In an Oscar-themed episode, CBS Sunday Morning interviewed Neil Gaiman today in recognition of the movie based on his work Coraline. It's one of my favorite movies of last year, a delightfully spooky (and NOT kid-centered, which is incredibly refreshing) film about a frustrated girl who tires of her parents' not paying attention to her and finds an "Other Mother" waiting for her in a different universe. It was the traditional "gee-whiz" kind of interview (Neil Gaiman has dolls in his house! And some of them move! And he also has lots and lots of books! That last one is always odd to me. Is it really that remarkable for anyone, let alone a writer, to have a huge collection of books?), and of course the interview had that feeling of "no, really, adults actually read this stuff, too." Maybe I'm a little sensitive about it. But nestled within the interview was this gem of a quote from Ogden Nash, which Gaiman said inspired the type of stories he tells: "Where there's a monster, there's a miracle." It describes eloquently how I feel about Gaiman's work and what we all really responded to in his writing, first in Sandman 20 years ago, then in a succession of follow-ups, ranging from comics to graphic novels to prose books. It made me realize how much Gaiman's work has meant to me over the past two decades, and how many times I've handed off one of his books to a friend and said, "You have to read this." And while I may quibble with the way the comics industry is still covered in the mainstream media (because there is so often a slight condescension in it), I have to realize: It's because of people like Gaiman that we've come this far, and we should appreciate that huge step.