The problem for us old-time Marvel fans is trying to understand the current storylines. None of the charecters resemble the ones I loved from the 70's & 80's. 

 A restart would bring back thousands of older fans and make the Marvel Universe fun again.

Daren Frost:  A restart would bring back thousands of older fans and make the Marvel Universe fun again.

The problem is that there's no guarentee of that.  Twenty years is a long time, and all those readers aren't teens anymore.  There may not be a way out of the mess Marvel's made for themselves.

"As was pointed out, Ellis had little to do with the current state of the industry."

That's certainly true in the big picture, economic sense.  But Ellis has played a role in creating the current fan-mindset.  Maybe a small one, but clearly he's played some part in promoting and fomenting certain ideas and attitudes that have garnered some legitimacy in today's discussions about what is wrong with the industry and how to fix it.

If you agree with those ideas, you've got no problem with Ellis.  If you're not happy with the "I'm much smarter than the crap I read" element of comic fandom that Ellis embodies, you're entitled to heap a little blame on him.

Mike 

"And, of course, in a few decades, there will probably be a group of fans on an Ellis or JMS or whomever's board"

It's pretty optimistic to think there will still be a comic industry in a few decades.  Oh, there will still be comics around and there will probably even be a Marvel and DC publishing something.  But an entire industry surviving?  Things have got to get a lot better before we can be comfortable assuming that.

Yeah, I know people have been predicting that for decades now but unless there are substantial increases from today's readership levels, how much of a downturn will there have to be to send hundreds more comics shops out of business?  And you can be sure, there will be another downturn.  And I'm not sure how many more comic shops can be lost before you reach the point of no return.

Mike

One thing is guaranteed. Comics will not survive while selling the pathetic numbers they've been selling. It's been more than half a decade since the 90's crash, and they still haven't gone back to sales numbers pre-Boom, let alone pre-Crash

You mean DC and Marvel will not, I assume.  'Cause I keep reading that manga is selling up a storm.  If Superman and Spider-Man get cancelled, comics will still be around, right?

You had the internet, you had cartoon marketing, you had mass movie success marketing, you had unprecedented quality paper, colouring and art available, and the TRUTH is, they you still sold less than 10% of what Stan, Kirby, Byrne, Thomas, Englehart did.

What they didn't have is distribution, something I think we all agree on in this forum.  The direct market is has a stranglehold on the US comic industry, which is gasping from breath.

And give me my godamned product already, without discussions: Or my money, as well of other millions out there, will remain where it has been: In my pocket. Or going into some product that doesn't suck. Or into a product where i'm not insulted as i buy it. Either by the makers of the product, verbally, or by how total and absolute shite the derivative glossy drivel, that you ask three dollars for, is!

Now THAT sounds like something Warren Ellis could've written. :-)