beatboks
ready for the loony bin
In all honesty I think its circular and you ll get many different oppinions depending on the poster.
I've experienced this a few times over my comic reading history.
I think every now and then the "industry" sees itself as loosing relevence because its not gaining a new audience and the one it has is flagging.
So every now and then it makes changes it THINKS will attract a new and hip audience at the expense of the one it has.
For example back in the early 90's quite a few old characters were killed off to make room for a new breed or just completwly guttwd characters. For me thw JSA getting killed off, Daredevil's being totally ripped to shreďs by Fisk etc.
In 2004 -2006 we also had a changing of the guard that jaded many readers due to treatment of their favorites to change legacies (Barry Allen came back so Wally got shite on, Jaimie Reyes new BB ted Kord killed etc)
Once or sometimes twice a decade the throw the baby out with the bathwater just to try and get new market penetration. They inevitably change back to keep the readers who would have always been there as the fly by nites leave