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I used to be addicted to crystal meth, now I'm just addicted to Breaking Bad.

I've never really been a big fan of the Batman comics all these years but I have to say, I've really been enjoying the Bat-books since Batman's death.
Battle for the Cowl wasn't bad and the new Batman & Robin (with Dick and Damien) looks like it might be interesting enough to keep me reading as well as the new Red Robin series (with Tim).



Also, the Gotham City Sirens seems like it might be worth checking out later this month.





One of the single best scenes of ownage I've seen recently had to be in this week's The Flash: Rebirth...



In the Marvel side of comics, I'm completely hooked on the Dark Avengers.
I hate Hate HATE Norman Osborn and him being in control of practically everything, but by damn, I love this series.
I do hope when all is said and done though, that it's Spidey who finally takes him down.
It's just a matter of time really, but Osborn will eventually snap and the world will see him for the villain he is.
I'd also love to see Ares and Sentry take out the rest of the team when the time comes.



I think they're stepping Ares up to the job slowly lately.
I've really been liking him more in Dark Avengers than when he was in Mighty Avengers.

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Fear the Probe!

Proof vol. 1: Goatsucker (#1-5, Oct. 2007 – March 2008, Alex Grecian, Riley Rossmo)

Proof is why I love comics, let me just say that now. Yes, The Punisher was the comic that drew me to the shops and made Wednesday exciting but this is why I think people should read more comics.
Why do I love it, you ask in your oh-so-anticipated voice, It’s easy Alex Grecian does what basically no writer (of any comic I’ve read) has done before. He mixed a little bit of action, drama, humor, folklore (which he delightfully re-imagines,) and even a little bit of history. Making this a book that’s well-worth a spot on your hold list.

Along with that he gives every character their time on the page. Sure, the book is called Proof, but he doesn’t appear for the first 9 pages, and the last 30. Ginger’s story is just as important as Elvis’ which is just as important as Proof’s.

Even, after all that, Grecian still makes time for what I dub Kirkman style writing. This basically means that everything isn’t resolved in the trade paperback and they aren’t really story arcs, per say, they are just chapters in the characters life. (Ex. Walking Dead, and Invincible) He leaves a lot of things unresolved, so you nearly HAVE to pick up Vol. 2, (an action I recommend)

The stories, if you haven’t heard (probably not, it’s a small comic) Proof is basically about John Prufrock, or Proof as his friends call him. He’s a Bigfoot in search of someone else in his species. Ginger Brown is a “hero cop” since she saved a lot of hostages, only she didn’t do it, the Josefov Golem did it, she’s now Proof’s partner. Sherriff Elvis Chestnut was a small town sheriff, before, SPOILER his mom was killed by a Chupacabra (now wearing her skin) END SPOILER.

They all work for the Lodge, funded by both the US and Canada’s government, the Lodge holds a lot of “Cryptids” which are animals that haven’t been scientifically proven, but people have said they saw them. Proof and Ginger go off to check out these eye-witnesses and catch any new cryptids.

Riley Rossmo draws these cryptids among other things as closely as possible to real-life accounts, while letting his own style flow. That’s a very good thing to do, because just the look of these things in real life are good enough but with his added gritty style makes the art very good, sometimes his coloring isn’t. I can see maybe why he did the coloring that way at times, I just didn’t like it.

Still, Proof is an AWESOME book that you should defiantly read.

Rating: +

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Starting a review is one of the hardest things to do. Do I say what drew me to this book? Which was, countless recommendations, and written by Alan-freakin-Moore. Do I start with whether I like it or not? I loved it. Long-time member, Sir Toose and actually a good reviewer, Meatwadsprite once said that reviews are either made to convince people who didn’t like it, why they should like it (or vice versa) or to convince people to see it or not.

So why should you read and like this classic Joker tale? The first thing that shouts out to my mind is the theme of the story. The theme being “One bad night” can drive you insane. Which I think is true, Batman-wise, it’s been proven. The night that The Joker fell into a bunch of chemicals, turning his skin white and his hair green, turned him insane. The night that Bruce Wayne’s mother and father was killed, turned him arguably insane. The night Sal Maroni threw chemicals on half of Dent’s face, turned him insane. While that’s not always true (Gordon doesn’t go insane after this, neither does Barbra) it’s certainly a very great, and entertaining theme.

I’ve never actually been a big fan of Alan Moore. All I’ve read was Watchmen, and I mean yeah I liked it, it just wasn’t the greatest thing ever. Neither is this, but stories better then TKJ aren’t a lot better. A great nod goes to the moment of Barbra being shot. You might make the argument that this was just a “throw away” plot point in the story. That’s what makes The Joker a great villain, he’ll cripple a girl, just for part of a plan. Just like how he murdered people to cover up a motive. He’s the true definition of a psychopath, and Alan Moore has a great handle on him.

You can see this, in their last (and kind of first) conversation here. They really aren’t that different, they laugh at the same jokes, get into costumes, and hurt people, even if the intent isn’t the same. I loved seeing them have conversations and really spilling their feelings for one another. Plus, I loved how they described The Joker’s “origin” only, it may or may not be it, even The Joker lies to himself.

Brian Bolland, whose name I’ve never heard of outside of this, does follow up great on this. His Joker design is great. His facial expressions, are so energetic, and constantly changing, that you never get two pages next to each other where he stays in the same place, it really brings the character to life. I also liked that The Joker was even smiling during the fight, showing, that he just loves to fight the bat. It was enjoyable even if the Batmobile does kind of look like a penis.

The only real flaw in this is his coloring. It’s completely re-done for this deluxe edition, and I don’t really know what the original looked like, but this coloring was just okay. I liked that they did the “flashbacks” in black and white, the only thing I didn’t like about that was, he chose weird things to color in those “flashbacks”. Also, that Joker panel with the HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (don’t act like you don’t know which one that is,) looked better in color.

If you’re a fan of Batman, and haven’t read this, you’re really not a true fan. Get this to see what comics can really be like.

Recently read Volumes 5 through 7 of Y: The Last Man. Really makes me want to find the rest.

Let me start by saying that Bruce Wayne is the only Batman, ever to me. This whole new Dick Grayson and Damian thing just isn’t working out. Bruce Wayne, I love how he also had to manage a busy playboy life beyond the Bat lifestyle, Dick doesn’t have that responsibility. That’s why I’m not really reading the bat books now except for Batman Confidential.


This was an okay arc. I loved how the Bat Wing was turned against him. Plus, seeing Alfred in action for one page was fun. I must say though, they made this almost too advanced technology wise. I’m willing to accept the Bat Wing flying around the city, undetected by police when it goes into Wayne’s place, and how Batman gets bats to follow him to evade radar. There are a couple of things that just went to “out there” like, to not spoil it, it’s that Batman gets hurt but doesn’t say “OW” or something along those lines. That’s what I liked about Year One. When Wayne got hurt, he said “OW” and such. Plus, the battle at the end, just makes him seem to much like Superman.

Also, the art wasn’t very good. His facial expressions weren’t very good and a lot of the times the character designs were to small.

Rating: 2.5/5 If you like Superman stories, you’ll like this.


This is the best Confidential story arc. I’ll say that now and get that out of the way. I love stories with villains, become supervillians. One of the books I love called “Invincible” got this right. We meet the man BEFORE he put on the mask or deformation took place. This was Batman’s first encounter with Joker (in this book,) and his transformation took a big part in the story. I love when books do that.

Also, giving the Joker a definitive origin (in this book anyway,) was a BIG risk. I mean sure this story will amount to nothing in the other books, since it’s not canon because it takes place in the past and changes a lot, but it could still tick a lot of fans off. It really didn’t make me feel for The Joker as much as something, say The Killing Joke, but this origin was still very good.

Plus, Michael played up the whole Bruce Wayne's social life struggles, angle of the story, and we show just how far he'll go to catch criminals.
The only bad thing, again was the art. The facial expressions again were off again and there were a lot of stray black lines annoyed me and I'm not sure why they were there.

Grade: 3.7/5 Too good to say 3.5 but not good enough to give it the full 4/5


The problem with this comic is that it’s already been told. I’ve already seen people dress up as a hero and do bad things. That story was in The Punisher, and ya know what, they did it better. Still, this was kind of a fun ride. Predictable, but fun. I must note though that Tony does do something weird, by having this book go about 20 years ahead from the last arc.

I did like Ralph Morales' art though. I've always been a fan of the really straight lined, more realistic looking, like Dale Eaglesham from JSA.

P.S. I still think Nightwing looks funny.

Rating: 3/5 Just okay, I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it but if you like Batman you won’t be disappointed.


Do you guys know the first step of making a great hero or villain? At least in the case for me, it’s the origin, and Batgirl’s origin isn’t to good. There’s no real hook to it, it's just "oh I can't become a cop but want to beat up criminals, I know, I'll become a bat!" Bruce, hell even Dick have better reasons to do what they do than that.

This was a real change of pace though, no one died, there were little fights but nothing where people get freakin’ insinigrated, or a madmen running around murdering a lot of people, or robot armies killing militaries, it was about getting back a notebook. It was nice for a little “phew” from heavy handed stories.

The two things really wrong with it, was that he wrote Batman as a complete and total ******* who didn’t care about anyone else really besides himself. Plus, Batgirl’s a freaking brat who could have messed up bad, just out of her “curiosity”.

I did like the very clean art again. I also liked that outside of the nudist club it wasn't to sexualized.

Rating: 2.5/5



The problem with this book, is also what drove me to this book, that problem being continuity. Now, I can’t STAND when one title goes to another title and you have to read like three titles to keep going with a story of one of your favorite characters (Cough All those damn Batman books, cough) but when you’re changing the past you set up in the SAME FREAKIN’ BOOK NOT EVEN A YEAR BEFOREHAND, I get a little bugged. Now Lovers & Madmen, The Joker’s and Batman’s first encounter in BC was a great origin for him and I personally loved it. Andrew Kreisberg changed it though! It was just lazy as in “Oh f**k what happened before, I’m changing it.

Another thing Kreisberg did wrong was he just made it unbelievable. I’m all willing to suspend belief buy a lot of his kills at the end have about 0 chance of ever happening and even a man like The Joker couldn’t believably plan for it.

Continuity and believability aside, Kreisberg does have a very nice handle on the character of The Joker as a deranged psycho. And, I really like how one of the cops go insane (trying to avoid spoilers) it was a nice little what if The Killing Joke’s plan had worked on Gordon and I enjoyed it, and it does come up again in another arc.

McDaniel’s art is okay. Nothing wowed me like say Brian Bolland (WOW I gotta quit mentioning The Killing Joke) it was way to blocky for my tastes. Also, I don’t know why the colorist I.L.L. did all the outside shots with a red tint to them? It didn’t make a lick of sense.

Rating: 2.3/5 Too good to say 2 and not good enough to say 2.5.


I loved this arc, I’m pretty sure this beats out every other arc in BC art-wise at least. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (that’s a mouthful) is a true talent, and even though I haven’t seen anything besides this, I’ll defiantly be seeking out more.

The writing was pretty good I loved the take on the Riddler and actually making him a good villain. I’ve never really been a fan before this but as you all probably know by now, I’m a fan of heroes (or at least in this case help solve a case) who have done kind of bad stuff (steal a lot of stuff in this case.) I liked how he didn’t care at all about the victim and such, he just hated the guy for stealing his M.O.

Although, I didn’t entirely get the whole “robbery” aspect of it, I mean it didn’t really amount to much. Oh well the end hints at another arc and I’d welcome it if the same team returned.

Rating: 4/5



Rating: 3.5/5 Look it’s literally 2 issues long, it’s not a long read and you could just jump on here. It’s worth the about $8.

Preacher is a series that has been on my to-read list for a long time and I finally decided to go ahead and buy the first volume (out of nine).

All in all, I was rather impressed. The artwork was rather smooth (even if the titular preacher looked a little hard to take seriously), but I liked the interesting story that certainly has me wondering exactly what's in store over the course of the next eight volumes. Not to mention, I just love the blacker-than-black streak running through it - it's so nihilistic it makes Watchmen seem like Calvin and Hobbes.




Too ridiculous and intriguing not to buy - however, definitely rather lacking.

I just ordered Marvel Masterworks Fantastic four Vol. 1. Next on my list are Silver surfer vol 1., and Jack Kirby's Fourth world omnibus.

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...uh the post is up there...

Got to the 4th issue but I'm gonna give it up. I like the drawing but the writing is pretty standard.

I'm in need of some smart adult comics.

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http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

InfreakinVincible, I'm telling you you'll love it.

I dug up my copy of Hate vol. 1 by Peter Bagge to lend my girlfriend (she asked for some good comics) and read it again. Man, I'm so glad, just like catching up with an old friend from my teenage years and being surprised to find that they're still really cool.

funny, funny, funny, the writing and the art are both excellent (I prefer Bagge's Black and white stuff, in which the inking really shows off), I can laugh just looking at his characters' expressions but they're also just very real characters. Later on in the series Buddy and Lisa kind of remind me of my parents.

I'm reading Nextwave and man, this ***** is fun!

The first volume of Preacher was certainly a stunner, enough to make me question whether subsequent volumes would live up to the standards it set. Not only did this issue live up to those standards, it surpassed them. I can't help but think that the more of Preacher I read, the more impressed I'm going to be.

Here's the thing about Kirkman, he takes some time to get into fully but the payoff is huge. Read at least until issue 12, don't just give up after 4 issues.

Batman: Dark Victory, come on Dick Grayson was bad ass in comics compared to the horrible movie version

I was thinking non-superhero graphic novels such as:




The bottom two I can't recommend enough. Chunky Rice is by far the most beautiful looking graphic novel I've read and both have been the most gripping reads since I dunno, Maus and Y...
I think we have very different tastes in this medium but if I run out of things to read, I may come back to it one day...