It was somewhat the same with writers. Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, Cary Bates, Eliot Maggin, Mark Waid, a handful of others would convince me to give a book a standard Sofer tryout - six issues. If it was good enough, I'd continue buying it. If not, thbbt - off the pull list.

I was never addicted to many hero characters or teams - but a couple. I really liked the Doom Patrol, so I would get at least a few issues to see if it was worth it. Same for the Teen Titans, usually. And the star of my comic universe - the Legion of Super-Heroes always got a good trial with me.

But I found that more and more, consistency and continuity mattered a LOT. I love the Legion, but finding out that Brainiac 5 formed the team (for example) would sour me on it REALLY fast. Or learning that Superman had not worked at the Daily Planet for years, or that Batman had a brother, or Spider-Man had a clone, or that Captain America was always a Hydra agent - why bother? I stopped trusting after Infinite Crisis and Pu52, when established facts changed, instead of writers or editors creating new heroes to play with.

Of course, at my age, I'm no longer the target audience. The titles for younger readers ("Justice League", "Avengers Adventures") lasted longest, but now - I just don't care anymore. The stories do not catch my attention and I'm not interested in getting "hooked" again.

As a teenager, creative teams made my choices for me: MIller's DD, JB on X-Men & FF, Bob Layton on Iron Man. I jumped onto Alpha Flight purely because of JB and followed JB onto the Hulk title, dropping it when he departed.

Now in my (ahem) more mature years, it's a mixture of character, creative team and concept that float my boat. I love apocalyptic stories, so The Walking Dead and Winterworld were no-brainers. I also loved Kill or be KIlled and Criminal, a couple more Image titles. I've been tempted back to Marvel for the odd Alan Davis (X-Men or Conan) run, but nothing that lasts. 

 

Man, I miss All-Star Squadron.  Other than the JLA/JSA crossover, I loved the first 30-35 issues of that title.

I think that one of the main reasons for this is that over a period of time the characters ceased being the characters we knew anymore. We weren't keeping up with old favorite characters. We were being slowly introduced to people we didn't really like anymore. No need to follow them.

My one exception to this trend is that I'll pick up books like Batman '66, Wonder Woman '77, and Superman'78. And I know that those aren't actually a return to the characters in the books I read as a kid, but they are much closer than what I see out now and I like them.

QUOTE: What motivates you to buy?

 

Whim, completionism or morbid curiosity, depending on the project.  I’ve also been inspired on rare occasions to try something when someone in one of the “New Comics” threads is sufficiently enthused by it, to favorable enough results that I should do it more often.  That’s for new things.  On stuff I’ve been buying it’s mostly that I’ve been enjoying myself but in some cases it’s either momentum or wanting to see how it ends.   

QUOTE: Creative team or characters?

 

I guess it really starts with “the premise” and if I feel the creative team has the ability to execute it.  For creative teams I’m unfamiliar with, I’ll generally give the writer the benefit of the doubt as long as I like the art. 

There are some creative types I’ll follow virtually everywhere, but I’m a child of the 80s and a lot of the creators who have earned that level of “zombie” followership from me don’t seem to be producing a lot these days. 

On characters, I feel like Marvel and DC have been actively pushing me away for a decade or so now and I’ve been gradually letting them succeed.  I’ll still try a random project featuring a character I like.  Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.  There are a handful of books I WANT to want to buy (Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Justice Society and Legion of Super-Heroes), so they’re harder to let go of for long (DC helping a lot with those last two). 

QUOTE: Does the race, gender, or sexual orientation of a character influence your decision?

 

I’d like to say no, but probably a little.  I don’t actively seek out or avoid any type of character, though.  (To use the example that inspired the thread, if I’d had any interest in the Jon Kent Superman series before, him being bi wouldn’t change that.  But it’s not prompting any new interest from me, either.)  

QUOTE: What about ret-cons?

 

If I like them they’re good; if I don’t they’re bad. :-)  If they’re bad enough, they can kill my interest in a character.  Good ones are hard to come by but, to be fair, major changes that occur after you become a fan are always a harder sell than ones that occurred before you started reading and influenced your initial opinion of the character. 

Nothing.  Nothing motivates me to buy.  Which is why I got out more than a decade ago.  

I lived through every gimmick, every event, every up-and-coming artist and/or writer.  I've been a fan longer than most of you have been alive. I bought comics on a weekly basis for roughly 40 years before I gave them up.  But now?  Woof.  Nothing motivates me to wander into a DLC to peruse racks of meaningless, splash page covers and pick up a random issue of a comic book with characters that hardly resemble the ones I knew when I was young.  

Nothing.

And I've tried.  

Sorry that I sound like Grandpa Simpson, but truth is truth.  

These days I find more enjoyment through books like Brremaud & Bertolucci's LOVE series or Geoff John's OLYMPUS.