"Most America comics, you can more or less start at any time, right? There'll be a few months of connected story, and then it goes to a different one, without a huge narratice arc?"
I'll be interested to hear Bear's answer on this. I think it varies with the series. For instance I jumped into Spider-Man at about issue #147, and I'd say you can pick up Spidey's character pretty easy that way because his character is pretty constant, but to follow some of what's going on you have to be aware of certain key events in his history--his origin story, key events in his romantic life, and certain major villains and fights. Much of this was covered in the movies, so the movies are a good base for picking up the series; however they changed some stuff in the movies (for instance having the same stories but substituing Mary Jane in certain scenes that originally involved a previous girlfriend of Peter's) so there will be some discrepancies that might take some time to work through. Now in contrast, I'd say "X-Men" is harder to follow without knowing more about the team's history because there are so many characters and there has been a more linear and complex plot development. So I think it depends. Looking forward to Bear's take on this.
Heh, my answer was probably pretty disappointing. :p But for what it's worth, I agree with what you said. I think most of the mainline comics are pretty much like soap operas, read 3-6 issues and you'll have a pretty good handle on what's happening. Some are more difficult to get into than others, though, it's true.
That may be why I'm not reading many comics nowadays, and the ones I am reading are fairly non-traditional... I'm tired of reading the latest writer's take on a 40-50-60 year old character.