Interesting - it seems to be a popular view round these parts that Marvel should make more use of fill-in artists.  That if Hitch can't produce 12 issues a year on The Ultimates, for example, Marvel should refuse to skip a month's solicitations but rather bring in a fill-in team.  When it was pointed out that they aren't technically late, there were still many posters saying that Marvel is making a mistake in selling 8 issues a year with a consistant creative team instead of 12 with fill-ins mixed in.

But here, many years after Squadon Supreme was completed with a varied art team, we have folks saying that inconsistancy hurts their enjoyment of the book.  In retrospect, perhaps Marvel should have make sure of the art consistancy, monthly schedule be damned?  Short-term monthly sales might have been sacrificed but perhaps readers 10 years or more later - or even in future generations, 20 years from now - would consider SS a more seminal, can't miss work and who knows how many more future printings the book might have enjoyed?  I'm sure it will remain in print, but could it be that making those monthly deadlines cost untold thousands of dollars (and a fair amount of prestidge) in the long run?

"Big difference between limited series and ongoing series."

What's the difference between Squadron Supreme is and Ultimates Vol 2?  They're both 12-issue stories that will sell as collected editions for years after anyone remembers whether the individual issues came out on time.  Thank God Marvel isn't using fill-in artists on Ultimates, I believe that there is something to be said for maintaining a creative consistancy and I believe the comments in this thread show evidence that SS's standing in the field has been diminished because of inconsistant art.

Who pays for the creative team to work for a year (or more) getting 12 issues "in the can" before any sales are realized?  That sounds expensive, I'm not surprised it's not commonplace.

But keep this in mind, those of you who think this would not be such a bad thing: that's how you run a fan club, not a publishing operation. If you want comics to become even more isolated, and inaccessible and even more aimed at smaller and smaller clutches of fans ---- well, fine. Have fun. But don't expect to be in for the long run. There ain't gonna be one.

The JLA are out-Watchmen-ing the Watchmen characters these days. I'd like to see someone draw a comic that shows the Justice League brainwashing and breaking villain's necks and the Watchmen characters standing off to the side, looking disgusted.

"It's about the characters and the plot. "

In other words, it's about the writer(s).  People may not know the writer's names, but they know what they like, and aren't going to keep tuning in just because the show gets aired on time every week.

If you want comics to become even more isolated, and inaccessible and even more aimed at smaller and smaller clutches of fans ---- well, fine. Have fun. But don't expect to be in for the long run. There ain't gonna be one.
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I'd say the music industry has more than its share of being about "the singer, not the song."  And TOTALLY disagree with Steve about movies and TV shows.  How many people went to see movies in the 80's because Spielberg's name was slapped on them. How has that hurt either industry or made them smaller?