Does the medium affect your following of a character?

[MrHashasheen]

Something's been bugging me since I read the Superman article on the main page. About you know, the guy who doesn't like Superman but wants to for Man of Steel's coming out. Ignoring everything he said, I don't really follow Superman in comics. Or Green Arrow, or Batman, or a lot of other characters in Marvel or DC or the indies. I mean, I've watched All-Star Superman as an animated movie, but I had no urge prior to that to collect or read the issues. I wouldn't touch any X-Men book with a ten-foot stick, but I was more than happy watching the movies or the animated shows. Scott Pilgrim or Kickass aren't ever going to get my money for the prints, but the movies on Blue Ray? Sure, why not? And this isn't even dependent on how well they're adapted, considering I could watch Batman & Robin a dozen times over before taking on Knightfall or the Holiday Killer.

I'm not even sure why this is. Maybe because having the characters move, talk and act with voices of their own affects me more deeply than reading it aloud or projecting the course of events in my head. Maybe it's a fear of extensive continuity. Maybe I'm just a subconsciously snobby guy.

Anyway, I figured I'd share, and ask if anyone else felt this way sometimes.

[Guicho]

No, if it looks like a well crafted entertaining story and character, I'll try it in whatever medium it's being delivered in.
TV, book, radio, movie, game, photographs, interactive ride, etc.. The more variety the better.
If it looks like crap, or just doesn't interest me, I probably won't try it in any medium, no matter how they spruce it up.
The only way the medium itself might override the content, that is a character or concept I know I don't like, is if it's some really interesting new medium I haven't tried.

[glennsim]

I'm that way to a degree. Movies, by merit of having motion and sound and whatnot, have an advantage in those areas over comics. So like right now I'm watching the terrible Spirit movie from a while back, but I wouldn't say I'm a fan of the Spirit. I was just curious about the movie. Same with the Punisher movies/comics.

I might compare it to the fact that when I'm creating my "want" list, I might put an old Shadow one-shot on my list but not several issues of the Shadow ongoing series. I'm not interested enough in the Shadow to buy the series, but a one-shot might be neat to have just to get a sampling and not have to worry about holes in my collection if I can't find the whole series.

[dupersuper]

Movies also require less. You see a movie, like it, maybe get the dvd/blue ray, then move on. Repeat for sequels. Following a character in comics is going to the comic store every month (or week).

[T Hedge Coke]

Some characters benefit immensely from their handling in a respective medium, regardless of whether a medium can better showcase them by default.

Comics are, if I'm being completely honest, my preferred medium for anything, though obviously other mediums allow for things comics do not and I wouldn't want to give up any of that for a comics-only world or something equally absurd. There are things Chick Corea with sound can do that Jack Kirby can't with pencils. But it took several decades of comics for me to get a little frisson-tastic Tony/Bruce bromance and more than a decade past that for a movie to do it. If that's the take you enjoy (and I do), that means there's only a small run of comics or the one movie to go to. It hit me, after TDK came out that Peter Milligan, back in the day, used his Michael Cain intonations for his version of Alfred, and yeah, that's worked. But the Michael Gough version and the fat amateur-troublefinder versions also work. If you're dying for every time, in any medium that Superman has flown, though, something basic or intrinsic like that with a character who's everywhere... that's the rest of your life, chasing it all down.

Movies also require less. You see a movie, like it, maybe get the dvd/blue ray, then move on. Repeat for sequels. Following a character in comics is going to the comic store every month (or week).

That depends on the movie (or TV show; movies and TV haven't been separate mediums for at least twenty-five years now) or the comic. Though, yeah, having a oneshot deal to go to is easier than having multiple anything. I still can't commit to weekly viewing of even really good TV shows.

[The Duke]

To be honest, I like Superman but I am not super excited about Man of Steel.