New readers and older comics.

I was just wondering how many new/younger readers make the effort to read older issues of the comics they are reading today. Whenever i read posts from many (not all, don't get bent out of shape) younger readers they seem to have a deep lack of knowledge of older characters and stories. also they seem not to respect heroes and villains that do not appear prominently in current books and their reasons given often show no real understanding of past stories. i started reading comics in the early 90's but i delved as deeply into older books as my funds would allow, in doing so i found i actually enjoyed many older books better than current books(avengers in the (70's/80's beat the 90's hands down). this all seem extra weird due to the fact that it is much easier to dig into comics past with the internet. I don't mean to make this sound like an attack on younger readers, I'm just trying to get a read on them.

I've been reading steadily for a year and a half now, and I really enjoy older material. I like collecting older X-men stuff as well as the teen titans, but with limited funds it can be hard to dive into the past for those great stories. I've been looking into the Marvel essentials and DC showcase presents collections of older comics that I have a serious interest in buying. If I really enjoy a character or a team, I will try to read as much as I can from any year. Right now aside from my current pull list I'm reading The New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 2 (Vol. 1 was too expensive right now), and it is fantastic! If I hear great things about the stories of the characters I love, then I'll try to read it no matter what year it came from.

@madtitan2112 When I started reading comics about a year ago, I started with a combination of mixed second hand issues, and British reprint comics. I learned from these what I was into, and subsequently started buying appearances by certain characters as much as possible.

One is example is, I get New 52 Batman as part of the 'Batman' British reprint comic, which is a few months behind the proper release. Since starting to read this series I've bought 14 Batman TPBs, as well as a few loose single issues. Other times my purchases of older series have influenced my decision to buy titles monthly, such as Gotham City Sirens-Catwoman, Ms.Marvel-Captain Marvel, and Zatanna/House Of Mystery-Justice League Dark.

I often explore the second hand shops for older appearances of characters I read just now, which leads to my finding more characters to enjoy. I like finding more to read, and there's so much out there to find. I have about 100 comics that I bought when they came out, and at least 400(don't know the exact figure, might be a lot more), that I've bought second hand.

I would have thought when anyone got into comics, they'd explore what had come before. I don't have enough money to read the entire history of every character I like, but I buy as much as I can. I've enjoyed my first year as a comic book reader, and I'm sure I'll enjoy many more. :)

I'll admit to being a bit of an art snob at times. When one's primary exposure consists of glossy, modern work, going back thirty or more years can be very jarring. The colors aren't as bright, the features aren't usually defined the same way. That's not a value judgment, just a visual appraisal. And to be fair, I tend to feel the same way about video games and a lot of television. Film suffers less, but there are plenty of movies that feel dated as well. In the case of any medium, only the truly exceptional really makes me overcome -- or even want to overcome -- the visual apprehension.

So I'm forging a list of the characters or writers I want to see more of, and that has me slowly looking back and trying to find stories or collections that are worth (to me) hunting down, paying for, and owning. The rest I'm content to just read in summary form.

Short runs are also proving to be my friend. A series that only lasted for a couple years is a lot easier to read in its entirety, and the feeling that I haven't missed anything is definitely one I value. When I look to new comic runs, I flee from anything that's got an issue number in the hundreds, because I know I'll never have the time or money to go back and find out all the things that have happened over the years and I hate being thrown into a story without knowing where it's coming from. I think that's why New 52 has been so great for me, because it's allowed me to get into a continuity, and then when I see a character I'm interested in I can go back and read stuff about them knowing that technically the old stuff is an "alternate version" and not required reading for understanding the current version, even if the current version is functionally the same.

I'm 17 and started reading comics about 1 year ago. I've read two old Blue Beetle comics and am currently plowing through the incredibly long Thor Omnibus by Simonson. It can be difficult to read because the book are so dense with text, a good chunk of it being unnecessary, whereas newer comics look MUCH better and can tell great stories with less words. I think that older comics have much more epic stories but newer comics could do it more beauthifully.

When I was first getting into comics proper I must have spent ages reading up on Wikipedia to find out as much as I could, as well as on similar sites which I guess not many others do. Because of this I always made an effort to read at least some old-school comics in trades to experience them for myself. It definitely takes some getting used to, primarily comics from before the mid-80's when there was heavy use of thought bubbles for example, they can be quite hard to read. Not because of difficulty but because they seem clunky to modern readers. 
 
Still, I get a kick out of reading old Batman comics for the historical relevance. I've also really enjoyed some 70's Batman and Daredevil runs for example. I've actually found my favorite period of comics is the mid eighties to late mid-nineties, not so much the Rob Liefeld pouches and guns thing, but Vertigo type series. I love the art style from that period, before computer coloring. 
 
I do remember facepalming at a comment I read once where some kid had read Batman: Year One and was complaining because he thought the art sucked since it didn't look like the Jim lee style he was used to. I thought that was a shame.

@Manhunter2070 said:

I do remember facepalming at a comment I read once where some kid had read Batman: Year One and was complaining because he thought the art sucked since it didn't look like the Jim lee style he was used to. I thought that was a shame.

Did he know it was an older comic?

i just wish i had access to marvel's digital comics when i was younger 10 bucks a month for all the comics i could read would have been sweet.

I wasn't big on checking out older material when I first started to read comics. Checking out the older stuff came off as a bit of a daunting task, but as I've progressed as a reader, I've gotten more open minded and accepting of the older stories.

@Manhunter2070: Oh. I thought you meant maybe he'd read something recent by Jim Lee, read Year One and complained about the difference not knowing it was older, and older comics tend to look different to more modern ones.

If I've missed the point entirely, or am spot on, it probably doesn't make a difference to what I'm about to say.

Saying someones' art sucks because it's not like someone elses' is just stupid. Preferring Jim Lee to David Mazzucchelli is probably alright because it's an opinion, but to insult his work for that reason is just unfair.

I'm more into collecting at this point. I love reading, and I'm in the middle of the Civil War now but I can't wait to go back and read stuff. I've got all of Iron Man in my queue and then probably Swamp Thing after that. I tried to read Flash Comics but man that was cheezy.

Reading comics steady for 1.5 years now. I had the Marvel digital comics subscription for a year, but they didn't have an app for my ipad, so I found it a pain to always have to read the comics on the computer. I did find it an awesome tool to quickly find and read about any character. Right now I am mainly reading current series (Valiant & image titles mostly), because of SAGA, I am reading Y The Last Man - I realize that this is only going back a few years, but it's a start to looking back at comics. I haven't found any Marvel or DC characters that I am REALLY into, so I am not interested at this time to go back into those comics. But like @akbogert said above, I am more interested in finding really good short runs where I don't have to try to find a jumping on point in 20+ years of a characters history.