It's All Geek To Me - Canon

http://panelsonpages.com/?p=32990

why is bucky o hare in a star wars comic?

That would be Jaxxon, one of the more questionable aspects of Marvel's long-running Star Wars title.

I really think it comes down to a change in culture. While it's easier to research stories now, the people of the culture have become lazier and aren't willing to invest the energy to look something up. I mean, back in the 70s/80s, people had to either talk with comic shop employees and other customers or buy back issues to found out what's the deal with a story, and it was fun. It built comradery, developed an investment, and created the very reason for a market for used, older issues. Today, comics are downloaded (often illegally) and research is done on Wikipedia (while not reliable, often sufficient) where if you are not part of an on-line community for comics (which I think they say most comic readers are not), there's a major disconnect. Comic books of the past can not survive as they are right now. However, there seems to be no way for them to evolve in such a way for them to adapt (as you described with the Ultimate and All Star lines). Even the advent of motion comics seem to be met with ire from fans.