Conversation at the Local Comic Shop

Recently, while picking up my week's worth of comics at ye ol' local shop, Ultimate Comics in Durham, NC (Hi Alan! Hi John!), a problem came to light that I had never thought about before. It seems there are a few comic book artists that hold some animosity towards Alex Ross and, to a lesser degree, Tony Harris. The bad feelings seem to stem from their art techniques, specifically in that they use models for all their figure work. Apparently, while it was agreed upon at the shop that Harris' use of photographs isn't all that terrible, Ross does his paintings with the actual models present and posed, essentially recreating each panel in real life.

Now I only took art classes in high school and very briefly at community college, but I was under the impression that drawing from models was a definite classical art technique. I'm curious as to why this would be looked down upon in the world of comic book art. I certainly concede that Ross' alleged method sounds a bit extreme and would explain why it takes him so long to deliver a finished book, but I find his and Harris' art to be exceptional and very fitting to the projects they work on.

I won't mention the name of the artist that was directly mentioned as having this animosity, as I didn't hear this directly from them, but he's someone who's work, in my opinion, is interesting yet still somewhat mediocre. Is this all sour grapes aimed at fellow artists who have reached a higher level of fame or is there really something to this? What do you think?