Yes, they are. Fans have the ultimate creative control, because they're the ones consuming the material.
At least since the 1970s, fans have consistently rewarded books for being more of the same and punished the ones that dare to be different. Mainstream books that star brand-new characters die quickly, never finding an audience, while mediocre books survive entirely based upon the strength of tie-ins to old franchises.
For DC, look at critically lauded but financially unsuccessful books like Manhunter, Hard Time, Bloodhound, Giffen and Rogers's Blue Beetle, or the entire Vertigo line; for Marvel, there's The Order, Parker's New Exiles, the Tsunami line, the Epic line, and some of the other experimental stuff Quesada greenlighted upon becoming EIC. Good books die off quickly; other books cling to established fanbases and thrive. Comic book fans endlessly reward things for being more of the same, and sooner or later, even the most idealistic mainstream comics professional is going to give them just that.