Believe me, I understand all the reasons why it can't and won't ever happen, but I've yet to stumble upon a compelling reason why it [i]shouldn't[/i]. Sure, you could say, "Well, there are still stories to tell with the classic characters," and that's true -- we're living proof of that, I hope -- but at a certain point you hit diminishing returns... if comics haven't already. Besides, as you said, the classic characters don't have to be completely shelved so long as there are self-contained stories and Elseworlds.

But those don't move books like crossover events and the like do, and so we're back at making narrative decisions for financial reasons, which is where the comics industry (or, at least Marvel and DC) has been stagnating for... 30 years or so?

What I'm saying is everybody should come out for Eddie Brock's "Marvel: A New Generation" RPG, coming soon to the Roleplayer Guild only to be swiftly run into the ground with self-insert OCs and people who miss the concept and want to use the classic characters anyway!