I knew a big revelation was coming at the end of Civil War #2, thanks to some “insider information.” (Actually it was a reminder from the Newsarama Powers-That-Be that one of our policies is to NOT spoil comics stories before a comic is even out). I wasn’t sure what the revelation was going to be, but I knew that a) I wanted to read it for myself and b) if it was as big as it was hyped to be, comic fans would be talking about it all day Wednesday.
So I figured I’d be safe from any spoilers if I stayed away from comic book message boards and blogs for a few hours on Wednesday … at least until I had a chance to get to a comic shop and read it for myself.
Little did I know I also needed to avoid the Yahoo home page. (MAJOR CIVIL WAR #2 SPOILERS after the jump) …
So ten minutes before I was set to head to my comic shop, I decided to do a quick check of my email, which led me to Yahoo, which led me to this:
Dammit all to hell.
As a comic blogger, I commend Marvel and DC’s efforts to “get some ink” on Civil War, Batwoman, Infinite Crisis and related events and storylines … it’s kind of our bread and butter. But as a fan, I ask: can we at least teach the New York Post and Yahoo about proper “spoilers warning” etiquette?
Howard Stern did it for me. The way he set it up I thought he was going to talk about Batwoman. Once it became clearer he may be talking about Civil War I remember saying, “I don’t want to hear about this, I don’t think.”
Then he drops it. Oh well. I’m still enjoying the series - might even get me back to reading some Marvel books.
Comment by Jason Rodriguez — June 15, 2006 @ 12:47 pm
I made it all the way to the last page. As much as I spoil myself on TV I have pretty fantastic discipline when it comes to comics. Once I heard that the spoiler was out, I just went into Hibernation Mode.
Comment by Benjamin Birdie — June 15, 2006 @ 12:47 pm
Cool, Postcard’s Jason Rodriquez and Nitroglycerin’s Benjamin Birdie in the same thread.
It was spoiled for me but I wasn’t trying to avoid it really. I still get the same feeling from reading the story, if I know what happens or not. I guess that’s because I hardly ever have those “holy $%U&$!” moments anymmore, since I’ve been reading since I was 12.
Comment by Shane — June 15, 2006 @ 1:32 pm
I got through yesterday, and was on high alert. Then my brother called me and said “Hey I just wanted to know what you thought about [insert MASSIVE SPOILER].” I was mad, but it really wasn’t his fault. Wasn’t too hard to connect the dots from interviews beforehand, though.
Comment by Matt Little — June 15, 2006 @ 1:35 pm
Also, my friend Nate made an excellent point: they would never spoil a story like this beforehand if it was a book or movie. Positive press is awesome for the industry, but they’d never disrespect the story like this with a film. Grumble.
Comment by Matt Little — June 15, 2006 @ 1:38 pm
This exact same thing happened to me to the letter.
Goddamn Yahoo.
Comment by Bald Steve — June 15, 2006 @ 2:23 pm
I go to Phil’s Comic Shoppe (in Margate, FL - PLUG PLUG!). I tell him that Newsarama had some innocuous “don’t click this or something might be spoiled for you maybe somewhat” click, so I went there and found the ending to issue two.
He says, “My son was unpacking the books today, flipped through Civil War, and shoved the last page up in front of me.”
:-O
Comment by Squashua — June 15, 2006 @ 2:31 pm
One thing I found interesting was that Spider-Man was in the classic costume for the reveal. I realize that they can explain this, editorially, because the classic costume is more familiar to the public – but I wonder if we they were playing to the Daily Bugle or to the real press, the Yahoo and New York Times of this world. It’s amazing how we’ve become an accepted enough culture that Marvel can PLAN for mainstream press for a storyline that doesn’t involve homosexuality or the death of a sixty+ year old icon.
Comment by Jason Rodriguez — June 15, 2006 @ 3:48 pm
I was looking at the comments on a comics blog on Wednesday morning and I saw just a glimpse of the panel. But to be fair, after ASM 532 I felt it was coming.
Comment by Emperor Nerd — June 15, 2006 @ 4:04 pm
One of my MSN friends told me, he found out about the Tbolts spoiler on Superherohype, sent me a link, I followed it, and posted it on Talk@.
Comment by Punchy — June 15, 2006 @ 5:33 pm
I picked up the Thunderbolts Civil War issue along with CW#2 itself. Thinking I’d save the best for last, I read Thunderbolts first, and noted with interest a certain news conference happening in the background. “Gee, Spidey unmasked? Seems like they’d save big news like that for it’s own mag or something” I thought. After getting through the rest of this weeks pulls, I finally made it to Civil War #2, looking forward to the surprise ending everyone had been talking about. And there it was, Spidey unmasked. Bad enough to read it at random in a newspaper, but Marvel itself spoiled it for me by printing the same surprise in Thunderbolts! What a world, what world….
Comment by John McClain — June 15, 2006 @ 6:07 pm
I tried my best to avoid all spoilers, only to have my retailer blow it for me in the shop when i was picking up my copy. Granted - he was only recapping the ending of the recent issue of ASM (which i don’t read) to another customer, but the setup he gave made it clear what the big moment was going to be. i’m still a little annoyed about it, since previous to that i had not a clue and was trying hard to stay that way!
Comment by Eobard — June 15, 2006 @ 6:52 pm
I read it on Sideshow’s web site after leaving the comic book store. I got the book but hadn’t read it yet. I left them a comment on their blog thanking them for the huge spoiler they just gave me. Today they took the news down leaving only the link up. I commend them for taking it down and announcing the spoiler but Sideshow should know better.
Comment by Jonathan Kemp — June 15, 2006 @ 7:13 pm
Here’s the real kicker: Press releases are handled by the publishers themselves, aren’t they? It’s not like Howard Stern or someone from Yahoo has a comic store that opens at 4 in the morning with new comics available…
So really it’s Marvel that blew it, just to make a headline, they screwed their loyal readers a little.
Comment by Morocco_Mole — June 15, 2006 @ 8:52 pm
Really it’s not like this wasn’t the most predictable thing ever. I mean what else could they do to Spidey? No really. I mean they could give him new powers, a new suit, and kill him but that would just be copying the last year or so of his comics.
Oh and I was spoiler free but had it figured out so no biggy. At least the comic was good…
Comment by Tuckenie (Chirs Tucker) — June 16, 2006 @ 12:56 am
I saw it coming in Amazing Spider-Man but I couldn’t believe Marvel would do it. Then I read the headline on the Yahoo homepage. I was annoyed but now I can’t wait for the repercussions this will have for Spidey and the rest of the Marvel Universe. After all, guys, at the end of the day, it’s just comics
Comment by JVT — June 16, 2006 @ 1:44 am
[…] Although Marvel has dubbed the big revelation in Civil War #2 as “arguably the most shocking event in comic book history,” the mainstream media are a little slow to seize upon the story. MarvelWhile it did receive prominent placement on Yahoo and a mention by Howard Stern, a Google News search brings up just 28 items, most of which are variations of the same newswire articles. […]
Pingback by Blog@Newsarama » Will Civil War #2 revelation grip the media? — June 16, 2006 @ 11:08 am
If that kid in the movie turns out to really be Superman’s son, I think that’ll trump Spidey.
Comment by Squashua — June 16, 2006 @ 11:44 am
[…] While comic-book message boards abuzz about you-know-who doing you-know-what (beware of spoilers), the world of soccer — pretty much everyone outside of the United States — is a-titter over one footballer actually donning a mask. […]
Pingback by Blog@Newsarama » While one mask comes off, another goes on … — June 16, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
My comic shop spoiled the ending for me, which I’m actually pretty upset about. Right on the rack, under Civil War #2, “Spidey Reveals Identity - Limit 2 per customer”. Weak.
Comment by supa_pedro — June 16, 2006 @ 12:40 pm
“Where were yoooooou when IIII was lonnnnesome…”
Comment by Dan Coyle — June 16, 2006 @ 12:47 pm
[…] It seems that I wasn’t the only one that had the issue spoiled for me. The New York Post published an article Wednesday spoiling the issue. Other web sites, mainly Yahoo!, picked up the story and ran with images on the front page. So it was spoiled for lots of other people. Newsarama even had a blog post asking where were you when the issue was spoiled. […]
Pingback by SPOILERS AHEAD: Civil War #2 Review : Hero Hunt News — June 17, 2006 @ 11:33 pm
[…] The week’s biggest story, though, was the end of Civil War #2. If you’re the only person in the world who hasn’t read the issue or didn’t have the end spoiled for you by Howard Stern or the New York Post or Yahoo, then I won’t spoil it for you here. Graeme McMillan talked about fan backlash, though, and Kevin talked about Marvel’s claims of sticking to their guns with the big change, which may contain a few spoilers. In fact, if you want to stay in the dark, you may not want to click on any links in the previous paragraph … […]
Pingback by Blog@Newsarama » The Week in Review — June 18, 2006 @ 2:42 pm
superherotimes.com ruined it for me. i figured i was quite safe when i realised most news sites didnt have the actual spoiler as a headline but nope….buggers!
Comment by jonny freeze — June 18, 2006 @ 6:05 pm
Read the spoiler in a shabby free newspaper reporting what another newspaper had reported. Wasn’t even picking up the series and felt the burn of the ending before the giveaway.
Like Matt Little said, they wouldn’t have done this for THE SIXTH SENSE. Although that was spoiled for me when Nathan Lane was on THE LATE SHOW.
Comment by Hank — June 19, 2006 @ 10:33 pm
Agreed
Comment by femdom — June 21, 2006 @ 5:18 pm