Dinner With My Editor

I just sent off a bunch of questions to my editor, hoping to avoid another round of machete-like pruning.
Of course, his ruthlessness is exactly what I want from him, and is showing me how to be at least slightly more ruthless on my own.
No matter how clever I think the words, are they absolutely, unequivocally essential?

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/comics/strangebrew.html