I blame editors more than writers for tarnishing the characters. JMS could say "Gwen and Norman's kids" or "Spider Totem" and Ed Brubaker could say "I'm bringing Bucky back" or "Dark Genesis" and an editor or Editor-in-Chief could say "No". Of course, we've been told that some editors insert too much of their power as well (I'm thinking of things like The Beyonder and Quasar being forced upon writers).

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Maybe the muscle memory isn't there for certain sounds, leaving clues to the native accent (I'm thinking, for example, of the 'th' sound that so many non-native English speakers struggle with even though they know how it should sound).

Which begs the question: What is there to be gained by such a policy/rule?

It has some intriguing implications for characters such as Adam Warlock...

Carol Danvers was created by Roy Thomas and Dean Colan.

She was later made into Ms. Marvel by Gerry Conway and John Buscema.  But her costume was designed by John Romita closely-based on a costume designed by Gil Kane.  She then received several costume and name (Binary, Warbird, Captain Marvel) changes to the point where all she really has in common with the original character is her civilian identity..

So is she the same character that Thomas and Colan created?  Is the creation process more in come cases than just coming up with the original name and design?  In some cases I would say yes.

I'm 100% with you on that.   

My original thought was that if you took away all of the stuff added by Thomas, Starlin and others do you still have Adam Warlock?  It's easy to do this for a character like Spider-man or Thor since those essential elements (character traits, motivations, costume) were there from day one at the point of creation (or at least the first published manefestation of the character).   

With HIM/Adam Warlock it's less cut and dry -- but I went back and read the original Lee and Kirby material and lo and behold... he's not just a guy in a coccoon. All of the core Warlock things are present -- including being the apex of human evolution, golden skin/hair and mental powers.   He's portrayed more as monster-of-the-month rather than a hero but I don't think that really matters.   I hadn't read FF #66/67 in years (decades?) and always assumed these appearances were tacked on when the character became popular in the 90s in much the same way Web of Spiderman 18 briefly became the 'first appearance' of Venom.   It's clearly not the case though, Warlock is through and through a Kirby/Lee creation.