Calling Mr. Anonymous

Spoiler haters, don't get your panties in a bunch. I don't plan on running any direct spoilers if I get 'em, like I did with Secret Invasion #1.

Spoiler lovers, relax...I might consider doing something like I did with the second batch of spoilers. Or, yeah, nothing at all.

But anyway...it's all moot unless Mr. Anonymous graces my IM or inbox with his presence again. I'm hoping he might be able to clear up a few whispers I'm hearing about what is on the horizon...

Want To See A Spoilery Cover?

Secret Invasion #8 isn't out in American stores until tomorrow, I believe, due to the holiday. But there's already a scan of the wrap-around cover for New Avengers #50 that is displayed in the last issue of SI.

Since Blogger can't do breaks, I'll just link to the Photobucket account it was found under. You click, you've spoiled yourself, not I.

Uh Oh...

So, Secret Invasion #8 is going to be late? Brevoort says it is due to the extra pages and the care Yu is taking with them, but we all know that Tom and the truth have an on again/off again relationship when it comes to spinning negative news.

I hope it's not to make another change due to spoilers. According to Mr. Anonymous, Mockingbird was supposed to turn out to be the real deal until spoilers started flying willy nilly.

I don't think it is possible that they'll change who leads the Dark Avengers or who becomes/remains Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Well, maybe it would be easy enough to slot in someone else as leader, as long as they answer to the person originally intended to be the leader. It gives the appearance of change without really screwing up all the things they have planned already.

I, also, doubt that they'll change who is jumping ship from one Avengers team to another. The character that Mr. Anonymous gave me would need to have so many plans changed that I don't think they can scrap the move just to nullify spoilers.

Can't wait to find out...

For Those Following Along At Home...

There was a certain last page in a recent Marvel comic book that is important to some of the redacted spoilers...

Think **** with a *****. ;)

I Feel Honored...

...to have the Jinx World regulars discussing my redacted spoilers rather than cursing my name on their boards.

Well...they could be cursing me somewhere over there, but since I didn't see it, I'll remain blissfully ignorant. ;)

LitG NA Spoiler? Not The Whole Line-Up!

Over on CBR, Rich Johnston shares a few bits about the current Avengers storylines that get spoiled by companies other than Marvel.

One of them is a cover image that is said to show the new line-up of New Avengers.

But it's woefully incomplete.

There's at least one other notable member that, IMO, would change the mechanics of the team entirely.

So, if someone spoiled it for you by blabbing about Rich's revelations on a message board (despite Rich's efforts to make people have to choose to see them in the confines of his column), rest easier knowing that there's still a few surprises left for you.

Embrace Change

The Skrulls above? Not members of **** ********. ;)

Mr. Anonymous Spoilers Redacted Pt3

No direct...oh, you know the deal...

Coming out of SI, **** will still be working with the government. He'll be running *****.

Mr. Anonymous Spoilers Redacted Pt2

Again, no direct spoilers.

****** is the leader of the Dark Avengers.

Mr. Anonymous Spoilers Redacted Pt1

As discussed, I'm not going to give direct spoilers.

**** leaves one Avengers group to join the other. Not talking about Dark Avengers.

For Those Waiting For Mr. Anonymous Info...

I had a crisis of conscience about revealing the new spoilers that I had been given. I had decided to hold off on direct spoilers, but it became moot because Mr. Anonymous had asked me to hold off on revealing them until he was ready and fairly certain there was no chance at things getting changed last second.

One of those things came out at the Retailer Summit today.

DARK REIGN

Our boy had this nugget and at least one more. That other one? I promised someone that I would only go so far as to run it with asterisks if my source gave me the go ahead to run it. But I can't control whether Mr. Anonymous goes to another source to have this info shared directly with the world.

Mr. A is still out there. I know be cause he popped by to link me to the retailer summit report on the 'Rama. So, if you're reading this, I can possibly tease that other spoiler for you, but not outright reveal it to teh interwebz. Which way you go on that, sir, is your choice...and I'll respect that choice whatever it may be. Do feel free to hit me with an IM every now and then to BS, regardless.

Oh...and to any of the Bendis Board posters who read the first batch way back and then ran to bash me over on 606studios.com, do tell Mr. Bendis that I apologize for any frustration that first batch caused him and hope that having held off on Dark Reign all this time demonstrates the sincerity of that apology.

So I've been listening the the Bendis Tapes...sue me.

A Bit About Spoilers...

Last time I posted some spoilers from Mr. Anonymous, I caught some shit from a few people. Some understandable (I'm still sorry to Pedro, who apparently got the spoilers against his will via the RSS feed) and some less so (some of the hate posted at the Bendis boards, where they welcome Rich Johnston with open arms (and rightly so), despite his having done the spoiler thing many times).

Mr. Anonymous still hasn't given the go ahead and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do when he does. Some have suggested I not run it at all. A friend or two has suggested I run it with wildcards to obscure the full reveal. And, of course, there are the rabid that just want the info NOW NOW NOW.

In advance of whatever decision I make, I wanted to reiterate a few things:

• Last go 'round, I received no correspondence from Marvel or anyone associated with them asking me to pull down the spoilers and stop posting anything further. The posting process went on over a nice chunk of time, so they obviously had plenty of time to generate and e-mail me a C&D, like "marvel_b0y" supposedly received. One could imply tacit approval of my actions from their failure to communicate any problem with the matter to me.
  
• As mentioned in an earlier comment of mine, Joe Quesada bellying up to the bar with Rich Johnston, who certainly has published spoilers regarding Marvel and DC items (like the Inferno bit this week).
• More of an addition to the first bullet than a separate reason: I explicitly stated in my previous blogs that I'd immediately cease publishing the spoilers if someone from Marvel (ANYONE) asked me to. I requested to be contacted if it was a problem. I assure you they have ways of contacting me. No one did.
  

Now, I'm not saying I'll definitely be posting anything. But, if I do, just remember the above bullets while you call me a douche around the 'net. ;)

And Marvel_b0y Says...Nothing?

Given the teaser about upcoming Mr. Anonymous spoilers, I thought it was worth pointing out that marvel_b0y has been silent since April. The blog is still up. With all the "spoilers" still on it.

Hmmm...quiet as can be, just as soon as the series landed. Just as soon as the event it seemed to be viral marketing for hit.

Is there really still any doubt that it was some sort of viral marketing attempt by people with access at Marvel?

One of the saddest things? The last blog over at marvel_b0y's LiveSpace is now just a spot for World of Warcraft farming companies to advertise their gold for sale in the comments.

Might as well just take the whole thing down now, don't you think, J&J?

Mr. Anonymous Says Hi

After a loooooooooooooooooooooong absence, Mr. Anonymous dropped me a message. Seems like he has more info for me to share with the masses. Wants to hold off for a bit to make sure there are no last minute changes.

Post-Secret Invasion landscape stuff. Good stuff. Interesting stuff. Stay tuned.

Random Comic Thoughts

• Man, people are making a stink about the new Newsarama boards. Some people are REALLY bent out of shape.
  
• I'm more thrown by Newsarama becoming more of an entertainment site than a comic book site and basically turning all of their articles into blogs, rather than leading into traditional message board discussion. Still, better than CBR's "hey...go find somewhere on our site to talk about it" style.
• Without giving spoilers, I'm not as sold on Trinity yet as others. Yeah, Busiek has the characters down cold. But some of the elements that they're building from scratch here (I'm being vague as possible) could backfire. Busiek was hit-or-miss on new elements he introduced in Superman (mostly miss from what I can remember). When he missed, it could only hurt an issue or an arc. Here, it looks like a majority of the series could very well hinge on how fans react to entirely new creations.
  
• I think Millar's Kick Ass is interesting, if not setting the world on fire for me. But I find my opinion of it is often negatively effected by the hype machine Millar rolls out for it. From quoting sycophant fans on the back of the book as if they were noteworthy critics to at least one quote whore I know reviewing the book just in hopes of being quoted.
• Secret Invasion #3: wasn't the most outlandish spoiler that Mr. Anonymous gave me, but it still qualifies as another "I told you so" moment. I'm wondering what's going on with the biggest bomb he said they'd be dropping on the readers, though.

In response to some of the stuff in the comments section:

• Yes, Bagley does, indeed, rule on Trinity. He does great work on the book. I'm just a bit of a cynic, which is why I focused on my fears for the book in the comment rather than the good stuff. I'm glad to see a strong start on the backup art with the choice of McDaniel, too.
• I've revealed the (potential) biggest bomb for Secret Invasion in the past, but it was via a vlog. I'll embed that vlog in the bottom of this blog shortly (update: rather than embed, here's the link). I haven't heard from Mr. Anonymous again since shortly after the release of the first issue. That's consistent with his stated motives, though. He made it clear to me that the reason why he was passing along the info was directly related to how much of an asshat "Marvel_b0y" was being.
  
• I'll not delve into a Newsarama vs. CBR pissing match, but I've always thought that articles that go directly into a forum to discuss the news was one of the things that made fans flock to the 'Rama in larger numbers than CBR. I think the change takes some of the charm away, but how much remains to be seen.
• Peter Tomasi and crew are certainly kicking ass on Nightwing. I'll say, though, that I was a little disappointed to see how irregular Rags Morales has been in his contributions to the book. I wonder if he might have still been contributing a bit to the Batman Confidential arc he did with Tony Bedard. While I'm sure Rob might still lop off an appendage to be him, the number of times other artists have had to fill-in for him is making his timeliness look more Liefeldian with every passing day. Update: Ken B. mentions below that Rags explained on a Newsarama forum that the fill-ins on Nightwing have largely been necessary due to his commitment to aforementioned Batman Confidential arc.
  

Can We Get The Consensus on Marvel_b0y's Status?

He stopped posting suddenly. Barely addressed any of the audience's many concerns about his legitimacy. Ended on the whimper of saying that RUN FATBOY RUN.

So...do we think now that he was definitely marketing and they didn't know how to wrap up the production?
Or maybe the silence is meant to build things up for him speaking out again as a viral marketing tool?
Was he just a bitter employee like he suggested?
Or something else?

I'll be running a poll on the front of the site to get what popular opinion is.

SCHWAPP!!! If I Was Played By Marvel...

SPOILERS: And Now...For Mr. Anonymous's Finale....

When it came time to give the last spoiler, I wondered: how could I extend this. How could I make this a chore for people to get the info again in a more obtrusive way than having to just highlight random gaps in paragraphs?

The last Skrull I have to reveal...

I figured it out: a lengthy embedded video.

...is...wait for it...

So, here you go:

...in the vlog, you cheating lazy bum.

Why Provide Spoilers?

At first, I provided the spoilers given to me by Mr. Anonymous because I strongly dislike the way this Marvel_b0y viral campaign has been pulled off. It is another marketing strategy that takes things to a new level of dishonesty. When you spew as much bile and venom as this viral marketing campaign has done (opt-in or not), there will be collateral damage. The fans become yelling, screaming, stressed, and insulted pawns in your game to make a few extra bucks.

Not in this spot...

Mr. Anonymous, himself, would probably never have stepped up to give me these spoilers if not for Marvel_b0y giving out the occasionally wrong info and being a douche.

Or in this one...

Marvel has since toned it down a bit and the only one getting lumped on is Marvel_b0y himself. It has led me to sit back and rethink things.

Oh...did you think it'd be here?

For instance: I really like Bendis. The guy AND his work. I'm sure he's not digging this...unless I'm just being played like a cheap violin by Marvel, which is entirely possible. But the anecdotal evidence I'm getting from reader reactions is that the spoilers are making them more excited and look forward to buying the product.

Still checking?

Which isn't to say that justifies anything. Yet I haven't been contacted by anyone at Marvel or anyone involved with the book to ask for the spoilers to be pulled down. The e-mail has always been out there to contact me. I've received nothing.

Nope...nothing here.

On top of that, there's the demonstrated history of Rich Johnston posting spoilers of Marvel product without any cease and desist or any obvious damage to the Marvel/CBR relationship. This would pretty much counter any argument they could try to make legally if they wanted to come after me. In order to have full legal protection of an intellectual property, you have to be consistent in how you defend it. So...you can't get too far coming after a blogger for something that you were so tolerant of previously that you've had your EiC grant multi-part event interviews to a site that has run spoilers for your product in the past (and continues to do so). Rich even posted a bit of script to confirm that he actually read an Astonishing X-Men story in advance. That's right...if Marvel brings the thunder, I'll be using the "Chewbacca Rich Johnston" defense.

Ha...you checked every gap? Check back later for the spoiler.

So...to sum up...I've spit out a meandering mess here. Part about reasoning (to counter an ill-conceived viral marketing program while appearing to cause no harm to the readership) and part about having established history of spoilers on my side, as far as from a purely legal standpoint.

Spoilers: Marvel_b0y Posts? Mr. Anonymous Counters!

Marvel_b0y is good for business, I tells ya!

[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: alright
[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: one more Skrull reveal
[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: Nightcrawler (highlight to reveal)
[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: It'll be dealt with in the Secret Invasion: X-Men mini
[02:05] Mr. Anonymous: that Mike Carey is writing
[02:05] Mr. Anonymous: (I don't think Marvel has said who's doing it yet)
[02:05] Schwapp Online: I'm good to share that, you're saying?
[02:05] Mr. Anonymous: yeah
[02:05] Schwapp Online: cool
[02:06] Mr. Anonymous: According to the story, the X-Men are the only real superhero team on the west coast
[02:07] Mr. Anonymous: So, Cyclops rallies the team to fight the invading Skrulls on their side of the country

Highlight the blank spots for the details.

Still no requests from Marvel to pull any of this stuff, by the way. Make of that what you will. schwapp.online@gmail.com, folks.