Unfortunate magazine cover

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Yep.

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Headline from May 26th 1980 issue: Vader shows Luke “Who’s your daddy!?!”
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620862876 Bob Brinkman

It wasn’t all that unfortunate until I saw it posted here with the comment. Guess I don’t need to see the movie now?
- TMWaH
  
  It’s not “unfortunate” due to the plot of the movie; it’s unfortunate due to real-life circumstances. I would have thought that Entertainment Weekly would have pulled their issue as soon as they heard about the tragedy in Aurora, but I guess that’s not the case.
  - latelatelateshow
    
    These big magazines have set, advance print run contracts – very difficult to pull millions of magazines from the offset machines or out of trucks carrying issues to news stands. I agree though. Very unfortunate cover.
  - princeminski
    
    It’s been out for a week. Just wait a a little and it’ll be gone, replaced by another picture of “Twilight.”
- http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Horton/100001980195134 David Horton
  
  Bob, this is not a spoiler. It’s an ironic observation. Go see the movie if you want to; no harm done here.
  - Kibo
    
    I consider it a spoiler because I was going to go see “The Dark Knight Rises” until I found out that Batman is in it. Gee, thanks a lot, Entertainment Weekly. Now I won’t be surprised.
    - http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux
      
      Yeah, but the real spoiler is the comment Bob referred to. Guess I don’t need to see any Star Wars movies now.
      - Kibo
        
        Don’t enlarge this image unless you want the secret twist ending to “Peanuts” ruined forever. Charles Schulz was a big meanie:
        
        http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l526kz6cZr1qawyivo1_500.jpg
        
        That’s right, the twist ending is “AAUGH!!”
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620862876 Bob Brinkman
    
    Whew….thanks. I thought Boingboing just served up a major spoiler…
- malindrome
  
  There’s a new season of Breaking Bad? And it’s shocking? Thanks a lot, BoingBoing!
- Thad Boyd
  
  You…haven’t been watching the news for a few days, have you?
http://twitter.com/stonechiper stonechiper

I read this issue last week, so it’s an unfortunate headline in retrospect, but I think pulling it now gives the impression that this horrible tragedy is linked to the fact that it was during a showing of Batman, and not because some person was deranged and shot up a movie theater, regardless of the film that was playing
- peregrinus
  
  But he didn’t just choose any old movie did he? I don’t think the film itself can be blamed, but he did choose this one, maybe for all the crash-bang sound which he knew would confuse everyone when he started shooting, and maybe for other reasons (disaffected evil genius scientist character, anyone?).
  
  Yes, the headline is only unfortunate in retrospect. I think it demonstrates how modern language is imbued with sensationalistic references that can end up being regrettable.
  - nvlady
    
    Its not the movie in the least. I feel he chose it because it was an opening night, crowded, and sold out. The most people in the smallest space.
    - SomeGuyNamedMark
      
      He connected himself to the movie:
      
      http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/aurora-dark-knight-suspect-joker-cops/story?id=16822251#.UA15sqCrjTo
      - Thad Boyd
        
        So they say. I’m taking that with a grain of salt until it’s reported by a named source who is actually connected to the case in some way. (So far I’ve seen it attributed to anonymous sources and someone affiliated with the NYPD, which last I checked does not operate in Colorado.)
        
        That said, whether or not he deliberately set out to imitate a Batman villain, he certainly tapped into that archetype.
  - SomeGuyNamedMark
    
    He identified himself to police a first as “The Joker” so it looks like the movie wasn’t picked just for noise reasons.
    - Thad Boyd
      
      Again, I’ve yet to see any evidence of that from a reliable source. It fits a media narrative, but until I see it attributed to someone besides “sources familiar with the matter” I will remain skeptical.
      
      Doesn’t mean that he didn’t, but it certainly doesn’t mean that he did.
Kibo

If you want a nice clean version without the barcode in the corner, there’s a picture on their website:

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:1216,00.html
- http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux
  
  It’s in focus, too.