Well, that may be true, but he made the choice knowing it would alienate a certain percentage of the readers, and hoping they would eventually say, "Screw it", and just buy it anyway.
Honestly, as I don't read ASM anymore, I hardly care. I'm more against the 3X monthly schedule than I am anything else right now. Even if it gets good, I can't afford an extra 9-12 dollars a month on my pull list. I'll be buying #600, just because it the centennial, but that's about it.