It’s the wedding of the year, at least in the world of comics. This Wednesday, in the much anticipated 50th issue of Batman, the DC Universe’s most eligible bachelor is due to tie the knot with his longtime arch-enemy Catwoman.
Except, er, we already know how it goes. The wedding of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle has been two years in the making, a storyline that has been building in fortnightly issues ever since the flagship Batman title was taken over by writer Tom King in 2016. However – and please insert your own Robin-punching-his-palm “Holy matrimony!” gag here – comics fans eagerly awaiting the landmark issue were shocked at the weekend, when the New York Times blew the whole issue’s plot, complete with a headline that spoiled the ending.
If you’re keen to know what happens on Batman’s big day, you can read here, but be warned: the NYT really did ruin the story. (And anyone repeating spoilers in the comments below is likely to be the subject of vigilante action by annoyed Bat-fans for which the Guardian cannot take responsibility.)
So why did the NYT run such a clanger? Presumably it was with the blessing of DC Comics, in a bid to drum up sales for the issue (DC has been approached for a comment to see if that’s the case or if the newspaper had obtained an advance copy and decided to blow the gaff off its own bat – pun entirely intended.) John Cunningham, DC’s senior vice president of sales, took to Facebook claiming it was a pre-emptive move to stop someone else spoiling the story by posting scans on the internet. “While the Times piece is more fulsome than some might like,” he wrote, “it does not spoil the shock ending of the book for fans.”
Comic studios are not generally averse to leaking big events to get a bit of news: the death of Superman in 1992 and Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2011 both became global news before anyone had even read them. Nobody was expecting a quiet marriage with Clark Kent bringing a toaster and the Teen Titans getting drunk on WKD – but it’s safe to say few were expecting the ending of the whole story to appear in the NYT days before its release.
Ugh. Batman 50 spoilers are now out there. Ignore/avoid them (or try to) and read the issue.
— Tom King (@TomKingTK) July 1, 2018
Whether this move translates into a boost in sales for DC remains to be seen. When the NYT piece went online, even King didn’t seem to anticipate the spoilers, asking readers to ignore them and imploring them to buy the comic regardless. When DC themselves promoted the NYT piece (suggesting some degree of cooperation), fans were quick to take umbrage, with many announcing they were going to take the issue off their “pull list” (the titles saved for them by their local comic shop).
“DC dropped the ball. Hard. The issue is already spoiled,” complained one. “What are people paying $3.99 for now? Comic stores will lose a lot of sales because of this,” raged another. A least one comic shop did report this effect: RJ Comics and Toys in Virginia told DC: “I have loyal Batman customers emailing me to take Batman off their pull. Thank you for this.” Perhaps this upset was the only way to trump the outcome of the couple’s not-so-happy day. All we’ll say here is that if you did buy Bruce and Selina that towel set, make sure you can find the receipt.
