8 Ways DC And Marvel Make It Impossible For Fans To Read Their Comics

5. So. Many. Reboots.

I don't know if you've heard, but comic books are notoriously difficult to get into, and anyone (and I do mean anyone) who has been faced with the task of introducing a newcomer into the medium will agree.

Picture this: you meet someone who absolutely adored Daredevil's Netflix series, and really wants to check out some of the source material. Where do you set them off? Well, you'd probably think about starting them on Frank Miller's stuff, right? Hopefully. But what if they're not too keen on checking out the classic material, and just fancy looking at some of the newer stuff? If that was the case you would, most likely, send them in Mark Waid's direction to check out volume 1 of his run. The problem, however, is that there's more than one first volume of Waid's work. In fact there are three, because his run was sandwiched in the middle of a reboot called All-New Marvel NOW! (not to be confused with All-New, All-Different Marvel, or just plain old Marvel NOW!), so you can see how this can get pretty confusing fairly quickly.

DC aren't blameless here either, and although the New 52 attempted to condense and streamline the universe for a relatively younger audience, it was so picky with its continuity to the point where no one actually knew what had transpired in the new timeline. Point is, there have been so many relaunches and reboots now that the big two are actively damaging their chances of engaging new readers, and - perhaps most damagingly of all - alienating old ones.