The dramatic impact was undercut by DC making these the contemporary characters and relationships, how they always were.

Yes! I started reading comics in the early 80s with random black and white reprints of various Silver Age stories, so when I was finally old enough to travel to the city and buy my own comic books in the late 80s, DKR blew my mind *because* I'd grown up with the earlier versions. Reading it now, it's an artifact itself.