Debt to Marvel

A "different view of Lichtenstein" ( Shock of the nouveau , 22 September) would be one that acknowledged the artist's enormous debt to Jack Kirby . All of the works you show are derived from the ground-breaking art that Kirby did for Marvel in the early 60s, inspiring a generation of comic artists and readers. There has never, to my knowledge, been an exhibition where Kirby's work has been shown alongside Roy Lichtenstein's. Comic art can still be treated with contempt; Kirby had to struggle to regain much of his original art from Marvel. Yet his work will have a more enduring place in art history than the comic panel copies you reprint. David Belbin Nottingham • Why did Lichtenstein show one American plane shooting down another in WHAAM! ? The foreground plane carries the "star and bars" and obviously belongs to the USAF. The other aircraft is patently an American F86 Sabre. Brian Waterland Deeping St James, Lincolnshire