The MOST important criteria to be considered a fan of a comic book character?

To be a fan of a particular character, I guess the most important thing is that you have an emotional investment in that character and their stories. You get excited to read their book, you feel sad when bad things happen to them and happy when good things happen, and you root for them to succeed.

Plus, you have to be able to weather it when real world circumstances damage the character and not give up on them. Closely behind Superman, Power Girl is my favourite character. Since the reboot, DC has treated the character like garbage. However, I'm still a fan of the character (even though I don't bother with Earth 2) and hope that someday she will get back to somewhere like her golden years with the JSA and her solo book.

I love batman because I've never read a story of his I didn't love

There shouldn't be a set "criteria" to be a fan of a character or a team. If you're a fan of them, you're a fan of them. You shouldn't have to know everything about them, know all their stories, etc. You should be considered a fan if its a character or team that gets you excited when a new comic, movie, game, product, etc comes out. Personally, I'm a Batman fan. Comics have gotten me through a lot from a young age, and Batman resonates with me the most. I even have a tattoo sleeve on my right arm dedicated to Batman and the Joker (with guest appearances by Superman, Wonder Woman, Jason Todd, and Harley Quinn), but I don't have all Batman's stories. I haven't read all his stories, nor could I name all of them. But I read everything I can get my hands on for him. I watch the movies regardless of the quality. I watch the shows, I play the games, etc. But I'm also a fan of other heroes even though I don't spend as much time on them. I still get excited to read their stories, see their trials, see them surface in cinema, etc.

Being a fan should be based on your personal view of a character, not a set criteria.

@laughingbatman: Stupendous! Couldn't word it better.

I mean,for example, my niece (she's 2) when she's a bit older I can get her Supergirl doll. She doesn't read the comics, but she still considers herself as a fan. Later, I can introduce her to comics if she wants to. Only Batman comics

>:)

just kidding

Boom. Said it all.

"Enjoy the stories...."

not when it's written by hacks like Slott.

Haha I can just imagine this conversation:

"This is Batman. He's the superhero of Gotham City."

"Who's his arch nemesis?"

"Superman."

Being a character fan is stupid. Follow comics by writers and artists. When I say I'm a Punisher fan, what I mean is that I'm a fan of Ennis and Dixon work on the character.

@tvc-15: Thats silly the writer/artist might only have like one specific run on a book thats good and all the rest of their work and collaborations could be terrible. It makes more sense to be a fan of a character, creative teams good or bad come and go but the character is always there and not limited by the amount of work he can do but the creators are. Right now Spider-Man is a great example of what I mean you got Slott and Camuncoli on the main book which sucks, then you have Conway and Stegman on Renew Your Vows which is great, because Spider-Man isn't restricted by having only one series, where the creative teams mostly just work on one series per character at a time.

Exactly. Frank Miller wrote some great, iconic pieces. He also wrote All Star Batman and Robin which a lot of people hated.

To be a fan is not to like, it's to worship.

@laughingbatman: I don't like Franks work at all but I guess he does deserve the credit he gets for his better stuff. From what I seen he has quite a string of turds after The Dark Knight Returns, DD, and Sin City that just reinforces what I said before.

Miller in his prime was the GOAT.