Do spoilers affect your enjoyment of a comic?

[Crossfist]

Let's say you're reading a run for the first time like Ultimate Spider-Man or something, and you see spoilers for it because it's a book that's years old and people don't mind talking about it openly/freely. Does that bother you? Does it significantly affect your enjoyment? It doesn't have to be like my example, just say how you feel about comic spoilers in any context.

[charliehustle415]

Let's say you're reading a run for the first time like Ultimate Spider-Man or something, and you see spoilers for it because it's a book that's years old and people don't mind talking about it openly/freely. Does that bother you? Does it significantly affect your enjoyment? It doesn't have to be like my example, just say how you feel about comic spoilers in any context.

For me Spoilers have never been an issue simply because, for me, it's the journey and the not the end.

Further, nearly all of the books I've been reading are old and I only know about them because they were referenced in a current story or recommended by a friend.

If a friend recommends it the first question I always ask, "What happens in it?"

For me my time is limited and the things I invest my money and more importantly my time I would like to know if I will like it.

And for new books I strictly follow writers I love so I'm rarely disappointed.

I read the entirety of Ultimate Spider-Man knowing everything about it because my friends would not shut up about it so we would always talk about it and that's when I ended up picking up the entire run. It ended up being one of my runs of all time.

[Astral Disaster]

Same here. spoilers, be it comics or movies, have never been a factor for me, as a mater of fact, I usually prefer to have an idea of what the story is and the outcome to know whether I'll have any interest.

[Karabaja]

On the contrary. I'm actively looking for spoilers for the books I'm interested in.

[DebkoX]

Yes. I used to be ok with spoilers but then I realised why am I spending money to be spoiled?

[Zelena]

If you are sure that you will enjoy something, yes, spoiler is a bad thing. It removes a part of the element of surprise which belongs to the narrator and to the story.

The problem is the money: you don't want to pay if you are not sure you will enjoy something.

I prefer total surprise with an author I trust. Much more exciting!

[Riv86672]

Only if what’s being spoiled is something I find really crappy.

[Jabare]

depends on the spoiler. If I'm lukewarm on something or less interested in it I probably don't care as much. If I'm truly interested in something I'll crave spoilers but ultimately would prefer not to be spoiled.

It depends on the narrative. If a central part of the plot relies on a big twist or surprise and that's ruined then I'm sure my reaction to the overall story will be lessened.

[OOTCS]

If it's a story that's a few years old and it's connected to the larger Marvel universe, it's hard to imagine not being spoiled for it. Take the original Thunderbolts run, for example. A great twist for people who were reading it at the time. But anyone reading it now, especially people who are familiar with characters like Songbird, Atlas, Moonstone, etc. or have a good grasp on Hawkeye's backstory, already know the twist because of the huge impact it had on the Marvel universe and future stories.

If it's a standalone or an AU, then I slightly prefer not being spoiled. But I'm a re-reader, so it's not like I can't enjoy a story if I know what's going to happen.

[Noodle]

I'm more lenient on it if it's an older story (more than a year or so old). At that point the story is done and over with and, while not fun to have spoiled, it's almost expected.

For new comics, though? Stuff still ongoing? Yeah, spoilers will kill that for me.

[SuperiorIronman]

Spoilers can be fine for me to see but I'd be lying if I said it didn't affect my enjoyment.

There are some things which you just have to accept are going to be spoiled. Basically things that have become staples of pop-culture which is why pop-culture osmosis is a thing. It's just so old and well known you have to accept you're going to know "I am your father" perhaps even long before you ever see context. But then there's others which are spoilers meant to be surprises. To keep on the Darth Vader angle, he's in Fallen Order. Now that's spoiled by later trailers but at release it was supposed to be a really big surprise and then you have people all over Youtube posting him in the tumbnails to which I say "all of you are getting reported". The difference to me being is that with age and the property being well known you're simply more likely to encounter that spoiler even without context. But something fairly recent and just a day into the release and I think less of you as a Human being. The point here is that once the fog starts to get asthma leading into a surprise reveal of Vader it's less of a surprise and more running through the motions. It just deflates all tension knowing everyone dies, or that someone or everyone makes it out in the end, or in Fallen Order's case knowing you can't do anything to Vader. Certainly with a backlog it's hard to avoid spoilers but if nobody wants them don't post them. And if it's recent than don't be a jackass and post them unless it's in a spoilers thread or without the spoilers tag.

[ERON]

It depends. If it's a story that I'm really looking forward to reading, I absolutely don't want to be spoiled. On the other hand, there have been stories that I wasn't planning on reading until I heard some intriguing spoilers that got me interested.

[Personamanx]

They can, but not always. I've certainly never experienced a spoiled plot element that considerably affected whether or not I ultimately enjoyed the book or not. But in a lot of stories going into it with knowledge you shouldn't have at this point can indeed weaken the impact of plot elements. Not usually enough to do considerable harm to an otherwise good comic, but initial and ultimate impressions of a story can be affected.

That's more so if you're following monthly to the best of your ability. Obviously the older a story is, the more you'll have to accept that certain plot elements will come to your knowledge before you read them.

[Captain Nash]

It depends. I do know the last time I was really wowed by a reveal was either during Avengers Disassembled or revealing Xorn as Magneto in Planet X, I cant remember which came first. But that doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed other stories, I just haven't been shocked by the crucial "gotcha" moments.

[Iron Maiden]

With some stories it's not as important. I'm sure a lot of us here are old enough to remember when spoilers had yet to be a thing, unless the kids in your neighborhood were reading the same comics as you were. Probably a major spoiler issue would be Gwen Stacy's death. Some versions of the story goes that even Stan wasn't aware of Gerry Conway's plans as he was more concerned about an upcoming business trip out of the country. Since my father would buy comics for us, it's not like I would have had a chance to thumb through the comics before I bought them as I would now. But I avoid that as much as I can while I'm driving home

One of the craziest endings to a series was Jim Steranko's Yellow Claw arc in Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD. And I won't spoil it for anyone here who hasn't read it! But it wasn't something that was promoted as a big deal beforehand. Probably the best way to do it.