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Dear Superman,
Undoubtedly, by now you would've heard of the merger between America Online and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner (which I think should be shortened to 'ATW' for the heck of it). Undoubtedly, you would also know that Time Warner is the owner of DC Comics. And undoubtedly, you would know that DC Comics owns all rights to you.
In other words, you now live next door to Mozilla, AOL's Netscape's mascot.
I'm sure you know why Time Warner owns DC Comics in the first place. Not because the powers-that-be are such avid comic readers, but because they need material to spin out blockbusters like the Batman movies or the New Batman/Superman Adventures.
This should be a bigger cause of worry than kryptonite for you. As one of your writers, Mark Waid, put it so vividly, if Warner Bros can earn millions of dollars through a paltry Batman flick, why would it want to invest in comic books which earn only a coupla thousand dollars per title?
You probably know the answer to that question more than the rest of us. You, as are your fellow characters like Batman and Wonder Woman in the diverse DC Universe, are a part of our everyday culture and society. Can you imagine a world without a Superman? Oh yes, I know this happened before when you died a few times, but I'm talking about you never having even existed at all! Who would we look up to? A friendly neighborhood web crawler? A group of mutants which fight for a world that hates and fears them? None of them can compare to you, a Superman, a demi-god even! Or Batman, the ultimate homo sapien hero! Or Wonder Woman, a female warrior!
Back in the 1940s when comics were young, two young men by the names of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster conceived of a hero with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. If National Comics hadn't given them the backing and support to print their stories, you wouldn't be alive and the comics industry wouldn't be what it is today.
In the end, it all comes down to this: comics are as essential an entertainment medium as movies and TV shows, and the creators behind them deserve all the support and respect that they can get from the powers- that-be. You are fortunate to have the backing of Jennete (sp?) Kahn and Paul Levitz, who have stood up for you and your fellow heroes and villains time and time again.
So no matter what the future holds for DC Comics through the merger, whether it be e-comics which are downloaded to a reader's hard disk (and risk being erased after a crash) or AOL brands popping up in the Daily Planet, I sincerely hope that the powers-that-be will never, ever forsake you or your creators or the company behind it all, DC Comics.
Because you are more than just a character in someone's mind brought to life on paper.
You are one of us.
Yours sincerely, Yuhui
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