How did you get "back into comics"?

[Steve Chung]

My mother got me reading at an early age in 1974 through Dr. Seuss, DC, Marvel, and Mad Magazine, 100 Page Spectaculars, and Treasury Editions. I've cut back a bit, mostly back issues, and I hope to be able to continue reading comics till the end of my days.

[Mr. Wrong]

I never completely quit buying comics, but in '93 my parents retired and moved away, and I stayed behind and worked the kind of crappy jobs that a young person with no college degree (I didn't go to college until I was in my 30's) works. So, for a year or so, I had almost no extra money to spend on comics. The only things I kept up with were whatever Frank Miller or Keith Giffen were doing. It was made easier by the fact that I didn't like the looks of a lot of what DC or Marvel were doing around that time...

So, around the time Zero Hour was wrapping up, my money situation improved, and I was able to ease back into weekly comic store visits.

[Penny Dreadful]

I seriously considered dropping comics again...then I remembered there are a handful of Marvel titles I'm enjoying, so I'm sticking with it.

[Hannah*]

I got out of comics due to family financial difficulties but after things started looking up I was able to dive back in and eventually buy a pretty massive collection fairly cheap at auction. Now I have more comics than I care to look at, lol.

[ADGood]

I, too, never left once I started in earnest. Hell, I never even dropped DC (I just...you know...haven't picked it up in the last year. At all. But that's not the same as consciously dropping it, right?). Anyway, the quantity and content of what I've read has experienced a large degree of variation, but I've never been outright gone.

Looking over the responses, it seems like it might be comparatively rare for companies to coax back readers who have simply grown apart from comics. Were I an adviser to one of those companies, I would be tempted to tell them that, if their main concern is the bottom line, they should think about writing off older fans who are starting to drift away, and focus on coming up with whatever splashy gimmick they can to attract the new crop of tweens and teens. Maybe start everything over at #1 and ditch the fat characters. Unless they've got a movie coming up really soon; those franchises you should probably leave alone. ...What do you think? Sound business strategy?

[Mr. Wrong]

I, too, never left once I started in earnest. Hell, I never even dropped DC (I just...you know...haven't picked it up in the last year. At all. But that's not the same as consciously dropping it, right?). Anyway, the quantity and content of what I've read has experienced a large degree of variation, but I've never been outright gone. Looking over the responses, it seems like it might be comparatively rare for companies to coax back readers who have simply grown apart from comics. Were I an adviser to one of those companies, I would be tempted to tell them that, if their main concern is the bottom line, they should think about writing off older fans who are starting to drift away, and focus on coming up with whatever splashy gimmick they can to attract the new crop of tweens and teens. Maybe start everything over at #1 and ditch the fat characters. Unless they've got a movie coming up really soon; those franchises you should probably leave alone. ...What do you think? Sound business strategy?

ADGood

Ingenious!

[TJLamb0518]

So it was directly Geoff John's responsibility that I came back, so I owe him one!

Alan

Geoff giveth and he taketh away......

[Bobbsw]

I started reading comics in 1966, and except for three months in 1984 where I had no money I have never stopped.
(I did get caught up with the three months of books after a couple months.
Hmm, 1996-2012... Maybe I should get a hobby!)