comics?

Last year I was crazy into comic books. It was part of my weekly routine. I picked up probably at least three books a week. Now I don't think I've been in a comic book shop since this fall.
There are outside reasons for this, like the closure of my favorite store (Double Danger R.I.P.), being in college, having less money and time, but most importantly the things I cared about disappeared.

This mostly has to do with DC comics and the New 52. (I have mail subscriptions for the Marvel titles I love, and am actually happier reading creator owned comics in trade.) Before September I had been reading Birds of Prey, Secret Six, and Batman Inc. New 52 happened and those books stopped, or changed dramatically. A lot of the New 52 titles look really great, especially Batwoman, but I never got in the habit of picking them up. I didn't feel like reinvesting in a universe that was liable to suddenly reinvent itself.

Here is what this comic reader is looking for: consistency. I want to see characters behaving in ways that make sense for them. I want the to develop and grow. I love how comics are long-long-long form serialzed storytelling, but this doesn't matter if the world gets restarted every few years. I don't care if characters get old. I would rather see them deal with their past than have events I care about get erased.

There are other reasons to be annoyed about comics, especially the representation or lack of women, people of color, and queer people, but that isn't why I stopped reading comics. If anything wanting to support good representations is part of what got me following certain comics to begin with. I get invested in characters, but then when they: disappear, get retooled, get ignored, forgotten, dismissed, etc, I have to step back, and keep my money in my pocket.

Comic companies need to realize that getting new readers isn't there only concern, and stop being dicks so they keep people who are already fans.