I have to say that I am very surprised that there's not a single mention of piracy destroying the medium. Kudos, as it seems to be the goto cop out when it comes to something not selling well.

Since you said that, I'll let you in on a secret; half the appeal of superhero comics, and most shared universes, is communal. You haven't read every relevant comic, I haven't read every relevant comic, the author hasn't read every relevant comic, but we all talk to each other so we all know the significant bits, where 'significant' means the things people talk about. This isn't relevant to comics not published by Marvel or DC, except to the extent that they're working in the context defined by Marvel and DC, but it applies to the bulk of comics being printed. If you torrented all the things and read every comic published by the big two, and 2000AD, and the head comics of the 60s and 70s, you'd still be a little confused, because people making comics are people who have been reading comics all their lives and that meta-level you miss out on if don't hang around comic shops and go to conventions and read the right/wrong sites. It's an extremely incestuous medium.