What makes you see this as a mea culpa in *any sense*? Stuff like hiring an all star creative team and dealing with the consequences of the previous run are pretty obvious and basic things to do regardless of how well-received the previous run was, no? If anything, dealing with the consequences is more often done when the opinion of a previous run is positive.

When comics want to draw a line under previous work, the normal tactic is to quickly get it out of the way and never mention it again. See, for example, how Ennis spent a single page to undo the "Punisher as a supernatural angel" concept when he came on board.