I do wonder sometimes if the comics mean as much to fans today as they did in the 70’s. We have such easy access to the movies now, even though we still have to wait patiently for the next film. And there are so many shiny flashy things competing for attention now.
I wonder if it’s also a generational thing. I read more comic books now than I ever have, at least two a week, because there are so many flashy shiny things. Buying DVDs aside, I find the multiple media platform saturation of Movie/TV related news, teasers, trailers and trailer-teasers to be assaulting.
For me, comic books and novels are a way to shut off the noise and travel into the story. Maybe it’s different for twenty-somethings who have only ever known multi-platform uber saturation. Perhaps what I see as noise, they see as normal. Having grown up not having to concentrate because everything is fed to them 24/7, they may find comic books and novels to be a chore. They don’t have the attention span for it because they’ve never had to.
-edit
I’m not painting all twenty-somethings as short attention sufferers. I work with two who often sit and play Stratego at lunch. I’m good for about ten minutes of watching before I glaze over. They’re also scientists, so they may see that hour as the mental downtime I associate with reading. Different ways to decompress.