Ho Ho Ho, It’s Magic, by Elayne Riggs
In a comment to Mike Gold’s column on Monday regarding Marvel’s "One More Day" storyline, Michael H. Price noted, "It comes down to the question of ‘What is Sacred Screed, and what is negotiable?’ How far can the re-invention, or the seemingly likely evolution, of an established character go before the Powers That Do Be dictate a market-pandering reversal?" He even quoted the line that fanboy favorite Alan Moore borrowed for "Whatever Happened to the Man of Steel?" — the famous "This is an Imaginary Story … aren’t they all?"
Now, I must confess off the bat that I haven’t yet read the "One More Day" saga. I think I may have read the first issue, but I’m still waiting for delivery of most of my non-DC comics from December. It’s something I’ve learned to live with, this being one or more months behind the "early adopter" new-comics-every-Wednesday crowd of which I was once a part, ever since my former job moved out of Manhattan, rendering impractical my weekly visits to the local comics store. It makes responding to the fan outrage du jour a little trickier, as I can’t cite specific examples of one thing or another, so I’m left with responding to the response, as it were.
I like to think it’s a tribute to writers and artists of the past that the characters and situations they had a hand in creating have taken on such illusory "lives" of their own that inspire such passion in readers that they seem to argue endlessly over something that doesn’t exist. If only that energy could be harnessed for good!
The television and movie Writers Guild strike lurches into its ninth week. If it goes on much longer, we may be doomed to even more staged “reality” and contest shows. Might be a good time to rekindle a book reading habit.
With the summer super-hero blockbusters come the inevitable novelizations. It used to be almost every movie from every genre would receive the prose treatment but with time, that has been winnowed dramatically. These days it appears just the genre films get the attention and not even all those receive a book. 
Damn. They blew it.
Let us now celebrate one of the greatest boons to entertainment in the entire history of film. It is seemingly small and insignificant – just a tiny speck amongst many others – but with a mere touch it can turn dreadful wastes of time into tolerable, even enjoyable, enhancements to one’s well-being. 
