I think a lot of it is subjective.

I read Asimov's Foundation Triology in high school - in one large gulp I read the whole series straight through, I think in 2 weeks. I have to admit I remember more about the actual experience of reading than the story at this point. But I remember sitting crosslegged on my bed, hunched over, reading until it was physically painful and not putting the books down. Sometimes it wasn't the easiest read for me, but I kept wanting to know where teh story would go.

On the other hand when I tried to read Nine Princes of Amber I just couldn't get into it, it wasn't compelling to me.

Although I keep putting it in mental "try again" book list.

I also think a writer can be vitally important without being great. Asimov is vitally important AND a founding father, and that is a huge accomplishment in itself.

(It should go without saying that I have nothing to say about Asimov or SF as a genre.)

the REALLY great writers offer the whole enchilada

Absolutely. There just aren't that many of them. And there are a whole lot of authors who write really beloved novels and rich characters without being prose innovators.

I also think a writer can be vitally important without being great.

Me, too.

It would be fairer to posit your Asimovetti as someone who, say, was a groundbreaker (or genius, if you prefer) in composition but derivative color and flat humans.

I just now got that there wasn't a real painter named Asimovetti who painted gryphons.

I haven't read any Asimov, but I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't really like him. I tend to like influenced work more than their influences.

I would argue that much of Asimov's short fiction is as good or better than most SF writers' since. "Nightfall" has been on every best SF short story of all time list I've ever seen. He's not Bradbury, but who is?

This seems a good time to link to "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" in case someone hasn't seen it.

This is where I admit I can be completely humorless at times, because that video sets my teeth on edge. (Plei pointed out that part of my annoyance at it is that in a way, I think of Ray Bradbury in the same way I do as Clovis, so of course that song/video would make me cranky.)

My teeth are with Jilli's.

For what it is worth, there are pictures on the net of Bradbury watching that vid and really getting into it.