The double-edged sword of losing an artist you love(d): It's sad the person dropped dead, but the postmortem press avalanche devoted to the art and life of the freshly dead is a lovely consolation prize. This sword gets quadruple-edged when applied to Michael Jackson, whose artistic highs were unprecedentedly extravagant and whose personal lows were heartbreakingly depraved. So let's get started!

* Over to the left is the cover of the Michael Jackson Commemorative Issue of Time being rushed to newsstands this morning. (As TMZ reports, "The last time the magazine published a special edition in between weekly issues was in the days following 9/11.")

* Meanwhile, The Sun does the dirty work, sharing the shock findings of Jackson's autopsy:

Harrowing leaked autopsy details show the singer was a virtual skeleton—barely eating and with only pills in his stomach at the time he died. His hips, thighs and shoulders were riddled with needle wounds—believed to be the result of injections of narcotic painkillers, given three times a day for years. And a mass of surgery scars were thought to be the legacy of at least 13 cosmetic operations.

* Meanwhile meanwhile, the Daily Mail has Ian Halperin's insider chronicle of Jackson's world.

According to a member of his staff, he was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of the London concerts. ‘He wasn’t eating, he wasn’t sleeping and, when he did sleep, he had nightmares that he was going to be murdered. He was deeply worried that he was going to disappoint his fans. He said he thought he’d die before doing the London concerts. He gave up. His voice and dance moves weren’t there any more. I think maybe he wanted to die rather than embarrass himself on stage.’

Halperin also breaks (heartening) allegations about Jackson's would-be adult homosexuality...

In the course of my investigations, I spoke to two of his gay lovers, one a Hollywood waiter, the other an aspiring actor....When Jackson lived in Las Vegas, one of his closest aides told how he would sneak off to a ‘grungy, rat-infested’ motel—often dressed as a woman to disguise his identity—to meet a male construction worker he had fallen in love with.

...and his final gift to his kids:

‘He has as many as 200 unpublished songs that he is planning to leave behind for his children when he dies. They can’t be touched by the creditors [Jackson reportedly died $400 million in debt], but they could be worth as much as £60million that will ensure his kids a comfortable existence no matter what happens,’ one of his collaborators revealed.

* Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, Gawker attends Jackson memorials outside Harlem's Apollo Theater, and finds some great conspiracy theories being born:

Murray has his own little twist on why Jackson was finally killed: he wouldn't tour the U.S. "The CIA did it," Murray explains. "The U.S. was mad at Michael for taking money overseas. They wanted that money."

Allow me to close by highlighting the man doing what he always did best: Selling records. From iTunes:

Since Michael Jackson's passing, the troubling stories are mounting, particularly this long, "insider" screed from the Daily Mail. Drugs, paranoia, debt, anorexia, et al. No way. I'll continue holding out hope that it's all a ruse, meant to cover up MJ's crimefighting truth:

(Life-size BatJacko "figurine" from the famed Sotheby's auction)