As you can piece together from the subject line, writer Peter David is accused of spoiling the end of Alpha Flight #12 in which Guardian dies (for the first time). Read the full report on that claim over at Comic Book Resources.
...retailers at the get together had no idea that the sequence actually indicated that Guardian really died. I know this because when John showed up at the get-together, he looked at the material, screamed at me at the top of his lungs, “How could you be showing this to retailers?!? It gives away the fact that Guardian dies!” and stormed out of the room, slowing only long enough to kick over a standing ashtray on his way out. At which point stunned retailers said, “Guardian DIES?,” started looking at the xeroxes again, and were muttering, “I thought it was just a dream sequence…”Oh, look, there's another report of John Byrne acting like a complete jackass.
Being that this was before social media, and the moment remains iconic in Marvel history, I think it's safe to say that any concern about "spoilers" was ultimately unfounded.
The surprise death's importance is not based on my personal opinion as a fan of this character, I might add. Comic Book Resources themselves named it the 75th Most Memorable Moment in the publisher's history, behind the death of Captain George Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #90 (and further behind still to "Frog Thor", so draw your own conclusions).
My recollection at the time (bearing in mind I was barely a teenager then) was that most folks thought Northstar would buy it. It seemed unnecessary for the team to have two characters with the same abilities and his sister Aurora was considered the more interesting of the two.
To the best of my knowledge, regardless of what may have been handed out at conventions or any other event, Guardian's demise took the greater majority of folks by surprise, as intended.
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