Plot Driven by a landslide.
IMO it's 10x easier as an audience member to find a great character (one you identify with) on a plot driven comic than the other way around. When the plot is done well, your favorites come to you. Character driven stories can work well, but if you're not in love with the main character who's being examined you'll most likely start to question what you're buying this book every month.
@parachomp said:
A problem with mainstream American comics is that they don't want their characters to change thus they are plot driven but they lack the hero's journey. I personally find media that is character driven with strong witty dialogue will hook me easily.
Regardless, the perfect balance will never be found.
The only time this problem is ever solved--or at least addressed--is when the character hits his or her first wave of popularity, like when a C-lister becomes an A-list or a D-lister becomes a B-Lister. Take Alan Moore's Swamp Thing for instance, prior to Moore's story characters like this were gimmicky jokes but a deeper look at the character drew in a cult following that actually rejuvenated life into a character that would have most likely died in the silver-bronze age without a good story. Now it's actually one of the top books and few remaining New 52 titles to survive the initial waves. It's very hard to do that with any of the big seven in the modern mainstream, being that almost any thinkable change can be compared to a similar incident in the character's history.
Unfortunately, the biggest reason Comics are reluctant to change in Marvel or DC is mainly because consumers don't flock to new characters as frequently as they used to. It's hard for a lot of new titles (focusing on new superheroes) to pass 6-8 issues without getting the axe.
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