Dragotta’s Batman, Kirby Commerials, Scott Pilgrim and more— Comic Bookmarks- September 22, 2024

Scott Cederlund

Sep 22, 2024 — 5 min read

Cover to Love and Rockets #50 (1996)

It's been a few weeks as I've taken a brief break from the site so now it feels like having to get back to using some muscles that have already been forgotten a bit. And maybe it's just that it's the end of the summer but happenings around the internet feel very light even after being gone for a couple of weeks.

So let's just dive into it and take a look at a few of the things that we've looked at since our break started.

Headlines

I don't know how but all of the hype around these Absolute comics has worked on my and I've ended up adding them to my pull list. I don't know if I need another Scott Snyder Batman comic in my life but I would like a Nick Dragotta one. And reading about Nick Dragotta's process of designing a new Batman is part of that hype but it's nice to undestand some of the thought that's going into this new version of an old character.

Google and Microsoft recently admitted their emissions are soaring as they build data centers to power AI.

But analysis from The Guardian suggests the data center emissions of Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple are 662% higher than they’re reporting. https://t.co/IXoYFAP6Rw
— Paris Marx (@parismarx) September 16, 2024

This isn't necessarily comic related but as we live more and more in a digital culture, I think we need to understand all of the impacts of that including the climate impacts.

The Funny Pages

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A post shared by Whit Taylor (@whitltaylor)

New Whit Taylor books coming soon? Just what I've been waiting for.

A few more 1980s Crest commercials, designed by The One and only JACK KIRBY co-creator of almost every Marvel superhero you can think of! pic.twitter.com/G8bCLm75ic
— Hollywood Horror Museum (@horrormuseum) September 19, 2024

Reviews & Features

Scott Pilgrim is one of the best comics of this century but is also such a relic of the time it was created. Both things can be true. I've got the original b/w books plus the 3-volume color set from a handful of years ago so I'm not jumping out to get yet another set of these but Zack Quaintance and Samantha Puc's rundown of this new set makes me slightly question my resolve not to get another set of these books. Once they talk about the story, I do wonder how we'll continue to discuss older works that reflect the attitudes and language of their time in our more culturally conservative era. Yes, there are things in the series that are cringy now but it would be really glossing over them by just saying "wow, I wish these weren't there."

Hagai Palevsky's look at these wordless westerns is a fascinating look at how these kinds of stories can function and also a look at how these kinds of works can fail.

I just really appreciate where Shelfdust is willing to go and what they're willing to cover. Leo Healy's look at an old, obscure Star Trek comic is a good reminder about the little-seen corners of comics.