Batman: Detective Comics #2 and Swamp Thing #2

What can I say, I read two tonight and tha was it, so I figured I'd give you a taste of both of them.

Detective Comics continues to amaze me with a Batman who is the way he should be. Tough as nails, but still able to be surprised by the criminally insane that call Gotham home. Joker has had his face sliced off (at least the skin) as seen last night, and it's driving everyone crazy trying to figure out what's going on, especially Batman. Is the Joker dead? No one knows and I'm not sure this issue answered the question yet, but this new villain, Dollmaker, creeps me out even more than the Joker ever did. I'm thinking that's the Joker with him on the third to last page of the story in the creepier than usual jester get up. Batman is still fighting for all he's worth the way you expect him to, but Dollmaker and what I can only imagine are his human dolls don't fight fair and want to add Batman to the list of victims. I'm still recommending this comic. It's Batman the way he should be. Tony S. Daniel and Ryan Winn are doing an excellent job with the story and the art. And I'm really loving the new looks of the vehicles, not completely redesigned, but like many of the costumes, redesigned just enough to give them a new edge and a modernized look (or futuristic look as may be the case with some of the Bat-vehicles).
The story in this arc continues to be disturbing and engrossing. And, I'm still not really sure where it's going to end. I hope Batman wins, but at this point, I'd say I'm not sure and it's obvious with this issue that the gloves are off and major characters aren't necessarily considered hands off anymore in the DCnU.
If you haven't tried this comic yet, you're missing out on a great Batman story.

Swamp Thing is a title I wasn't sure I was going to like. The Swamp Thing is one of those characters that I think people usually love or hate. I always liked the concept of the character, but I never enjoyed what they did with the character, even as recently as in Brightest Day and its aftermath title, The Search for Swamp Thing. This new series has surpised me at every turn so far though. The first issue left me wondering why Alec Holland wasn't the Swamp Thing since this was the relaunch and that's what I expected to be the case. Instead he was working construction with these past memories of the Swamp Thing and no real understanding of it all other than he was finished with it. At the end of the first issue, a Swamp Thing shows up. Issue 2 reveals that this is not the Swamp Thing we're used to, but a previous Swamp Thing who's human host has died already and is now a husk of his former self. We learn that Alec Holland is not the Swamp Thing right now because he has yet to have actually become the Swamp Thing. It seems that the original origin from when Holland's lab blew up and he died and then became the Swamp Thing wasn't really him becoming the Swamp Thing, but a simulacrum of him that the Green decided to create to make the newest Swamp Thing because Holland is supposed to be the greatest hero of the Green yet. The fact that Holland's consciousness was never really in the Swamp Thing kept it from reaching the full potential of Swamp Thing or from being probably restrained by a human conscience. The truth is that the accident in which the lab blew up did not make Alec Holland the Swamp Thing, but kept him from becoming the Swamp Thing.
Now there is a second chance with Alec Holland alive again for the green to make him into the Swamp Thing. And they need him to be the Swamp Thing because their greatest enemy is coming for them with no less desire than to destroy the world as we know it and remake it a place of death and plague.
Scott Snyder is writing a great story about the Swamp Thing, and it's a story that I want to keep reading. The artwork by Yanick Paquette is exceptional and works well for the tone of this character and story. I have to say I'm loving this book, and anyone who loves the Swamp Thing will love it. I also think if you used to hate the Swamp Thing, it's time to give him another chance; this story may change your mind about him. I can't wait to see what happens in issue 3 given the cliffhanger in this issue.

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for reading.