That's always the way. SWAMP THING was going to be cancelled(and had become a total mess, despite Bissette & Totleben) when Alan Moore came on, and it still took a review by, of all people, Don Thompson at CBG(he's dead, but do they still exist?)to call people's attention to it. Uusally it's when a book's going to die that chances are taken and they often pay off.