+1
I haven't read this whole thread, but why doesn't marvel just go back to printing on newsprint and drop the price point to $1? They are just going to end up in a trade anyway, if you enjoy heavy glossy pages get them there. I know I would buy into way more runs if they were a dollar an issue. Let LCS's and conventions do variants.
I recently picked up a dozen or so of the $1 true believers to give to a friend's 12 year old and they blew his mind, she said he couldn't wait to bring them to school to show off. I gave the same kid a few issues of superior spider-man last year - he thumbed through them and went back to halo, but give him Xmen #1, GSXM 1, wolverine 1, hulk 181, etc and he went nuts. So, now that I got him hooked, what am I supposed to tell him? Go spend $4.99 on an issue of the new wolverine run? Nope, get a trade that has a full story.
Marvel needs to bring back a single unified voice to the brand, give me a soapbox to read, give me back a bullpen, house ads, give me back the feeling of being in a club and grow excitement for new artists and writers in the books and not on variant covers or online. Bring back legacy numbering, and when they hire Starlin and Perez to do 12 issues of Spider-gwen, just put the run number on the cover next to the series number, then stick those issues in a trade.
I would be way more interested in a marvel with 10 solid running series and not the mess I see when I look at the racks now.