lves, not the telling of the story but the story itself -- all seem to have become crasser, coarser, woven of shoddier materials.   
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The tone was perhaps set by the sudden appearance of Osama bin Laden, a mass murderer who came across at the same time as a comic-book, caricature villain -- a man whom it would be impossible to take seriously if he had not killed so many people.  The plan that he brought to fruition on September 11 was lifted whole out of any number of action comics, video games, or 