Vanity Fair forces a choice: Jackson or Farrah?

Somebody hit Vanity Fair’s editor-in-chief up on Twitter for me and remind him that the recession’s not over yet.
Hello, Graydon Carter! Now’s really not the time to force devoted readers to choose between the TWO covers you plan to print for the September issue. Given what a letdown your August cover story on the actor “Heath Ledger’s Final Days”, it’s a wonder whether Vanity Fair can turn around a tribute on either one of the true super stars (Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson) who died in July, let alone both.
For nostalgia’s sake, if not strictly out of habit, we VF fans will reward your advertisers by reading one or the other. But that whole “either-or” situation doesn’t sit well. In fatter times, we might have bought both. But, surely, not now.

So tell us, Mr. Carter: which of the $4.95 versions of the same monthly issue shoud we choose? Will one of the accompanying cover stories be more substantial and revelatory than the other? Is this gambit strictly undertaken for “collector” sales values?
And, after so many crucial weeks in the media cycle have passed, was it worth forcing the cast of AMC’s “Man Men” off of the September cover in favor of two tragic figures whose time had come and gone?
Farrah suffered to long before our eyes, and Michael died too painfully while we turned away from him. So which final portrayal, courtesy of Vanity Fair, is the casual fan’s best investment?

photos: Vanity Fair