[quote=@Inkarnate]I think getting into the industry was also a lot easier back then.
[/quote]

At this point, screw "the industry."  Marvel's too busy hiring YA novel authors, Image has become "Here's my failed pitch for a screenplay that I'm passing off as a comic" the company, and DC decided to squander all their goodwill by hiring Brian Michael "Let's take Mary Jane away from Spider-Man and put her in Iron Man's book where she'll do absolutely nothing for three years" Bendis on Superman.  If there's any hope at all for American comic books as a medium, it's going to be from independent creators sidestepping the big publishing houses and finding other ways to get their works to the public.