Ah yes, Graceland would be another angle entirely. I don't know much about Elvis fandom but it doesn't seem that it has that LJ-based/fic-writing contingent, which Beatles fandom definitely does have. Both of them fit into the broad continuum of fannishness but there is a distinction there, just as there's a real people/fictional people distinction.

Personally I'm not a huge John Lennon fan but I have made a pilgrimage to Brian Epstein's grave and left flowers near his house on the anniversary of his death. So yes, I guess I know more about fannish mourning than I thought I did. I'm not sure that I would be nearly as affected by the death of a fictional character... I think I'd probably just ignore it, or attempt to.