Duke Thomas: The Signal Appreciation 2020

[lemonpeace]

I just had an idea for Duke's shadow powers, seeing as well still have no definition for what they can do. what if Duke could manipulate the negative space within his shadow? I was thinking about it, Duke's light powers augment his perception, he can see the future and even slow down (or would it be speed up?) his perception to see objects moving in slow-motion (as we saw he did with the throwing knives in BaTS). So his shadow, the inverse, he's affecting the spatial perception of others. so instead of seeing the ghost of a given area, he can manipulate the. negative space between him and a given object so long as it falls in the area of his shadow. so let's say he's getting shot at, he can speed up his perception so he can see the bullet coming then extend his shadow to "catch" the bullet by increasing the negative space between him and the bullet so it never actually reaches him. I loosely based the idea from Jujutsu Kaisen, everytime I see a character with eye powers now my mind goes "hmmm how could this be used for Duke" LOL

[lemonpeace]

Robin King drops tomorrow! I'm hyped to see what's Duke story is gonna be. it says the Robins are trying to re-take Gotham, maybe a We are Robin reunion?

[J. D. Guy]

Would be sweet if it was!

[J. D. Guy]

Just re-realized that Tony Patrick is one of the writers of Robin King!

[J. D. Guy]

https://www.cbr.com/dark-nights-deat...-robin-king-1/

[lemonpeace]

https://www.cbr.com/dark-nights-deat...-robin-king-1/

"the weakest link on every team" i may be reading into this but, a little jab at Hill's Outsiders?

it's great to see Tony Patrick back on Duke, you can FEEL the difference. it's nice to see Duke thinking things through, throwing out quips, THAT'S his character. i could never quite think of what was missing from Hill's Duke that made him feel so off, and it's little stuff like that.

[J. D. Guy]

"the weakest link on every team" i may be reading into this but, a little jab at Hill's Outsiders?

it's great to see Tony Patrick back on Duke, you can FEEL the difference. it's nice to see Duke thinking things through, throwing out quips, THAT'S his character. i could never quite think of what was missing from Hill's Duke that made him feel so off, and it's little stuff like that.

If that ain't intentional meta commentary, it definitely feels appropriate to imagine it was.

And yes, this Duke feels more lived-in. It helps we're getting his thoughts again. And I love how one of the first points is that even when the big guns come out to protect the known world, it's always up to number one to protect the home. That's the proactive, take-charge, unapologetic Duke that I fell in love with!

[Frontier]

Pointing out how ridiculous all the evil Batman's are .

[Tzigone]

Pointing out how ridiculous all the evil Batman's are .

Yes, but lampshading doesn't help if they don't stop. No more evil versions of characters, please. Actually, I'd prefer no more alternate versions and no more heroes going evil. But it doesn't matter because none of those are going to stop.

[lemonpeace]

If that ain't intentional meta commentary, it definitely feels appropriate to imagine it was.

And yes, this Duke feels more lived-in. It helps we're getting his thoughts again. And I love how one of the first points is that even when the big guns come out to protect the known world, it's always up to number one to protect the home. That's the proactive, take-charge, unapologetic Duke that I fell in love with!

I wonder between this and Dark Multiverse, you think they're gearing toward for more Duke back-ups, maybe even another mini, to put together another trade for him?

[J. D. Guy]

I wonder between this and Dark Multiverse, you think they're gearing toward for more Duke back-ups, maybe even another mini, to put together another trade for him?

If they feel they can't justify jumping into a solo or mini/maxi-series right away for the character, then an ever-growing new backlog of back-ups specifically for Duke would be the next best thing until they are. It keeps the character in continuous use and with the right team, allows Duke to actually showcase his stuff and have a sense of forward progression.

[Korath]

Yes, so happy to see Tony Patrick back ! I knew from the preview that something was more Duke-like and now I get why (little screens suck for reading previews I can tell you!).

[DragonPiece]

I forgot how much I enjoyed tony patrick's Duke, hope he gets more writing opprotunities.

[lemonpeace]

https://www.cbr.com/dark-nights-deat...-robin-king-1/

I'm looking at the preview, particularly the panel focused on the green residue, and it make me wonder what the substance is. more Lazarus pit/Nth metal shenanigans? another thing I noticed is the fact that Duke is the last man standing. it's a solid nod to his determination, he IS the boy who took an ass whooping from Damian on the chin while schooling him and who was able to not only wield a Green Lantern ring on the fly, under duress, but he was able to make a complex structure; my sun got heart! I'm gonna be making my way through Duke's catalog again soon, I noticed most writers that have Duke seem to have a solid consistent grasp on the character even if he's used in small doses. I wonder how, after I do a read through directly into Outsiders, it will affect my opinion of Hill's run and these upcoming stories.

Also, I feel Duke is developing more into the metahuman and Nth metal bat-character. I know he's got the sunlight Gotham angle but the meta lore niche appears to be popping up more prominently, maybe they should have him pop up around other Nth metal related characters; I think Duke would work well with the Hawks.

[lemonpeace]

I just read Duke's story in Robin King, and it's definitely a response to Duke's time on Outsiders. what's nice is it's not just a critique of Hill's use of Duke but it feels more of a course correction of what Hill could've been trying to do with Duke and Cass. Also, WE ACTUALLY SEE THE SHADOWS USED IN A PRACTICAL/TANGIBLE WAY!! Quietus, upon first reading, feels more like he an avatar representing Duke's time on Batman and the Outsiders and this story acts as an exorcism of Duke's baggage from Hill's run that sets him up to go forward more clear and less conflicted then he was coming out of Outsiders. Tony Patrick, man, the man gets Duke Thomas!!!! him and Lee Bermejo have the best Duke, with Bermejo slightly above Tony Patrick personally because We are Robin defined who Duke is. followed by Scott Snyder, even though he gave us Duke and he has such big ideas for him that I love; so obviously Snyder holds a special place in regards to Duke.