My very first submission to DC Comics was way back in 1979 or 1980. I never received a formal rejection for that — perhaps DC didn’t take a story proposal written in #2 pencil on a sheet of torn-out spiral notebook paper seriously. Or maybe — just maybe — they’re still considering it.

Nah.

Anyway, years later — now a seasoned wordsmith of around sixteen or so — Young Barry tried again. I can’t remember for the life of me what this story submission would have been (probably my idea for a Crime Syndicate of America limited series), but it was soundly rejected by the legendary Dick Giordano with this form letter:

click to enlarge

One of the cool things about DC’s stationery was 1 that the back had a reverse-image of DC heroes standing on each other’s shoulders, so that a ghost-image of the heroes showed through the front, holding up the DC logo. Over the years, the line-ups and costumes changed to suit the times. Pretty cool!

  1. I say “was” because I have no idea if it’s still this way.