Posted in: Comics | Tagged: HRL, nick spencer, Rich Johnston, secret empire, spoilers, tom brevoort

Nick Spencer Explains Why It's OK For Marvel To Spoil Secret Empire

Published Tue, 29 Aug 2017 09:30:51 -0500

Last updated Tue, 29 Aug 2017 14:24:13 -0500

Spoilers are bad. They ruin people's enjoyment of comics, and they undermine the efforts of creators to tell compelling stories. Unless the spoilers are coming from Marvel itself, through sanctioned articles on mainstream media outlets. Then, the spoilers are good. Or, at least, inevitable.

Just ask Secret Empire writer Nick Spencer, who responded on Twitter to Marvel spoiling the ending to Secret Empire in the New York Times.

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902270594061701120

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902271852302671872

One idea: don't spoil the ending in the New York Times. But that ship has sailed. One intrepid follower had a response for Spencer: Bleeding Cool Spoilermonger-in-Chief Rich Johnston.

No it's not. And I should know.

— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) August 28, 2017

There is a difference between Newsarama and the New York Times. The former, mostly uses spoiler warnings and is focused on a niche audience.

— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) August 28, 2017

Most Secret Empire #10 readers would not have been spoiled, no matter what BC or Newsarama ran. Until it went in the NYT.

— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) August 28, 2017

"oh no, someone might throw an egg at the house, ah well, better burn it down before they arrive…"

— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) August 28, 2017

Don't leak endings to mass media. Realise many respect spoiler warnings. Most people don't get spoiled on anything but NYT makes it harder.

— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) August 28, 2017

Read Kieron on this, he has insights on the realities of spoilage which may be worth sharing.

— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) August 28, 2017

https://t.co/Qefw2cFGmF

— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) August 28, 2017

Did you know that Rich Johnston and superstar writer Kieron Gillen are such good friends they're on a first-name basis? In case you didn't, Rich reminds us as often as possible.

Meanwhile, Marvel executive Tom Brevoort took a shot at Johnston's motives for decrying spoilers, but left himself open to the exact same criticism:

Says the egg salesman…

— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) August 28, 2017

Touché

— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) August 28, 2017

Spencer moved on to rehashing one of his classic talking points about Secret Empire: that people who don't like it simply don't understand what it's trying to say.

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902339797296877568

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902340737190133760

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902341424674246656

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902342964080369664

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902343536191823873

https://twitter.com/nickspencer/status/902344435526123520

It's true. Spencer has been very clear about what he intended Secret Empire to say. He's got thousands of tweets on the subject to back that up. But does what Spencer says on Twitter really matter, or is it what's in the actual comic book that counts? If readers are consistently getting something different out of reading the book, is that their fault for failing to study Nick Spencer's tweets, or should the story's message have been clearer?

Those lofty questions are above our pay grade, unfortunately. What's your take?

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