History Main / FourthWallMailSlot

** ''Comicbook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' vol. 4 took this to the next level. Its occasional attempts to bring back the lettercol are done in comic book format, with the Legionnaires reading out the letters and discussing them.

* In the ''Frachise/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.

* Done as a gag in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'''s ''ComicStrip/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'', in which appears [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20070603 these]] [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20070610 two]] pages of "Dear Dixie" in November and December of 1982. Also [[RecursiveReality an in-character fake letter that Phil sent in as a joke]].

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' does this as well, at the end of each volume.

[[quoteright:146:[[ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fourth_Wall_Mail_Slot_7101.PNG]]]]

-->-- ''"Help Me, Professor Kokonoe"'', ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}: [[VideoGame/BlazblueContinuumShift Continuum Shift]]''

Sometimes, characters will answer questions from readers (though sometimes the questions are only meant to seem as if they came from readers, such as in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''), as if the FourthWall had a mail slot. This is particularly common with {{Webcomics}}, since the nature of the medium makes it easy to set up multiple pathways for audience feedback, such as a ShoutBox, a [[BlogTropes blog-powered]] NewsPost, or a MessageBoard.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' does this. One ChristmasEpisode started off as a combination of this and gift art from the author-artist before [[BlackComedyRape France entered the picture]].
* ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'', ''Manga/DGrayMan'' and ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' have these in between chapters in the tankoubon.

* Done ''literally'' in FanFic/AkatsukiKittenPhoenixCorporationOverhaul. There is a door in the fourth wall, and one of the "author's minions" installs a mail slot.

* One episode of the ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'' ''Nyaruani'' shorts series had Nyarko and Mahiro hosting such a show. Their first (and only) letter comes from someone with the pen name "Demon Vending Machine" (which Nyarko declares an AwesomeMcCoolname); however, he loses her good will by asking an extremely nitpicky SeriesContinuityError question, which annoys Nyarko so much that she rips the letter into confetti. Then she cheerfully says "To be continued!", to which Mahiro replies "No it won't!"

* The ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' comics tended to do this with various characters.
** 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.

One reason that webcomickers have given for answering questions in-character is to not give as many spoilers, since then the answers are limited to what the ''character'' knows. The FourthWallMailSlot is also a handy gimmick for sketching quick FillerStrips to prevent ScheduleSlip, though many webcomickers keep it separate, as a bonus extra, many (such as ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'') include it as a regular end-of-issue (or story-arc) feature. Some don't even make the in-character Q&A into a comic, leaving it as plain text instead, or with just a small illustration. Occasionally this is used to reveal AllThereInTheManual-type information about the storyline that hasn't been mentioned in the comic and may not ever be.

* ''Manga/SketDance'' doesn't have a ''regular'' FourthWallMailSlot (even if it does sometimes BreakTheFourthWall in various ways), however when a character popularity poll for this manga was held, the results were presented in one of its chapters, showing the reactions of various characters to the results, and particularly the protagonist's constant anxiety about which place will he get.

* ''Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers'' shares a FourthWallMailSlot with multiple [=RPs=] in [[http://gangoffive.net/index.php?showtopic=6893&st=0 a topic]] on the Gang of Five forum.

* [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=9766 There's an early example]] in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''.

* Even ''Franchise/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.

* ''Magazine/TopSecret'' had a couple of character originally created by an editor-in-chief who had to make an entire issue by himself and tried to cover up the lack of personnel. They later began appearing in comics featured in the magazine, but also kept occasionally "writing" articles and were pretty indistinguishable from real editors (it didn't help that one of them was the editor-in-chief's AuthorAvatar). As a result, they frequently ended up answering letters (or having letters addressed directly to them), and some readers couldn't tell they were not real people, wondering who is hiding under these nicknames.

* ''VideoGame/Runescape'' had an email address to write letters to the FantasyPantheon early on in its series run, who would reply to a few whilst bickering over who gets to pick letters from the mailbag. This was later expanded to the ability to write to (and maybe get replies from) the entire series cast.

* [[VideoGame/Runescape]] had an email address to write letters to the FantasyPantheon early on in its series run, who would reply to a few whilst bickering over who gets to pick letters from the mailbag. This was later expanded to the ability to write to (and maybe get replies from) the entire series cast.

Some art-based [[CharacterBlog Ask Blog]] are basically if this took over the entire comic.

* There's a little comic excerpt based on the cover for chapter 93 of Manga/SkipBeat, which features Ren embracing Kyoko with his trademark dark and brooding "emperor of the night" expression - the comic reveals that they're doing a photoshoot, with Ren stating that the pose was a request from a reader. This doesn't leave Kyoko any less flustered.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In-universe, in the episode "Let's Play Catch the Mailman", Kaeloo gets a letter from a fan of the show criticizing her for being annoying and boring[[note]]This actually reflects the views of some real fans of the show[[/note]]. [[spoiler: The letter turns out to have been written by [[CatsAreMean Mr. Cat]].]]

%% ZERO CONTEXT examples are not allowed.
%% * ''WesternAnimation/BluesClues'': "IT'S MAAAIIILLL TIIIMEEEE!!!"

* [[VideoGame/PaydayTheHeist Payday 2]] has Bain, the mastermind and the [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection coordinator of the heists]], who has a Steam account and has even lended his voice for a Source Filmmaker short involving the Payday robbers in [[VideoGames/TeamFortress2 2fort stealing the intelligence.]]

* It should be noted that despite it's popularity, this kind of trope is one of the few things Website/FanFictionDotNet flat out bans. Not that it stops most writers from doing these kinds of specials, nor do most FF.N Mods really in force this rule.

* In the third volume of the "Manga/HappyHappyClover" manga by Creator/TatsuyamaSayuri. There is a section near the end of the manga, where the main characters would answer questions to Japanese fans of the manga. The very last page of the same, is a Q&A where the author would answer a question by Illustrating their answers.

* ''WebVideo/TheLizzieBennetDiaries'' had 100 episodes plus 10 "Questions and Answers" sessions. Lizzie asked her viewers to send her questions through Twitter, Facebook or YouTube, and those that were interesting for the story or characters got answered in-universe. In addition, the creative team was always eager to communicate with fans at the official page or various social networks.