I was crazy about comics for many years after Secret Wars. My enthusiasm only really started to wane when I hit my twenties.

It was a foregone conclusion even though I didn't know it yet, after the 60's Spider-Man cartoons and Batman '66 multiple viewings it just took the knowledge that comics existed and the access to them .

I guess I was pre-hooked!

They had re-purposed a China Cabinet into a bookshelf for games and books.  I could see from where I lay "Batman".  I don't recall really seeing comic books before that, but I made my mother read it to me every day while I was there, several times a day.  

When I was being released, they let me take the comic with me.  Batman 202.  I was still enthralled with it.  I asked my mother to teach me to read so I could enjoy this on my own.  How could she refuse?  So I was reading on my own a few months later and my parents were more than happy to buy me comics since they got me reading much earlier than other kids.

So yeah, Batman '66 was my gateway into comics and so much more!

Though as far back as I remember I loved the Batman live TV show and cartoons, Super Friends, and Spider-Man cartoon, they never got me reading comic.  A children's book (a Big Little book I think they were called) about the Fantastic Four got me wanting to read their comic. I didn't really like it when I did. Not at first. I think the story was too mature for me. But I actively sought out later FF tales, albeit sporadically.

So what really hooked me? And got me to subscribe (through a school fund raiser--smart move, Marvel!)? Star Wars!!

I have nephews now, aged 31 and 23, and I would have loved to get them interested in comics, maybe buy them some subscriptions so they'd get a treat in the mail every month (or week)--but there was nothing appropriate or worthwhile to set them up with during their formative years and now it's too late.  (Though the younger nephew found manga on his own.)  RICHIE was gone, I couldn't find ARCHIE at the (too cool) comics shop I found myself shopping at, and the Marvels and DCs seemed boring, messy, overblown, and--worst of all (DC)--confusing in this period.  Image comics were available and attractive--but then you opened them up and found profanity, big gun violence, enhanced women wearing thongs, and other things that were not kid-appropriate.

Book publishers offered material to the young, and they reaped the benefits when the aging kids came back to the bookstore to buy their more mature offerings.

I started collecting comics in general with G.I. Joe comics in the 80s. As my interest in all things Joe waned I switched over to Marvel Superheroes. Growing up I was very aware of Spider-Man from his various animated adventures and the Hulk from his live action and animated faire. But I dived right in at either the best or worst time depending on your perspective.

Most of my first Marvel superhero comics were the 25th anniversary issues. The ones with the border of Marvel characters around a head shot of a single character. I just started buying new titles based on whatever appealed to me. In many cases I had no clue who these characters were or what they were about. It was learning about them that became the draw.

Many comics had references to earlier adventures. Often with notations for some older comic(s). It made me want to buy those comics and experience the earlier adventures. My love of Marvel just grew from there.

I've collected plenty from DC and other companies but Marvel is home for me.