That's true, but I don't think the great Marvel artists had a strong following based on their writing, since none of it would be credited, or usually not I guess. There's no doubt that when certain artists come aboard the comic can change tone quickly, and it's more than just different splashes of ink. But me personally, while I like the art of Jaime Hernandez, I probably wouldn't be so quick to buy everything with his name on it if he were just one of several contributors to a comic, and the other contributors changed frequently. I think the history of consistent quality (And even if his type of comic isn't someone's taste, they have to admit there's a consistency there) is why I am a fan. There are surely other great artists out there whose work I'm not following all that closely, or at all. I am not sure if I was reading comics when Hellboy launched or not, and was not familiar with Mignola before around 2008, so I can't remember what his following was like in the beginning. But it's possible, if Hellboy was an instant hit, that it was speculator driven. Or just hype driven in general. I bought into a handful of Image launch titles and I wasn't speculating. I just thought it was going to be the coolest thing ever thanks to the hype. I don't think his lack of confidence as a writer early on discounts his current following probably built up of more than simply fans of his art.