YMMV / Batman and Robin Eternal

• Arc Fatigue: Tim and Jason's side story has left readers annoyed that the main plot has been derailed for an excursion whose main purpose is to just reintroduce Jean Paul Valley, and to beat readers on the head over how Tim is a computer nerd, and Jason likes guns.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Orphan, a.k.a. David Cain. Is he an irredeemable bastard who treated Cassandra poorly and thus doesn't deserved to be mourned? Or is he a tragic figure who only did what he did to appease Mother, even if it means subjecting his only daughter to a traumatic childhood, up to and including forcing her to act against her wishes because it may mean losing her permanently?
• Broken Base:
  • Some readers are displeased that Stephanie Brown's previous friendship with Cassandra has seemingly been put aside in favor of a Cassandra and Harper friendship. It doesn't help that Stephanie also referred to Cassandra as "barely a person". Other readers are happy to see Harper interact with more of the Batfamily.
  • Some feel Tim's rescue of Jason from Dumas' control, and Jason's following remark regarding their responsibility to family, comes off as more cheesy than Heartwarming. Others are just glad to finally see some sort of Character Development coming out of a character that hasn't had much of it in the New 52.
• Character Rerailment: Bane's reappearance in this series also seems to have been tailored to do this with those readers who felt the character was wasted in the previous volume.
  • Here, Jason and Tim run into a Bane without Venom or his army at his back, but he still manages to take on both of them, even crushing Jason's helmet using a batarang that Tim throws at him, only being talked down when Tim points a gun at him and starts negotiating for an alliance. Note that last bit; Bane thinks Tim's bluffing and Tim acknowledges that Bane's in control of the situation anyway. This is a far cry from the one dimensional use of Bane as a fighter in a robot suit.
  • Bane also talks about the history of Santa Prisca in a monologue that sprinkles in some bits of his Badass Boast and demonstrates that he's still Wicked Cultured for a barbaric warrior. He then shares some hilarious interactions with both Tim and Jason, making up for the wasted potential of his alliance with Alfred from Eternal.
• Fan Nickname: After Cullen received some quasi-mentoring from Midnighter during the last several issues, fans began to affectionately refer to them as "Baby Gay" and "Murder Gay", respectively.
• Fridge Brilliance: Dick's disguise in issue 1 makes him look amazingly like Clark Kent. And in the New 52 continuity, Dick still got the idea of Nightwing from Superman. Maybe Dick's taken some disguise tips from Clark.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Issue 1 features Dick, Jason & Tim working together to take down a cybernetically enhanced criminal. There's no animosity between them, and the few pieces of snark just comes off as brotherly teasing.
  • Later on, Jason talks to Dick about the importance of trust, and not leaving the others in the dark. Even Jason himself notes that this is out of character for him, especially considered the way he's written in his own series.
  • During Cassandra's time in The Nursery, she is always instructed to be free of emotion and never grow attached to anyone. Upon defecting and joining Batman, the two share Cassie's first real hug.
  • Damian revealing that Bruce's intent with the Robins was for them to be better than Batman rather than an army of child soldiers.
  • The last line of the series.
  Batman: Looks like a job for Batman & Robin.
  Grayson: Which one?
  Batman: All of them.
• I Knew It!: Once readers were shown a telepathic flashback of Cassandra murdering a woman in cold blood, it was quickly theorized that the victim was Harper Row's mother. They were later proved right.
• Les Yay: Harper and Cassandra at the Prague ballet. Harper compliments Cass on how well she looks in her dress, and later Cass clutches Harper's hand while in awe of the ballet performers. Much to the dismay of Stephanie Brown fans who miss the Les Yay between Cass and Steph. This is temporarily sunk though after the reveal that Cass was the one who killed Harper's mother; eventually she brings herself to be close to Cass again. Fortunately for Steph fans, Steph gets in on the Les Yay near the end of the series, albeit with Harper.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Sure, Harper's totally going to kill a tied-up and helpless Cass and turn to the dark side. This was especially egregious considering the official presentation of Rebirth, which confirmed that Cass would be a major player in Detective Comics, happened before the series was over.
• Squick: Poppy is shown cleansing herself of Spyral bugs and eating them.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: As the first canonical source she appears in the fact that Cass's eyes are once again changed from brown to blue has angered many of her fans. There are those who wish it was just a colouring error (unlikely as the cover of #3, at least, has her eyes coloured blue), while others have caught onto the But Not Too Foreign implications of giving a half-Asian character blue eyes instead of brown.^note Scientifically improbable, and even within a mixed-raced individual of European and Asian decent, blue eyes are still a recessive trait. Issue 4, however, depicted Cassie with brown eyes, so whether it's an attempt to fix the issue or general inconsistency has yet to be seen.
  • This has actively been acknowledged to have been a coloring error that wasn't caught by the editors, and will be fixed from issue four onwards, while the earlier issues will be fixed for the collected editions.
  • Cass' changed backstory and relationships with the Bat-Fam is also a point of contention among fans of her character, ''especially' fans of her friendship with Stephanie Brown.
  • Many fans find Cass taking up her father's name as Orphan to be in bad taste, as if they were wanting her to take up her pre-Flashpoint identity of Black Bat. It doesn't help that her father (similar to pre-New 52 continuity) used her as a tool up until the very end, and one act of kindness in the finale doesn't really make him deserving of being remembered so fondly. Oh, and there's just the people who think it's a horrible name when the Bat-family consists of lots of orphans, so it's really in bad taste.
• Win Back the Crowd: For readers who were heavily disappointed in Batman Eternal, there are a few promising signs:
  • A shorter length (26 issues rather than 52 issues), reducing the potential for Arc Fatigue. Snyder and Tynion have also talked about keeping a tighter focus on the story, and not having so many meandering subplots.
  • A talented cast of writers that include Tim Seeley, Genevieve Valentine, and Steve Orlando, among others. Having Tony Daniel as the lead artist also helps.
  • After the absence of Dick Grayson in Batman Eternal, fans are happy to see him take center stage, while bringing over elements from his critically acclaimed solo series. It also helps that Tim Seeley, one of the Grayson writers, is also on board.
  • Bringing back Batwoman to the main continuity in issue #23 after a six-month (real-world) absence is a smaller example.

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