The same interconnectivity that this article purports is causing mainstream comics inaccessibility, was the very reason Marvel comics became as big as it has. You would be reading about Spider-Man swinging between buildings when he nearly collides with Thor zipping off to do whatever. Not a crossover, just a cameo appearance that made readers curious enough to pick up an issue of Thor to see more. These are shared universes and people who do the kind of things these characters do, can and will run into each other. That's to be expected.

That all said, I am personally unsure if either the Absolute or the latest iteration of the Ultimate universe can be successful in the long term. From my perspective, both are portraits of universes where there is very little hope. That hope, for a better tomorrow and a fairer world is what draws people to superhero comics to begin with. These are interesting side stories, but they lack that hope that we came here for in the first place.