I’m not talking about those who choose not to work on big books anymore or have essentially left the industry, but those who are still very much in the game. Why should Fabian Nicieza be relegated to stuff like the Black Panther Lexus book and the Northop Grumman/Marvel book that was later cancelled? Why isn’t DC giving Marc Wolfman anything bigger than the Raven and Cyborg solos? Why hasn’t Marvel given Chris Claremont any work apart from that bit in the Wedding Special? What happened to Roger Stern, Don McGregor, J. M. DeMatteis, George Perez, Kevin Maguire, Louise and Walt Simonson, Karl Kesel, Alan Davis, David Michelinie, Bob Layton etc? Surely they couldn’t have all decided en masse to stop accepting big projects from the big two.
Feel free to correct me if any of the people I listed have chosen to stop working in comics or the big two, retired, is in a bigger position, has been at work for the big two, choose to work on smaller titles, or anything else that is due to their own volition. I wouldn’t want to mischaracterize anybody’s circumstances. Just curious as to why so many of the most talented comic creators aren’t on big titles and many mediocre nontalents are.