I used to be an enormous comic book fan. I remember saving up $11 to buy my first comic intended for collection; Classic X-Men #1.
Classic X-Men was my first favorite. Yes, it was all reprints, but whatever. I was like 10 and I loved it. It was my gateway drug. I spent a lot of time getting money together to support my habit, bagging and boarding each edition. By college, I had longbox after longbox of them.
I wasn't a fanatic. I read all my comics and unbagged them for a reread or to try to copy drawings here and there. I loved em all. When Vertigo came out, I was just about the right age to be their target market. I loved Gaiman, Ennis, and Morrison.
By my late teens, though, I was living on my own and supporting myself so my comic book budget shrunk to barely anything, and then nothing.
A long time went by before I found myself with disposable income again. For the last couple years, every now and again, I'd drop a good $50 or so on a bunch of stuff just to see what was going on.
There has still been some gems. The Sandman return bored me, though. I liked the gore of Crossed, but it seemed to quickly devolve into bait for pedos, incestphiles, and necrophiliacs. Meh. Did it ever develop story? I did like one a read a couple of issues of… was it Waves? Or The Wave? Something about an enormous Tsunami caused by mer-people ascending from the depths. I think I got three issues of it, meant to finish it but forgot.
I'll have to look that up.
Anyhow, when I see what's going on with Thor and Spiderman, and Ms. Marvel… it's so obvious that it's tacked on, and the result of shit writers being hired to fulfill a diversity quota, either official or in the editor's head.
And I'm just not enticed to spend much money, if any at all, on comics.
Too bad. They used to be really good.