If The Keeper may be allowed yet another musical conceit, Batman: The Cult is the Stone Temple Pilots to The Dark Knight Returns’ Nirvana.

Namely, a professionally executed simulation of an inspired act that influenced (for better and worse) a generation of grim ‘n’ gloomy successors. (Which makes Spider-Man: Reign the comic-book equivalent of Nickleback, but we digress …)

A cursory look at the Jim Starlin/Berni Wrightson mini-series reveals a host of Frank Miller-esque tropes: the media talking heads, noir-styled first-person narration and page layouts that mirror the protagonist’s mental state.

However, Starlin and Wrightson - who by our estimation easily equal the sainted Miller in talent and achievements - use the Dark Knight’s then cutting-edge approach to tell a unique story: Batman’s utter defeat - and eventual redemption against - a foe with an even-stronger will and an obviously evil moniker, Deacon Blackfire.

(OK, that may not seem so unique now after the countless Knightfalls and Infinite Crises the Caped Crusader has endured. But back in the late ’80s Batman: The Cult was a pretty big deal.)

Of course, once Batman gets back on his feet - with the aid of a surprisingly competent Jason Todd, we might add - he comes back for Blackfire’s head on a stick.

HARD. CORE.

Of course, there’s a catch. The villainous cult hopes to achieve martyrdom by dying at the Dark Knight’s hands!

Batman, however, decides upon a different course of action: a religious protest. Instead posting a written treatise on a church door, though, the Caped Crusader delivers his message by pounding his fists into Blackfire’s face.

Repeatedly.

The result? Well, let’s just say Deacon Blackfire’s career as an evil messiah didn’t really extend beyond the last page of the four-issue mini-series.

Hmmm … you know between The Cult and those classic Warlock stories from the ’70s, it seems Jim Starlin likes to see super-heroes bit the #$%^ out of entire religions. Guy must have spent his childhood at the same Catholic school your humble - and eternally scarred - host attended.