QUOTE: Was Jack Kirby not a perfectionist? Is Joe Kubert not a perfectionist? Curt Swan? It pisses me off every time this crap is tossed out so casually -- especially by people who should know better. This is "growing roses" in a different wrapper. And it is a flat out insult to everyone who ever turned in their work on time. "Oh, this was on time. It must be less than perfect. Let's go look for someone who is late. He is obviously a perfectionist!" Bullshit.

Allow me to (attempt to) clarify.  I'm not suggesting for a moment that any of those people you named (plus a bunch of others, amongst which I would include yourself) didn't do awesome work.  Nor am I excusing these habitually late artists or suggesting any of them deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as any of these legendary names.  I used perfectionist for lack of a better word, and it's not really a word that I always view in a positive sense, in any case.  Perfectionism can be a restrictive quality (at least that's how it strikes me at times) and I don't think it suits everybody.

What I'm trying to get at is that the artistic trend today seems to focus on static photorealism, with all the detail (and talking heads) that that implies.  It goes with a second point that I left unremarked, that much of today's art is all form, no function.  The art seems very action-deficient these days and I honestly think that contributes at least somewhat to the apparently languorous pace of some artists.   It would seem to figure since the art is itself languorous.

Of course, that's no excuse for late work (and, believe me, I'm not excusing it) but the other half of the equation (which I also didn't remark on) seems to be that these new guys don't have as strong a grasp and/or appreciation of the medium as those who came before.  They also clearly lack the work ethic.  And, of course, they're not as good as the old guard (at least the best of the old guard) as much as some might argue otherwise.

I don't think Kirby, Kubert, Swan et al were perfectionists (at least not in the sense I'm using the word).  They didn't need to be – because they were just that good. 

QUOTE: Ah ha, but the also had to get fast and still be good.

Yeah, that's one of the key points I was trying to infer in my comment about perfectionism.  That the current crop of artists have to be slow to be good and/or don't have the know-how to be good and on time.  One can only imagine how their work would look if they were forced to be on time.  I would like to think they could learn to be good and on time if deadlines were regularly enforced.  It just doesn't seem as if they have that discipline.

I like fast art better. My favorite period of most artists is when they were the most prolific. The Image founders are a great example. I loved all their work pre Image, hate their Image stuff.

Art Adams too, well I don't hate it, but I'm really indifferent to his post 80s stylisation.I just feel there's more enthusiasm in the earlier work. My favorite of his is his Cloak and Dagger issue and surprise, I learned much later in life that it's the only comic he drew on time. It looks FREANKING AWESOME. I was blown away by it.

Check out Jim Lee's Batman run next to ASBR, it makes ASBR even 10 times uglier than it already is.

(Smart editors will, of course, encourage their talent to keep to a monthly schedule so they can pull out way ahead of the deadlines. Think of it! 12 books a year for 2 years, published 8 times a year, and you gain a whole year!!!)

As of 2006 median household (not to be confused with individual) income in the United States was just over $47,000 annually, or $3,917 per month.  An individual income of $4,400 is above the national household average.  Income tax and health insurance is a negligible difference.  Payroll taxes are a big difference because half of that burden is usually born by the employer. That still leaves a decent wage compared to the national average.  Local cost of living is the real variable, but NY, NY's median household income is historically slightly lower than the US average.

I'm not sure if Neal Adams, George Perez, or Carlos Pacheo ever drew 12
comics in a year.

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What about George's run on TEEN TITANS?

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George Perez also did 24 issues of Wonder Woman and 12 issues of Crisis On Infinite Earths.