I wouldn't mind an extended break if this fails. Something to let the character slowly build up his fanbase again through appearances in Secret Avengers, Heroes for Hire, and other books. Just don't flood the market with him, let people want more.
It could be argued that the long break between Moon Knight's 90's series ending and his new series with Charlie Husten helped fuel that series to debuting well. It was selling 60k or more back then - what SECRET AVENGERS sells now. Of course, the entire comic market, and economy, was a different animal in 2006 than in 2011.
But overall, you are right. However, Marvel rarely have the courage to keep certain characters away from the stage long enough to build demand. Their best success in this regard was Thor. His title was canceled in 2004, and through a series of unplanned circumstances, a relaunch was not ready until 2007. But this allowed fans to genuinely miss him, and gave the impression that Marvel would not relaunch THOR unless it was truly special, or "worthy". Despite sales losses, THOR was still selling better lately than it was in 2004 - one of few titles you can say that about. Yet, Marvel have not replicated this; Black Panther usually returns 6 months or less after his latest launch dies, and so has Moon Knight.
It's not that I hate Moon Knight or so on. I am sure there are fans to Bendis' approach and we'll see how well it sold next month. But you are right, Marvel often feels you can't have too much of a good thing, and are flooding the market at the wrong time.
Comic Book writing 101: You dont change a character to fit your needs...think of all the great runs....Claremont on X-men, Simonson in Thor, David on Hulk, Miller on Daredevil...the characters werent changed to fit what the writer wanted to do....
Those were legendary talents and franchise runs. But those eras also had stronger editors, I believe. Since the end of the harsh Jim Shooter era, I think most editors - especially in the post-bankruptcy era, act like the children of stern parents - who often "rebel" by letting their own kids get away with murder. I think Marvel as a company was so burned by Shooter's "iron fist" rule that they've done a 180 since when it comes to criticism for many of their writers.
That said, not all great writers mangle characters to get good runs out of them. I don't think Ed Brubaker has drastically changed who Steve Rogers is for his CA run. Even Bendis himself didn't warp Daredevil as much as he has Moon Knight for his franchise run there - sure, he made DD's world very dark and grim, after which Brubaker and Diggle followed suit, but all that was inspired by Frank Miller anyway.
