You guys REALLY love comics!
I can't summon the intestinal fortitude to read into all those various elements.
I'm aware of a few of the items you mention, particularly the letter page stuff. I don't really believe Lowe is being totally dismissive in those cases - sometimes, that reader IS reading things into something that is NOT there. Or they may be trying to connect something now to something that occurred 10 or 20 years ago.
It's not healthy to read comics that way, IMHO.
I'm reading the same story that the person in the letter is commenting on and end up scratching my head like "Huh, where'd they get that from?".
But maybe it's because I just don't love comics as hard as that person. I like them, but it ain't THAT serious...