>>149690827
>here isn't something magically different between a manga inker/letterer and a comics inker/letterer.
The main thing is that a manga assistant isn't just doing the inking, they're often also handling the background in the first place, or doing other characters in the background. so the identity of who drew the page becomes muddled by having multiple hands on it, even if it's all done with the lead artist's approval and supervision.
One big factor for why a lot of artists avoid this, besides the budget for the initial payment, is that a big factor for comic artists is resale value. An artist wants as little others on the page as possible because it's /their/ art they're selling, not a bunch of other artists. . It's been a big point of debate between inkers and pencillers as to who owns original pages when returned by the publisher, to the point where it's become common for inkers to work on a copy of the pencils instead of the originals(and why a lot of artists choose to still have final pencils traditionally at all)
When Jim Lee sells a page, it's his, and maybe some goes to Scott Williams. He doesn't have to worry if the Beast was laid out or penciled by someone else and he needs to pay them too.