History Main / FourthWallMailslot

* Creator/DCComics had several examples of books where the characters, not the editor, answered the mail:

** The ComicBook/FantasticFour used this trope many times in the early years, even making the mailman into a humorous stock character. This was revived in Jonathan Hickman's run, where Franklin and Valeria would respond to reader letters.
** In the early 1980s, the letter column of the ''[[ComicBook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'' comic was answered by a designated character each issue, resulting in things like Wolverine claiming that Rogue dyed--well, bleached--her trademark white streak into her hair.

*** This has been brought back in the letters page of ''New Exiles''. Since they're based outside the multiverse, it was actually possible in-story that they might be receiving letters from a dimension where they're fictional characters. They thought it was weird, though.

** Letters to the ''The Sensational ComicBook/SheHulk'' were answered by the title character or one of her supporting cast.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', responses to readers' published letters were initially presented using the persona of the comic's mascot character Megadroid, and in later issues the responses were presented as coming from Sonic the Hedgehog.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': Characters have occasionally answered fan mail "directly" through Sonic-Grams, the online blogs, and during a "novelty question month" on Creator/IanFlynn's messageboard.
* ''ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem''
** Even Princess Toadstool did it a few times (though the letters printed were really only from other characters).
** ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZelda'' comics had Link and Zelda answering mail from the readers.
* The Italian Official ''Nintendo Magazine'' one time did it with a Boo, a Lakitu, [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Professor Oak]] and [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Tingle]].
* ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'': In the letters pages, a regular correspondent mentioned Cerebus [[spoiler:throwing a baby off a roof]]. In a later issue, Astoria berates Cerebus for that action. He replies to her (and to the letter writer), pointing out that he [[spoiler:threw the baby from the front steps; he threw an old man off the roof]]. Next issue had a letter from the original correspondent feeling crunchy for having been corrected by Cerebus himself.
* The letters page of British AnthologyComic ''[[ComicBook/TwoThousandAD 2000 AD]]'' is answered by the editor. The editor happens to be Tharg the Mighty, a green-skinned alien from Betelgeuse on a mission to bring Thrill Power to the planet Earth. Some have claimed that he is fictional, seeing as other comics of the era often had fictional "editors" or "hosts", but this is clearly false.
* The current ''Hellcat'' miniseries has a letters page known as Hellpcat, which is more like an advice column than a traditional letters page. But Patsy Walker still answers it in character.
* Vertigo Comics' ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' series did it one notch better. They ran a contest for the most interesting questions, and in issue #59 "Burning Questions" they answered them by making each of the answers a fully-canon vignette.
* Even ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' has done it, with advice columns answered by "Betty and Veronica" in their 1970's and 1980's issues. Josie had a column as well. Later on, the columns were mocked with a Reggie version, where he took letters meant for Betty and Veronica and answered them sarcastically. The latter is possibly the funniest thing Archie has ever printed. It's in Archie and Friends #5, if you want to hunt it down.
* ''ComicBook/BillAndTedsExcellentComicBook'' had a different character answering the letters for each issue. It got particularly surreal in issue #8, when the character answering the letters was Station, who can [[PokemonSpeak only say his own name]]. The answers in that particular letter column consisted of Station replying "Station!" to all the letters, with some unhelpful attempted translations by the comic's editors, who spent more time arguing over how much sense it made to have an entire species with a one-word vocabulary than actually translating Station's replies.
* In the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' Legends comics ninja girl Ibuki hosted a spoof fourth wall mail slot where she was asked about her underwear. While she did answer the question she did emphasize that if she was asked this in a normal setting she would have killed the asker.

** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel UK'' has a letters column run by Soundwave, and later Grimlock. (Who would often angrily try to explain away his [[TheWorfEffect defeats]] from previous issues.) This was quite common across Marvel UK titles in the 80s.
** The British comic based on the Film/TransformersFilmSeries does this as well. At first, it was run by Starscream (who wasn't pleased when readers sent him mail about how much they liked the Autobots). It was later taken over by [[OddCouple Ironhide and Barricade]], who had a lot of fun with continuity issues and Barricade's [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse unexplained disappearance]]. Near the end of 2011, when the comic was retooled to focus on ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', the letters page came to be run by that show's incarnations of Arcee and Megatron.