ICYMI: ‘Batman And Robin Eternal’ Is Going Full ’90s And It’s Great

Batman and Robin Eternal is a treasure. Weekly comics can be a pretty mixed bag, and I'll admit that I was a little leery of following up last year's Batman Eternal with another rapid-fire series so soon, but we're heading into the third month of this one and it's working really well. The tighter focus on Batman's family of sidekicks --- and the sheer number of Robins, Batgirls and even the occasional Bluebird that you can use to bounce the story around --- has made for a fast-paced, engaging adventure.

Oh and also, it's got the Order of St. Dumas and Bane, who debuts a new catchphrase in this week's issue. In case you missed it, Batman and Robin Eternal is going full '90s, and it's amazing.

If you haven't been keeping up, the main plot of the series centers on a sinister new villain called Mother, who offers billionaires the chance to purchase custom-made people. That usually means a suitably brainwashed trophy wife, but in Batman's case, his investigation as Bruce Wayne led her to offer him a made-to-order perfect sidekick --- and since Bruce isn't currently around to tell anybody that he didn't, the mystery of how that offer ended --- and why Dick Grayson and Tim Drake's names were found on a list of Mother's clients --- has sent the former Robins on a globe-trotting adventure to check things out.

That's the broad strokes, but in #9, by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Roge Antonio, the trail leads to Santa Prisca, which those of you familiar with 1994's seemingly endless Knightfall crossover might remember as the home country of everyone's favorite back-breaking luchador supervillain, Bane. To make matters worse, Santa Prisca is apparently undergoing a religious takeover courtesy of the secretive Order of St. Dumas, who have literally built a crystal cathedral on top of the super-prison that turned Bane into the monstrous mercenary that he is today. And, well, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, because you really ought to be reading this thing, but if you've got a story that has Bane and the Order of St. Dumas, you can probably guess who shows up on the last page.

That in itself is awesome, but it pales in comparison to another new addition to the story: Bane's new catchphrase, said in response to Jason Todd claiming that "men can be killed."

Seriously. That book's a treasure.