Warning! Spoilers ahead for Robin #9
In the latest issue of DC Comics' Robin, Batman's son Damian Wayne is bout to embark on a time travel team-up of epic proportions. Having been a contestant in the supernatural Lazarus Tournament against some of the DC Universe's greatest fighters, Damian discovered the truth behind the League of Lazarus and their leader Mother Soul, revealed to be Damian's great-grandmother. Now, after uniting the tournament's fighters against the League, Damian finds himself face-to-face with a different family member hundreds of years before he was ever born.
In Robin #9 from writer Joshua Williamson and artist Roger Cruz, Damian discovered that the true purpose of the Lazarus Tournament with all its battles and resurrections was not for the sole purpose of determining the best fighter in the DC Universe. Instead, the violent cycles of life being lost and returned provided the power the League needed to summon the true beast known as the Demon, a giant monster who threatened to burn the world with a cleansing fire. However, Robin rallies his former rivals and turns them into allies to defeat the Demon before it could be unleashed.
As a result, Damian's great-grandmother Mother Soul is furious that Robin foiled her League's plans in this new issue. In response, she elects to attack the son of Batman with her own magical fire. Rather than being burned Damian finds himself seemingly alone in a desert as part of a "lesson" Mother Soul wants him to learn. However, Robin soon finds himself face to face with none other than a young version of his grandfather. As a result, it looks as though Robin is about to begin a time-travel adventure with Ra's al Ghul himself.
Seeing as how Ra's al Ghul still has his wife by his side and intends to be a physician for a sultan, it looks as though this is Robin's grandfather before he even took the name "Ra's al Ghul." Furthermore, it looks as though Damian will get to observe the origins and birth of the Demon's Head in real-time, though it's also possible he'll be more than just a passive witness. Perhaps Robin is the reason Ra's al Ghul finds the Lazarus Pits in the first place, creating all sorts of paradoxical (yet entertaining) time loops?
In any case, it will be interesting to see what Robin will learn about his grandfather, as well as Mother Soul's intentions behind sending him back in time. What sort of lesson does she want her great-grandson to learn? Whatever it may be, Robin's imminent team-up with young Ra's al Ghul should prove to be a wild ride in the issues to come from DC Comics.