Everybody has their pet peeves where comics are concerned. One of my biggest is misleading covers. Many times they are deceitful or worse - they give away the big surprise at the end.  Let’s take this month’s “Wizard” magazine. Featured is a great cover on the new JLA. In fact, my fellow blogmate, David Torres has posted an article about it. Unfortunately, the entire Wizard article is about James Robinson’s favorite JLA titles and not the new JLA. Interesting in itself, but not why I picked up the issue. I wanted to learn about the new JLA and that’s what I expected the article to tell me. Sure, expert bloggers such as David know all the websites to get scoops and spoilers (such as this very blog, Comix 411), but people spend good money on “Wizard” and shouldn’t they deliver what they promise? Granted, last month, when they put Scarlett Johansson on the cover, most of my customers were more interested in her than her movie, “The Spirit”. But I am running a comic store and not a newsstand. When my customers ask me about an article in a magazine I, in good faith, have to tell them the truth. There was no article on the new JLA.

Another peeve is covers that give away the big surprise on the last page. The Death of Captain America is only the most recent example. I really want to be surprised if, in fact, there is a surprise to be had. Villains who spend the whole issue clouded in darkness show up on the cover. Unluckily, I have suffered a brain freeze and can’t think of any specific examples. But I bet you can, so leave some comments on some examples of comic book covers that either spoiled an ending for you or didn’t come through with the content on the inside of the publication.