Fans becoming creators equals the death of innovation in a genre.

[Kai "the spy"]

But that's mistaking medium for genre. Yeah, early comics were influenced by pulps, but that's just a change of medium, not of genre. For example, the early Batman was pretty much a rip-off of The Shadow, so much so that the very first Batman story "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate", was lifted from the Shadow novel "Partners of Peril". It just happens that one is a prose novel, while the other is a comic story.

[CaptCleghorn]

I don't think the OP disagrees. At least Batman wasn't "incestous".

I put in bold some parts that seem to me quite interesting, because I don't see that much discussions on these boards about those external influences. I probably lurk on the wrong places! .

It's a tough call. Even IF we come up with a firm definition of genre and generation, when it comes down to superhero comics, sometime incest is the point. Warren Ellis' Planetary has gotten rave reviews and is generally well-liked. The focus of most of the series has been old archetypes and scenarios. That's as incestuous as you get and the series proudly announces it. In cases like this, do we deny incestuous content or do we relish it? Yes, Sturgeons Law (90% of everything is crap) applies.

Good stuff and garbage has been coming out in every one of the nearly 50 years I've been reading comics. As long as comics come out, I doubt that will change.