I have always considered the audience response to be part of the creative process. In my situation, I have some work out there still in print that is over 30 years old, so the role of a published single work in this evolution never really stops.

Sometimes I have grown so distant from the piece, that I don't remember creating it! I recently reprinted over 120 comic books for the Danger Room, and there were entire volumes I had totally forgotten about. Reading them again was like reading something created by someone else. And the sad part about that is sometimes a reader really connects to whatever message was in the story but I can't share their discovery even though I drew the damn thing! It feels like the concept or idea just borrowed me for awhile and once it was expressed, I didn't have room in my cranium to store it any more.

We are merely mortal cartoonists crawling between earth and heaven. But what I am saying can apply to any art form: writing, videography, music, caiman taxidermy, etc.