Batman Eternal #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Snyder and Tynion answer some questions here, but, weirdly, they're not the questions that I thought were going to be answered.

The big reveal is that Carmine Falcone is the Rose (as I dubbed him in "Detective Comics" #30 [*] in homage to the Spider-Man villain).  Snyder, Tynion, and Fabok do a great job setting up this moment, having Falcone play with the roses on the Mayor's balcony during their conversation, making it clear that it's the guy from "Detective Comics" #30 with the rose on his t-shirt.  Given that he likely set Elena on fire in that issue, we've got a pretty clear idea here that he's a bad guy, particularly given how scared Mayor Hady is of him.  The question that Snyder and Tynion don't answer is why he's returned now, but I'm sure that we'll get there eventually.

(I'll note that one of the challenges of the New 52! is that I'm not 100-percent sure what we know about Falcone.  Last I knew, Catwoman thought that he was her biological father; the cat-like scars that he bears on his face in this issue -- and her horrified reaction to learning that it's him -- seem to imply that the events of "Batman:  Year One" happened, since she scarred him then.  But, Snyder and Tynion are going to have to confirm that, particularly given the somewhat competing story that Snyder is telling in "Zero Year."  Our only hint about his past is that Bruce says that he and Gordon ran Falcone from town.  However, in "Batman:  The Long Halloween," Two-Face killed him.  Again, those discrepancies will have to be addressed at some point.)

The question that doesn't get answered is how Falcone manipulated Gordon.  Snyder and Tynion clearly pin the blame on him, since Falcone makes clear the disdain that he has for Gordon and his desire for a more pliable Commissioner.  Batman seems to think that the toxin that Pyg sprayed on the children in the first issue could have altered Gordon's perceptions, though he thinks that such a scheme is beyond the Pyg.  (Maybe Falcone hired him to do it?)  But, no one seems focused on the fact that two trains were heading at one another at high speeds or that the electrical box that Gordon shot shouldn't have shorted out the rain controls.  I still just find this part difficult to believe.  Snyder does briefly introduce some sort of mysterious mind-controlling figure, which might explain a lot, but we'll see where it goes.

So, I'm a little happier with this series with the Carmine reveal (despite my New 52! questions), though I'd like this Gordon nonsense wrapped up soon.

*** (three of five stars)

[*]:  I added this footnote because I updated this part.  I originally said that I dubbed Falcone "the Rose" in the last issue, but he didn't appear in that issue; he actually appeared in "Detective Comics" #30, the same issue where Elena was burned.