lostshore

October 1, 2011 12:16 pm I am new to comics and am happy to pay 2.99 per issue. It's not the price that turns people off (at least not wholly, not for a lot of people), it's the years and years of continuity, massive events, crazy-high issue numbers, etc. Two things led me to start reading comics now: the fact that DC relaunched all their titles at once to #1 (huge, because a random number one here or there still takes place in a much larger, confusing world, with stuff like House of M and Blackest Night and these crazy characters coming in out talking about stuff new readers have no idea about), and the day-and-date digital, because I don't have a local comic book shop, which is something I think a lot of people in the comics community take for granted. Until now, I haven't had the option of buying comics in any form but trade, and neither has anyone else I know arond here (and, due to the popularity of comic heroes, what with all the mega-hit movies, games like MvC3, popularization of graphic novels, etc, there are a lotta people that could be into comics if they were accessible). Digital is a dream come true for someone who has long wanted to follow comics actively but hasn't been able to. So yeah, the question of 'why try it' might still be applicable for people who have long avoided comic shops because of the price, but why it try it for someone who is confused/intimidated by the massive amounts of history and/or simply doesn't have regular access is quite different, and that question was answered, at least for me, with DC's relaunch. If you want to see how different the perspective is for brand new comic readers, I started a blog called New 52ers. There's a lot of common-sense knowledge among the community and hobbyists that's not-so-common-sense to people new to the industry, so hopefully I can help bridge that gap and bring people attracted by the New 52 into communities like iFanboy, to become long-term fans. This community rocks, but it's still intmidating to people with no comic shop and/or no prior knowledge to bring to the conversation.

October 1, 2011 11:55 am @RapidEyeMovement: It attracted me, and I'm new to comics. I even started a blog on it called New52ers. Just because new folks aren't immediately jumping into the online community doesn't mean they aren't reading comics. Reading new comics as a new reader and understanding hardcore comic news on sites like this are two different things; I took the plunge to wade through all the stuff I didn't/don't understand on iFanboy (years of continuity casually mentioned in articles, lots of names, both of real people and comic characters, that I don't recognize, just a general understanding in how information is presented that people in communities like this share a pooled knowledge that new readers aren't going to be a part of inherantly, not that it's a bad thing), because I really like what I've seen from comics and want to know more. Sites like this are awesome for people with the sort of personality type to join online communities, but don't assume everyone new is going to dive in wholeheartedly and learn everything they can about publishers, creative teams, industry news, and past continuity. That's all the stuff that intimidates new readers, and it's not needed to enjoy the New 52.