It's really not his responsibility either way. He's been asked to do a job. It's his responsibility to do the job to the satisfaction of the person who wants to hire him or refuse the job. 

And if the owners are in short-term thinking, the best thing for everyone to do is walk away. Pros and fans alike. Pros because their reputation will likely not be enhanced by their connection to the work, and fans because you have to starve these kinds of people out. 

They've also been dramatically altered for incredibly popular movies and TV shows, who appeal to kids, teens, and adults. 

Comics have been invaded by short-term thinking in a very big way. They're not building anything, they're in constant crisis management (in the case of DC, in more ways than one). Meanwhile, other people are taking a good hard look at the properties and bringing them to a new generation of fans, and they're keen to build on their success. 

You really think it's that off the mark to not suspect certain fans of wanting everything to be like it was when they were 12? Because, as we know, that mentality is simply a myth. 

To be fair, I hold many beliefs with various characters that are retroactive, like yours. I started following the Hulk right after he was turned gray in 1986/87, but my ideal period for him is 1973-1979. There was a lot of very valid modifications to the Hulk that were for the better by that point. I do understand that Spider-Man is a different beast.

Still, the notion that defining traits when a character first appears should be kept as is forever simply doesn't work in all cases. It doesn't work for most fans with Superman, who in general seem to prefer the Silver Age version far more than any other. I can say that at 8 or 9, when I started following the comics regularly, it would have made no difference whatsoever whether Spider-Man was in high-school or college to me as a very young reader. Both were far beyond my comprehension and interests.

Now that I think about it, my first introduction was probably the Spider-Man cartoon shows in the 80's and even then they presented him as having moved past high-school.  

Valid point. Plot wise I'm sure none of them would be affected. It probably would have been even less of an issue with MTU since the supporting cast was used far less than in Amazing. Still, I don't think we can totally disregard the continuity of the period as having added nothing of substance. 

But then, I guess a very bright high schooler would pretty much be doing the same things. 

At some point, what I picture as my ideal and what actually works best for the character - if they're not identical - has to give way to what works best for the character, my desires be damned. I think a young college freshman works just as well as a high school senior for age, but if pressed, I'd rather him be a high schooler than aged to the point of being a teacher, an adult scientist, a married man, etc. 

Ever heard the expression, "you can lead a horse to water..."

If the owners of the property are only interested in a making a quick buck, then there's nothing you can do. It's theirs. They own it, lock, stock, and barrel. 

At most, you can minimize the damage by turning their short-term dictates into something reasonably decent, but odds are they're just going to keep dictating more and more stunts because you've successfully managed to reward them for their behavior. 

And, quite frankly, unless you're a fan who is "trying to protect" the characters, there's no reason to enter into business with them. Go find someone who is trying to build something and join their team, because they're the future, not the morons intent on running their properties into the ground for pennies on the dollar. 

Yeah, if you get a Swamp Thing, then you're pretty much free to do anything you like. If we're talking about Alan Moore, I've never gotten a sense he was even remotely a fan of Swamp Thing. He just saw an opportunity to do something he thought was cool and everyone involved seemed delighted at what he delivered. 

Basically, he was a pro. He was called in to do something with a struggling title and delivered far beyond their expectations and even managed to create a DC mainstay in the process. 

Contrast with the stories coming out of DC today where it's obvious no one has any long term plans, but lots and lots of short-term stunts, which are constantly driving off the talent. 

Now maybe the fans got comics to this dire situation; I simply don't know enough about comic history to say one way or the other, but DC is clearly in a management dictated short-term thinking, which is not going to produce anything of value no matter who steps up to the plate. 

Whatever plan you might have, they're going to get in your way in a major way. Apparently Green Lantern has gotten pretty popular of late and DC did their level best to screw that up by rebooting the universe out from under it, And they did this to one of their biggest sellers. Why would any sane professional want to be anywhere near this company?