Spoilers are enough of a problem in big comic book stories without the publishers putting them out themselves. And, no, I’m not talking about mainstream media outlets revealing plot points the day before a comic’s release – Although, yeah, that too – but instead, things like the PR for Fear Itself: The Fearless that Marvel sent out yesterday. Spoilers!In the bullet point explanation about why we “must not miss” The Fearless‘ debut issue, the first point was
The fate of the Asgardian hammers seen in Fear Itself – REVEALED!
which… Well, now I know that we’re not going to find that out in the final issue of Fear Itself, I guess (So this is an anti-spoiler, I suppose). Which isn’t too much of a surprise, admittedly – Of all the things that Fear Itself could really spin out into a twelve issue series, those weapons are the most obvious, and there’s a “Where is the White Lantern after Blackest Night” vibe about the idea that seems fitting – but… Is it really that hard to not tell people what isn’t going to be in a final issue of a series before it’s released? Now I know that I’m not going to get any closure on that thread beyond “The Worthy lose their hammers” (Well, except for one Worthy, because the solicit for Fearless #4 gives that away, as well), and that makes the final issue of Fear Itself seem that much less… well, significant, I suppose.
It’s a tricky situation, I know; the alternative is not revealing enough about the new series to get readers and retailers excited enough to buy the book in the first place, but I feel like we’re seeing more and more “and this is what happens at the end” solicitations these days that purposefully, and unnecessarily, reveal things that would add tension to the end of other series (For example: Why reveal the full line-up of the X-Men teams before the end of Schism, thereby ending speculation that Cyclops is going to die in the book?). Surely there’s some middle ground between “censored” texts and silhouette’d figures, and giving the game away before the first issue has even been printed…?
September 20th, 2011 at 10:48 am
How many people, really and truly, read Marvel comics with trepidation, fearing what could happen? The difference between reading an issue of _____ and reading a close-ended story in which an unhappy ending is possible, or even seems probable, is so huge that the readers might as well be on different planets.
That’s a separate issue from the quality of the story itself. FEAR ITSELF is so terrible, going from the premise down to individual scenes, that nothing which happens really matters, except to the extent that writers a year from now are limited in the choices they have. Spoilers are possible only when there’s something to be spoiled.
Somebody should interview Brevoort about FEAR ITSELF and begin with the basic idea for the event: “Let’s see. You invented a new Norse god, instead of using the existing ones, and made him a fear god, when there are already — how many — five or six fear demons or gods or whatever. And why does the Serpent need fear for power if he was able to provide the Worthy with hammers?”
So much for the interview.
If someone is in the proper frame of mind, playing “Count the storytelling mistakes!” in a comic can be more entertaining than the story is.
SRS
November 22nd, 2011 at 7:07 pm
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