Me and two of my really close friends would read comics and graphic novels obsessively and still do. Most of our other classmates probably mildly liked superheroes but didn't care about comics. This was never an issue to me but simply how the medium worked in the same way that not everyone played Video Games or Sports but that wasn't an issue with either medium.

To me the fact many people don't read them was never a good or bad thing but simply a fact of the matter. The demographic for DC/Marvel and many other long standing titles like 2000AD or Spawn being adults who'd been following the story since they were kids I also thought was a good thing and something I found enticing about the medium. I always loved learning about the dense history and metafiction of the DC/Marvel worlds and greatly enjoyed the fact I had something I could extensively converse with adults about on an equal footing.

I honestly think DC/Marvel are better of continuing to feed their established readership and the newcomers who are interested in what the readership already desires, rather than trying to appeal to disparate audiences and remove the things that makes their own artform special. I would find it easier to get into Ballet or Football if there wasn't the pre-existing legacy and culture I needed to learn and become part of. But it would be totally ridiculous for me to request that those things strip themselves of those things for ease of access to me or other outsiders. 

Manga seems bigger than ever in Barnes & Noble, taking more and more book shelves.  A few years ago, they were maybe ten bookcases to American comics' five, now it's more like twenty.

And then Scholastic and the like also seem to be expanding their footprint.

Does it all have to be animation art style or restrained/underground style?  Or are those the only artists applying?  It's hard to imagine Scholastic turning down the likes of John Byrne, J. Scott Campbell, or (if they were still with us) Neal Adams or George Perez.

Interesting take on this very subject...

His extended family bombarded him with all kinds of expensive presents (Legos, action figures, videogames, football kits, etc).

I thought it was time he had his first graphic novel. After careful consideration at the book shop I went with "Superman Smashes The Klan".

His parents gave me a weird look. He was kinda puzzled at first. A few hours later he was transfixed reading the book and ignoring all the rest.

There's hope.