When superhero comics came out in the late 30's, the serial was in full bloom. The serial, for those that don't know (and haven't heard George Lucas drone on and on about them) was a series of short films that played in movie houses that ended in a tense cliffhanger, so that you'd have to come back to the theater for the next installment to see how it turned out. As this format was so popular, the comic creators emulated it.
Fast forward seven decades and what do you have? Clutter. Lots of clutter. Unlike Flash Gordon of the silver screen or even Sherlock Holmes of the page, Superman's been going since 1938. The innate problem is that most serial books are written by one writer meaning that they don't go on for more than a few decades and the output tends to be much less and serial films are heavily dependant on the actors who age and can no longer play the part after perhaps a decade. Since comics can be written by several people (and can have several books coming out a month) and don't age, the amount of narrative baggage can add up quite quickly.
The solution? Marvel has gone so far as to "Ultimatize" its own line of comics, coming out with an alternative universe where they are planning on taking continuity more seriously and try not to flood the market. It's a good effort and I've enjoyed what they've produced so far. However, I think there are other options.
What a comic company could do is come out with a monthly anthology book, in the vein of Dark Horse Presents. Basically, you come out with a 48 page comic that contains four stories inside of it. This could give people a monthly fix, give artists and writers a chance to showcase their talents, and could explore characters without having to commit too much to them. Meanwhile, instead of having other titles, the company could come out with several mini-series; Sin City is a great example. This way you're not watering down the storylines with horrid ideas that sometimes writers have to churn out to fill out a monthly grind.
Comics can benefit from borrowing more from film and books rather than television (which again, seven years is a long run for a TV show but comics can run 35+ years). If comics are gonna stay fresh, they're going to have to examine how they present themselves.
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