Not to swerve off topic again, but Édith Butler is my neighbours aunt. Small world
As for Knock-offs, I can see where Marvel is coming from when ceating these characters. Statistically, you put Wolverine and Spider-Man on a cover, it sells more. Even if we complain about the over exposure, we as fans still buy it anyway.
Now we know titles with newer characters don't sell as well. And are rutinely cancelled. So, for a company that can't seem to admit it's making a mistake ie lack of marking etc, it decides to replace said new titles with secondary characters ie Rogue, Nightcrawler etc. And even those titles don't sell all too well. So from their perspective, Wolverine and Spider-Man knock offs are the only place to go. And I wouldn't mind it so much if they just did it like the old days. Have one guest star as a villain or misunderstood hero in a main book. See the fan reaction, then base a new book off that character soley if the reaction is good. (See Punisher etc) But do it SLOWLY. One at a time. Not 7 new characters in a month. It just feels too much like these characters are being shoved down our throats and we are told they are the coolest thing since sliced bread. Even though said character hasn't dawned a page yet!
Dave