months. I don't think he likes me, I didn't know what Gundam Wing was.
I DO NOW! ARGHH.
Overall, I found this to be really cute. It's funny that he still has the letter.
You know, I get emails just like that every day.
I don't think they represent a novel concept.
I'm just sayin'.
ScottFree @4, I've always wondered about them naming that thing "Mother Box."
Holtt @9, will you please not quote from standard online ad copy when you're posting a link? Three different people reported you as a spammer.
And as long as we're somewhere near the subject -- this is a general comment -- could y'all please use a tinyURL or a proper link when you're posting a URL that's over a cubit in length?
ScottFree @26, I'm sure plenty of girls were prepared to like you for being into comics, but unfortunately they went into comic shops looking for you, and met some of the other guys who hung out there.
tiny URLS it is then, but you realize this wreaks havoc on comedic timing
Mask! Maskmaskmaskmaskmask your URLs! Do I need to post the instructions yet again?
It's tempting to dismiss this as the first move in some kind of Spanish Prisoner scam, but then I remember that Wendy and Richard Pini (of Elfquest fame) met this way, through the letter column of Silver Surfer.
if you could, also how precisely DOES one work those funny, curly letters again?
<a href="URL">YOUR VERBIAGE</a>
Which curly letters?
those popish fopperies "Ukranics" or some such
a moment. They hunger.
Where did you see them?
Antinous, I think he means Italics.
@Teresa and Avram, indeed, girls who like comics (and science and German board games) exist, but, as with supermodel girls, you have to be extra special to actually attract one. They experience a high degree of, shall we say, mating partner choice.
This is why there's no "Beauty and the Geek" for nerdy girls: no interest in Ken doll guys, and no problem getting dates.
ah! "italics"
<i>YOUR VERBIAGE</i>
Jamaica is said to have more churches per capita than any other nation (over 16,000 when last counted)
Good gods. 16,000 churches per capita sure is a lot of Sunday morning choices! But obviously only one in 16,000 has anyone in it at any given time, which means that the churches in Jamaica are 99.99375% abandoned.
I see!
No,not empty, the Dark Master's Spirit lingers.
But has no head. Keeping the "per capita" numbers unchanged.
I wonder what happened to the original blog entry, or to the blog itself. It seems to have been disappeared.