Zombie Spartans?

I'm sure you'll forgive me if I express some healthy skepticism concerning a q & a in the Walter Scott's Personality Parade in today's Parade Magazine.

A purported reader who goes by the mysterious moniker "M.I., San Antonio, Tex." (I believe the use of initials indicates that the letter was actually written by the column's staff) asks whether Gerard Butler has "plans to do a sequel to his smash hit 300, the movie about Greek warriors based on Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name?"

Responds Edward Klein, or whichever of his staff is masquerading as Walter Scott: "Miller says he'd be more than happy to write future installments of his popular creation."

One has to question not only whether the column's staff actually talked to Miller (the lack of quotation marks makes me suspect that even if they did, this is more a paraphrase than a quote) but whether the staffers know that 300 is (a) not Miller's "creation," but a retelling of an historical event; and (b) ends with [spoiler warning?] Butler's character, and his warriors, dying!

I suppose we could have "future installments" featuring the gradual decomposition of their remains, or perhaps zombie Spartans rising from the wine-dark sea to seek their revenge (damn, those guys are hard to kill!). But I somehow doubt Frank Miller -- who, after all, wrote and drew 300 back in the 1990's -- will be writing or drawing future installments.

How Far Ahead of Deadline is Parade Magazine Prepared, Anyway?

I realize that Parade Magazine and its most prominent feature, Walter Scott's Personality Parade, has to be prepared ahead of the publication date so that it can be stuck inside the Circuit City ad in Sunday papers nationwide. But one would still think that some editor (one of the numerous staff editors listed in the indicia, perhaps) would catch a particular item in today's Personality Parade; and this correction (copied from the Personality Parade Webpage) wouldn't be necessary:

"Editor’s note: In the Feb. 11 edition of “Walter Scott’s Personality Parade,” we reported that 2006 Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro was in stable condition. Sadly, Barbaro developed serious complications after we went to press, and the horse had to be euthanized on Jan. 29."

Well, I guess "stable" is one way to put it . . . .