Duke Thomas: The Signal Appreciation 2020

[lemonpeace]

here's the final draft of the Duke piece I had commissioned



The Signal (Duke Thomas) GOTHAM, 2031

here's the final product of the Duke piece I had commissioned. The idea is it’s Duke a little over 10 years from now, he’s in his late 20s to early 30s and is operating at the peak of his ability as a superhero. The artist is Nathan Skaggs, he’s a cool guy, cool to work with, go check him out!

[Restingvoice]

here's the final draft of the duke piece i had commissioned



the signal (duke thomas) gotham, 2031

that's awesome!

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

here's the final draft of the Duke piece I had commissioned



The Signal (Duke Thomas) GOTHAM, 2031

It looks great

[lemonpeace]

hype tweet for Duke from Jackson Lanzing (one of the writers for his Tales from the Dark Multiverse story)

[Sergard]

hype tweet for Duke from Jackson Lanzing (one of the writers for his Tales from the Dark Multiverse story)

That's good news because Duke Thomas is the only reason why I want to buy the story.

[J. D. Guy]

https://www.cbr.com/batman-bat-family-best-detectives/

And of course they didn't include The Signal there...

[lemonpeace]

Duke fan art with some Spider-Man/Nightwing vibes. I wouldn't mind if they went that route one day, with his powers he could pull it off pretty convincingly. make him able to use his shadows like tendrils or Deku's black whip ability from My Hero



and then use his photokinetic sight as a spider-sense + all the other dope **** he can do with it? BOOM DC Sunshine Spider-Man

https://www.cbr.com/batman-bat-family-best-detectives/

And of course they didn't include The Signal there...

I saw that story, didn't even read it; I saw it was a batfamily story but it didn't include Duke and just left it. I'm not surprised tho. on the bright side we're about to get Duke next week in Outsiders finale (not that he's used all that well, but he's there) and then he's in Robin King the week after next iirc.

[J. D. Guy]

Duke fan art with some Spider-Man/Nightwing vibes. I wouldn't mind if they went that route one day, with his powers he could pull it off pretty convincingly. make him able to use his shadows like tendrils or Deku's black whip ability from My Hero


and then use his photokinetic sight as a spider-sense + all the other dope **** he can do with it? BOOM DC Sunshine Spider-Man



I saw that story, didn't even read it; I saw it was a batfamily story but it didn't include Duke and just left it. I'm not surprised tho. on the bright side we're about to get Duke next week in Outsiders finale (not that he's used all that well, but he's there) and then he's in Robin King the week after next iirc.

A take on Duke that emphasizes his potential as an acrobat, making full use his powers to do so, looks like it'd be super cool to explore. That's actually a real good use of imagination. Plus, the fanart looks cool! Nice find!

True on everything else, too.

[lemonpeace]

from Batman and the Outsiders #17, this run has been.....something

[J. D. Guy]

Indeed it has.

[Restingvoice]

Duke fan art with some Spider-Man/Nightwing vibes. I wouldn't mind if they went that route one day, with his powers he could pull it off pretty convincingly. make him able to use his shadows like tendrils or Deku's black whip ability from My Hero



and then use his photokinetic sight as a spider-sense + all the other dope **** he can do with it? BOOM DC Sunshine Spider-Man



I saw that story, didn't even read it; I saw it was a batfamily story but it didn't include Duke and just left it. I'm not surprised tho. on the bright side we're about to get Duke next week in Outsiders finale (not that he's used all that well, but he's there) and then he's in Robin King the week after next iirc.

I like that. The costume feels more simple and the yellow will differentiate him from Nightwing enough.

[lemonpeace]

Duke's light powers are back, confirming his photokinesis and umbrakinesis worth in tandem. I feel this conversation should have been had issues ago. In fact, I can tell you exactly when it should've been had; Duke and Shiva should've had this conversation in issue 14, instead of wasting it on a forgettable scene where him, Katana, Cass, and Shiva sitting around talking about what they are about to do and continue this weird pointless antagonize between Katana and Shiva.



this scene wasn't anything of substance in the grand scheme of things anyway. they should've had this conversation in it's place and then SHOW US Duke using both his light and shadow powers the in next TWO INSTANCES they had him use the shadow powers in the same ineffective way they've had him using it the entire run. come on dude! that way in the scene between Duke and Katana, where Tatsu asked him what Shiva taught him, would've made scene and Duke would've actually had something to say or show instead of more empty derivative dialogue.



thats what's getting to me, this run is always almost something special but it's little **** like this that throws it off. they have a great team roster, they keep them separate and them break up the team at the end. they have Duke get some character development, but he doesn't behave like himself or reference anything from the character's past. then I keep running into people who say "Oh man, Outsiders finally made me care about Duke Thomas" and it really blows my mind. like, did they actually read anything with Duke in it? or were they just people who saw this new kid next to Batman one time and immediately vowed to not read or care about him until just now; because I just can't see how you could have read Duke in We are Robin, All-Star Batman, or Batman and the Signal (maybe BaTS depending on the context going in, not gonna lie) and say that this book did a better job fleshing Duke out as a character than any of those.

[Restingvoice]

thats what's getting to me, this run is always almost something special but it's little **** like this that throws it off. they have a great team roster, they keep them separate and them break up the team at the end. they have Duke get some character development, but he doesn't behave like himself or reference anything from the character's past. then I keep running into people who say "Oh man, Outsiders finally made me care about Duke Thomas" and it really blows my mind. like, did they actually read anything with Duke in it? or were they just people who saw this new kid next to Batman one time and immediately vowed to not read or care about him until just now; because I just can't see how you could have read Duke in We are Robin, All-Star Batman, or Batman and the Signal (maybe BaTS depending on the context going in, not gonna lie) and say that this book did a better job fleshing Duke out as a character than any of those.

How much someone cares about a character can be based on personality, behavior, character role or how he's used in the story, and his relation to the family. So maybe it's not about better writing, they just don't like how Duke is written in those early stories but they do now. Since I haven't read it yet, is there any significant change in any of those from the earliest stories to now? Something they do now to Duke that they didn't do back then?

[J. D. Guy]

How much someone cares about a character can be based on personality, behavior, character role or how he's used in the story, and his relation to the family. So maybe it's not about better writing, they just don't like how Duke is written in those early stories but they do now. Since I haven't read it yet, is there any significant change in any of those from the earliest stories to now? Something they do now to Duke that they didn't do back then?

The issue I have with giving any credence to this supposition is that, speaking bluntly, Duke was never written in Batman and the Outsiders at all. All of his other points — from his bit in Zero Year, to his reintro in Endgame, to his official introduction and foundational building in We Are Robin, to what he pulled off in Synder's Superheavy storyline in the mainline Batman book, to his rebirth in All-Star Batman that leads into Batman and the Signal — all of these takes have weight and significance for Duke Thomas. And while there are some differences here and there, a continuing reader who is following Duke Thomas can very much get a sense of continuation and progression regarding the character of Duke Thomas from these works in the order I referred to them in. Hill paid no attention to anything of this. Instead, he punked The Signal first chance he got to show the threat of someone else, and then by and large just played lukewarm with the character, never really shelving them but never actually using them either. There was much lack of honesty and earnestness when it came to Hill's handling of Duke, and it began when he wrote Duke without ever considering his past, as if Duke never had a past before Bryan Edward Hill came along.

So the point I'm trying to make is that anyone who would say they preferred Hill's take on Duke over any prior take is saying they'd prefer a character who is not actually Duke Thomas/The Signal. Because that wasn't who Hill wrote. He wasn't actually writing for Duke. In this way, such a thing would come off as a bad-faith read from a person/people who never had any inclination to care for who Duke/The Signal is, was, and could be based on where he'd actually been. It's somewhere spanning the realms of being disingenuous to being outright intellectually dishonest. And it wouldn't be worth giving the time of day to that thought.

[Korath]

I think that I can understand why some people would like Duke in BaTO. He's angry at first, gets cool dark powers and what not. But as J.D. says, the problem is that he also lacks his previous behavior. We know Duke isn't the deadliest fighter out there, nor the greatest detective, sure. He got ambushed in Batman and the Signal rather easily, he still has to master his powers and his fighting style needs to improve.

But despite all of this, he was chosen by Batman to be the sole bat operating during the day. That's what he should be doing. There is so much potential in exploring the daytime of Gotham with him ! Even his yellow costume is great. Can it get slicker, cooler? Yes, it could, the fan-art above prove it. But even as it is, it is great.

He got light and dark powers ? Great, he just needs to use them, and favorably more so the light ones, because they come in handy when doing detective stuff. No more explosion taking him by surprise when he should be able to literally see it coming well in advance, for instance!

And it doesn't mean he can't have setback, he can't have difficulties facing off some guys. The Null has monstrous powers obviously, so does most of the Juvie Arkham we saw in BatS. Just, fleshs out Duke and his daytime Gotham, for pete's sake !