From Cover To Cover

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

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

All New Collectors’ Edition #56: Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali
Neal Adams’ artwork demands that you enjoy it now the way you would have in 1978.
With Great Power, Yadda, Yadda, Yadda... thoughts on Jonathan Hickman and Macro Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1.
It’s the small changes that say the most about Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man.

Headlines

The Design of Absolute DC: Nick Dragotta on Building a Bigger (and Maybe Better) Batman - SKTCHD
DC is launching its new Absolute Universe this October, and a trio of titles in Absolute Batman, Absolute Wonder Woman, and Absolute Superman are leading the way. Each is an intriguing reimagining of those characters from strong creative teams, and a lot of digital ink has already been spilled about how these projects came together … Continued

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.

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

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

Reviews & Features

Review: The SCOTT PILGRIM 20TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET has arrived, and we have thoughts
The Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set has arrived, and we recently sat down to discuss this new edition along with the comic’s legacy.

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."

To Say Nothing of the Horse: Hagai Palevsky on KEN PARKER: THE BREATH AND THE DREAM - SOLRAD
Hagai Palevsky reviews THE BREATH AND THE DREAM, the first in a planned series of translations of the Italian KEN PARKER series of western comics by writer Giancarlo Berardi and artist Ivo Milazzo, published by Epicenter Comics

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.

Prophet and Loss: Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Terok Nor #0
By Leo Healy What’s this? Issue #0 of a licensed tie-in comic with two colons in the title? Several red flags there, it must be said, but let me explain. Let’s start at the beginning for the non-Tr…

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.

Moe’s in Love with a Manga Character - A Cautionary Tale for Obsessive Comics Fans in Olly Telling’s Debut Horror Comic – Broken Frontier
Olly telling presents a debut comics short with the horror story ‘Moe’s in love with a Manga Character’. Also on Tapas.

Looking at the pages for this comic on Tapas, you can see Olly Telling use the structure and architecture of comics to tell this story.

Underrated: Superman/Batman: World’s Finest - Graphic Policy
Underrated: Superman/Batman: World’s Finest

It's easy to rag on Jeph Loeb but this run of Superman/Batman was actually pretty solid in a don't-take-it-too-seriously kind of way.