The spoiled BATMAN #50 - fallout?

[Robotman]

So it may actually be a good thing for DC that the NYT spoiled the ending. Hopefully a lot less people actually picked up the issue which would lessen the fan rage.

King wrote a very dissapointing issue but I blame DC for how they handled this whole situation. There had to be people at DC who realized that the ending would be hated, yet they prompted the hell out of the issue and went ahead with all the tie ins and price hikes.

I would be fine with the outcome if it had a better ending. The Joker spoiling it is kind of cliche but it probably would have been more enjoyable.

Still don’t understand how Tom King can write such brilliant comics like Mister Miracle, Vision, and Omega Men and then deliver such a terrible Batman run.

[MajorHoy]

So it may actually be a good thing for DC that the NYT spoiled the ending. Hopefully a lot less people actually picked up the issue which would lessen the fan rage.

I'm sure comic book shops who ordered all those additional copies / may have even ordered exclusive covers will agree with you.

NOT!

[SixSpeedSamurai]

My LCS said sales were pretty good. He's more upset about the Walmart deal.

[Robotman]

I'm sure comic book shops who ordered all those additional copies / may have even ordered exclusive covers will agree with you.

NOT!

Obviously I feel bad for comic book shops. Although they still probably sold a lot of copies. I was talking about fan backlash and damage control.

[MajorHoy]

Obviously I feel bad for comic book shops. Although they still probably sold a lot of copies. I was talking about fan backlash and damage control.

Well, unless DC lets comic book shops return unsold copies, DC won't actually feel any possible financial backlash for maybe +/-3 months (at least here in the U.S.) when dealers place their first orders for Bat-books with Diamond AFTER this mess broke.

[chachi]

I think my LCS owner might live under a rock at times. I stopped by the store today on my lunch hour. I asked him if there was any major feedback from issue 50 and it being spoiled early. He said "when was it spoiled?" I said it was on Monday, and that DC basically wanted is spoiled / supported it. He had no clue it was spoiled. He was closed for the fourth and basically was open for like an hour when I stopped by, but said no one complained as of yet. Said it was Bullshit that after all the build-up, etc. that this was the payoff.

[Grim Ghost]

I predict almost zero fallout. Most fans are not messing about on twitter, cbr or bleeding cool. Look at the responses in many of the threads here (as in cbr) and you will see it is mainly 10 to 20 people who are upset and posting again and again. This is an upsetting thing for shippers who are a minority. Some others are irritated about getting spoiled, but will realize it was an accident and get over it. Batman will continue to be a top seller and recover in a few months if there is even anything to recover from. Amazingly we will discover that the majority of people who like Batman are not obsessed with him getting married or not.

[RepHope]

So it may actually be a good thing for DC that the NYT spoiled the ending. Hopefully a lot less people actually picked up the issue which would lessen the fan rage.

King wrote a very dissapointing issue but I blame DC for how they handled this whole situation. There had to be people at DC who realized that the ending would be hated, yet they prompted the hell out of the issue and went ahead with all the tie ins and price hikes.

I would be fine with the outcome if it had a better ending. The Joker spoiling it is kind of cliche but it probably would have been more enjoyable.

Still don’t understand how Tom King can write such brilliant comics like Mister Miracle, Vision, and Omega Men and then deliver such a terrible Batman run.

Vision, Mr. Miracle, and Omega Men were/are minis. Besides Sheriff of Babylon, Batman has been the longest ongoing title King has written. That might be having an impact. For instance King’s love of repetition. In 12 issues it might not be that annoying. But 25? 50? 100? The reaction might be different. The romance fumble is the one I don’t get. I’m so sick of BATCATBATCATBATCATBAT it’s driving me insane. Plus Selina’s random ass meowing. Where the hell is that coming from? King can write relationships well, he’s done a great job in those three minis, but here it’s just awful.

[Robanker]

I predict almost zero fallout. Most fans are not messing about on twitter, cbr or bleeding cool. Look at the responses in many of the threads here (as in cbr) and you will see it is mainly 10 to 20 people who are upset and posting again and again. This is an upsetting thing for shippers who are a minority. Some others are irritated about getting spoiled, but will realize it was an accident and get over it. Batman will continue to be a top seller and recover in a few months if there is even anything to recover from. Amazingly we will discover that the majority of people who like Batman are not obsessed with him getting married or not.

The spoilers were deliberately given to the New York Times to get ahead of early leaks. It was their way of getting ahead of the rumor mills. The primary outrage is how the spoiler was in the /title/ of the article which was atop most people's news feeds and that DC really milked the fans for all they could without delivering on the advertised nuptials.

If it wasn't so heavily marketed and pushed with variants along with keeping spoilers in the article as opposed to title, I think that then the backlash would be strictly shippers. Right now it's a lot of customers who feel lied to and fans who the publisher ruined the surprise for.

[Grim Ghost]

The spoilers were deliberately given to the New York Times to get ahead of early leaks. It was their way of getting ahead of the rumor mills. The primary outrage is how the spoiler was in the /title/ of the article which was atop most people's news feeds and that DC really milked the fans for all they could without delivering on the advertised nuptials.

If it wasn't so heavily marketed and pushed with variants along with keeping spoilers in the article as opposed to title, I think that then the backlash would be strictly shippers. Right now it's a lot of customers who feel lied to and fans who the publisher ruined the surprise for.

I just feel the outrage is a little extreme. This just seems normal comics biz to me.

Okay, so to me being 42 years old I have seen so many covers and so much hype that says "Nothing Will Ever Be The Same" kind of thing. You would see the same thing play out on any soap opera or wrestling or whatever. Marvel and DC are not where you want to be if you want permanent character growth. This is business as usual. So if they did get married it would be wiped out, restored, etc...

[JasonTodd428]

I just feel the outrage is a little extreme. This just seems normal comics biz to me.

Okay, so to me being 42 years old I have seen so many covers and so much hype that says "Nothing Will Ever Be The Same" kind of thing. You would see the same thing play out on any soap opera or wrestling or whatever. Marvel and DC are not where you want to be if you want permanent character growth. This is business as usual. So if they did get married it would be wiped out, restored, etc...

I'm a Bat/Cat shipper but my problem isn't that the wedding didn't happen and I'm not even upset at the spoiler either since I normally don't keep up with the press dealing with comics anyway. I actually tend to actively avoid such things. My problem is that DC and their PR machine ACTED like it was happening when they were very aware that it wasn't. The "NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME" thing they do from time to time is just hyperbole. The wedding advertisements, in my opinion, were of a different caliber altogether as far as misleading fans and retailers are concerned. Everyone darn well knows the first means nothing but those same people were convinced that the second was the real deal. No way that many fans who are experienced enough to ignore the first are that gullible unless the way it was promoted made them actually believe it was happening.

Honestly it was a badly thought out way of promoting this all around and while you might see it as business as usual I see it as yet another thing exemplifying the disconnect between the suits at DC and fans. Really this sort of nonsense needs to stop. How about we advertise things honestly for once and build fan hype on that instead of making up sh#t you know is gonna bite you in the a$$ later. Or at the very least of you must misdirect then have sense enough to add some element of doubt to things to muddy the waters instead of indicating something is happening for dead certain when you know it very well isn't instead.

[Aahz]

Btw. I'm wondering how all the artist feel about this (and if they knew what was going to happen), I mean they had all the big artists draw something for this issues like it was one of the biggerst thing ever, and in the end it was just a fake.

[CPSparkles]

Btw. I'm wondering how all the artist feel about this (and if they knew what was going to happen), I mean they had all the big artists draw something for this issues like it was one of the biggerst thing ever, and in the end it was just a fake.

I'm sure they were in on it if they weren't I doubt they care. Extra money is extra money.


I'm glad retailer's aren't fussed and sales weren't affected the last I want is a knee-jerk urge to pander to shippers in the name of damage control. DC pretty much got away with it now on to the next story.

[Miles To Go]

I'm glad retailer's aren't fussed and sales weren't affected the last I want is a knee-jerk urge to pander to shippers in the name of damage control. DC pretty much got away with it now on to the next story.

They "got away with it" only because King had to guarantee everyone the story isn't done yet. We're not moving on from it.

[bat1987]

The only bad thing about this whole ordeal IMO, is Dc spoling the issue in advance. Everything else is standard comic book practice. Issue is advertised as one thing, and it turns out to be something completely different. As for doomsayers, I highly doubt the sales will plummet. When whole OMD fiasco happened with spider man, the book was still popular, marvel went through with it. Same goes for Superior Spider Man. And those were much bigger deals IMO than DC advertising one thing, and doing the oposite. I mean, if they weren't advertising it, everyone would have figured out the twist. Hell some people saw it coming as it is. Except for that last page ofc. I really want to see where King is going with this, after seeing that last page.