I've often wondered if anyone ever actually called the DC Hotline. Supposedly you could call in and "hear artists, writers and editors with a new report starting every Monday." Presumably these would have been recorded messages, as putting your creative staff on phone duty all day would have been a sure way for 70s-era DC to miss even more deadlines than Marvel infamously did.

My first take on this concept, back in the day, was "how much of a fanatic would you have to be to call DC for hints about future comics"? Of course I couldn't have imagined the era of internet "spoilers" and electronic chat sessions with comics creators, or for that matter "Previews" magazine with its plot synopses for comics still months away from release. If fans are that impatient to know what's ahead now, they probably were back then, as well.

The other thing that struck me was the implication that comic book writers and artists (and even editors) were some kind of celebrities, like rock stars or TV actors, and that we should be excited at the prospect of "talking to" them. I couldn't imagine being dorky enough to run around saying, "Ohmigod, I just heard the voice of Al Milgrom coming out of my very own phone!" But again, now I know better. ("Ohmigod, Grant Morrison himself just joined this thread!")

At the bottom of the same page is an ad for possibly the least tempting issue of Amazing World of DC Comics I've ever heard of. Wonder how that one sold? Maybe I should call the Hot-Line and ask.