A question anyone who reads comic books well into adulthood is almost certain to encounter at some point is, "Why do you still read comic books?"
It's not really an easy question to answer. Entertainment, obviously, although that's been a matter of diminishing returns for a while now. Habit, too, I guess. I mean, it's hard to quit something you've been doing literally your entire life. One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting on my mom's lap as she used this to help teach me how to read.
But really, what it comes down to most is that I care about the characters.
I think that's true for most of the people who read comics. Certainly, I prefer to think that we're not reading just for rehashed fight scenes and often lame dialogue. It's to the credit to a lot of talented writers and artists over the years that they managed to take a truly absurd concept like superheroes and somehow create and maintain three-dimensional characters who, once a week, thousands of people across the country make the trek to their local comic book store to keep up with.
But as I was reading the DC relaunch books, I came to an unfortunate realization. These aren't my characters anymore. Some have gotten facelifts that are mostly cosmetic. Some have been completely reimagined. But regardless, across the board, it felt like I was reading the beginning of an entirely new comic book universe. And that's just not something I'm interested in doing. So I'm stopping. I'm no longer reading DC Comics. Even the titles I initially said I was going to keep up with. I got halfway through what was going to be a four week review of all the relaunch books, when I discovered I simply didn't give a damn. Aside from picking up the new The Unwritten and Morning Glories TPBs a couple of weeks ago, I haven't been in a comic book store in weeks. Honestly, it doesn't feel all that bad. If nothing else, I now have a lot more money for beer and cigars.
Just to be clear, this isn't me going all angry fanboy. Even if I don't agree with DC's decision, I understand the need for it. The comic book industry has been shedding readers for years. This relaunch was a calculated risk to pick up new customers, and no business can do that without alienating old ones. I just happen to fall into that latter category. That's okay. A lot of people seem to dig the new direction of the company. Good. I don't want to live in a world without comics featuring Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I just won't be following along any longer.
I'm also not completely turning my back on DC. They publish an awful lot of stuff I read through Vertigo. I'll still be buying Hitman TPBs and undoubtedly a lot more back catalogue stuff down the road. And honestly, I know myself well enough to know that I'll probably cave from time to time when it comes to the new DCU stuff. It's not like you can just flip a switch and no longer dig Batman, you know?
I quit reading DC once before when I was a teenager. It was 1993 or 1994 and almost everything the company was putting out was absolutely wretched. Then, a few years later, I was in a Target in Ohio of all places, and on a whim, I picked up one of those five-issue packs of comics that you used to be able to buy at places like Target or Toys R Us. They were five issues of Mark Waid's legendary run on The Flash. I poured through them, and was like, "Whoa! I didn't even know comics could be this awesome." So I started reading them again.
Maybe something like that will happen down the road and I'll once more become a fan. Stranger things have happened. But for now, I'm done.
