Comics and "The Avengers"

It's become a frequent punchline that, despite the more-than-a-billion-dollars made by "The Avengers" at the box office, the film probably won't cause many people to check out their local comic shops or buy any of the books. But while all that cynical ire (disguising a desperate hope) is directed toward the millions of non-comic-reading moviegoers, it raises in my mind what seems like an obvious question:

Has watching "The Avengers" changed your comic buying habits?

After all, if it hasn't affected the people who are already most inclined to purchase Avengers-related comics, then how could we reasonably expect the same from legions of people who don't enter a comic shop on a weekly basis?

For me, the answer is "apparently." "Avengers" ignited my interest in the characters again, so I pulled the "Red Menace" collection of Brubaker's Captain America comics off the shelf and started reading (and then went back to "Winter Soldier" when I realized I didn't quite grasp what was going on). I purchased "Death of Captain America" vol. 1 and "Avengers Assemble" vol. 1 over the weekend, popped "Korvac Saga" into my Amazon cart, and ordered a couple more Cap books. I also looked around for Hulk stories, though nothing really stuck out to me--though I am planning to get that Hulk/Punisher issue that's coming out soon.

Monthly-wise, it's not going to have any real effect (unless I really like Incredible Hulk, which is a possibility), but it definitely inspired me to pick up the rest of Brubaker's Cap run and finally get into some of the better Avengers arcs. I know I can't be the only one. So, what about you?