professorthorgi answered:
Good question. Honestly, it’s a combination of not adapting to the times since they’re used to comics being one thing that last forever and ever and not something that goes on in seasons or is constantly changing because they’re giving writers more freedom, which is a good thing, and because they tend to focus on the main series which are more heavily controlled by the higher ups (which is bad) and they don’t notice the more obscure stuff which is amazing (and that’s good). Plus many older comic fans tend to view the comics they had with kids through rose colored glasses because they read it with kids and every comic you read as a kid is amazing (hell I grew up with the Clone Saga and I loved it back then even though now I fully understand it’s super flawed and kind of a mess). And many of the things that peopled loved about comics when they were kids still exist today, but older readers don’t accept it simply because it’s not what they had (See anyone who talks about how amazing the X-Men used to be because they were a metaphor for discrimination but won’t bother to pick up an issue of Sam Wilson Captain America which isn’t a metaphor for discrimination, instead it’s just flat out saying the stuff that you couldn’t say about that subject back in the X-Men in the 90s)
But honestly they’re doing amazing stuff that people tend to ignore but at the same time they’re really different from how they used to be which can turn many older readers away, and there are problems today (massive crossovers, movie tie ins, etc) that weren’t nearly as heavy as they were back then. So if I had to make a stance on this, they’re not better or worse, they’re just not the books people grew up with, and you’ll always prefer the stuff you grew up with, and that’s understandable. But no, they’re not going downhill, they’re not terrible, they’re just different.