Some very interesting points raised here, and several that more or less remind me of why I'm not a comicbook professional today...

   I was one of those fans who used to think that it'd be a neat job to have to be drawing the X-Men, Spider-Man, etc for what was (in 1987 $$) about 43 bucks a page.  It never occured to me that meeting deadlines were a big factor in the business, even when they had it in writing on a printed page.  Then something happened: I grew up.

   In recent days, I've seen examples of people who didn't become adults somehow making it in the business, and proceeding to botch the job they had landed.  Having been on the receiving end of their laziness or stupidity, I can relate a bit to what some readers and the (more professional) editors and managers must've felt about the situation.  You don't see too many of these around any more, do you?

   At a time, I recalled my standard speed being at that inadequate single ppd (page per day) level.  I'd be lucky if I could manage two.  I can whip out a small sketch in just under a half-hour, but I could never seem to make myself stick to an actual page of sequential panels.  Whatever the cause of this was, it's a reason I can accept for why I chose not to go into professional comicbook art.  I simply don't know if I could learn to discipline myself to work the long hours needed to complete the two pages of full pencils per day expected of a professional artist.

However, being currently unemployed might be worth trying to see if that can be done.  I have nothing else to do after filling in job applications, so maybe that "hobby" of mine can be refined?

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When royalties arrived, something I noticed immediately was that many artists cut back on their production. They seemed to say "Cool! I can do half as much work, and make the same money!"

This is most likely when the seeds of doom were sown. It's not much of a stroll from that kind of thinking, to producing the barest minimum of work and still making enough to get by on. And, of course, once the speculators arrived, and sales went (unrealistically and temporarily) thru the roof, it became possible to do next to nothing and make a fortune.

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Again, remember there are a lot of artists -- more and more all the time, it seems -- who absolutely refuse to think of this as a JOB. Hell, for a lot of them, these days, it's only something they do ON THE SIDE. These bungee artists (and writers) who jump in, screw around for a while, and then go back to their day jobs. "Well, that series I've been working on is late because I have IMPORTANT stuff to do, designing sets for TV shows, and like that."

To quote Roger Stern again, he has often said our "generation" was lucky, because we got into comics when there was "no" money, so the only real reason for coming here was for the love of it. When the money started to roll in, it was like a reward. Today, it is considered a right -- and, as we see out in the real world, there are few things that can screw up the system faster and more thoroughly than people deciding certain things are "entitlements".

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Once or twice.

and, as we see out in the real world, there are few things that can screw up the system faster and more thoroughly than people deciding certain things are "entitlements".

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Agreed.

I've seen the same thing occur where I work, and it tends to be the new hires.  They will do the absolute least amount of work to get by, which surprises me because I would think you would want to distinguish yourself.  I've pulled a few aside and tried to show them they are waisting an opportunity to be successful, but they usually just seem to be happy to do the minimum, and  be content with keeping their job, not excelling.