Duke Thomas: We are Robin, The Signal, Final Knight Appreciation 2021

[Rac7d*]

Batwheels starring Duke Robin if successful (and I don't know how it won't, it's Batman + talking cars, I'd eat this up as a child) possibly will open up for more Duke contents from DC even if it's not mainline, since this will be many kids, preschoolers, memory of Robin. Kinda like John Stewart in JL cartoon.

The new owner doesn’t belive in children animation

[Rac7d*]

How old is Duke he’s getting big

[J. D. Guy]

Preview for Signal & The Outsiders in Urban Legends #18, out August 9th

So, right off the bat, I love the art! Duke's looking big, muscular, and beautiful (even with all those post-patrol badges he's wearing), just like I like my Duke Thomas to be.

I appreciate him being shown to write, too.

[J. D. Guy]

So I guess Duke keeping a journal/diary is this mini-arc's framing device? (As well as a place for him to be vulnerable in a private fashion that lets us readers be included, and justifies the narration boxes internally within the story.)

[lemonpeace]

How old is Duke he’s getting big

I really wanna believe some time has passed since Duke joined the The Outsiders and he's now like 18-19ish; creeping up on that college/young adult age. I know some fans would like to just keep it simple and explore Duke as a teenager more but I think Duke (along with characters like Cassandra Cain, Jackson Hyde, Tim Drake) have more potential fitting in the young adult/full time hero bracket that characters like Dick Grayson, Wally West, Kyle Rayner used to occupy, now that those characters are veteran heroes.

[lemonpeace]

So I guess Duke keeping a journal/diary is this mini-arc's framing device? (As well as a place for him to be vulnerable in a private fashion that lets us readers be included, and justifies the narration boxes internally within the story.)

I dig the journal, i like BT continues to essentially "canonize" Duke's narration boxes/ongoing inner monolgues (he pulled a similar trick with the manuscript for Duke's speeches in Future State); simple idea that re-enforces his communication skills being a central character trait.

I also really appreciate that the story is titled "Signal & The Outsiders" and we're seeing The Outsiders do what it's supposed to do for Duke; help him collect tangible experience and networking, and legitimately raise his profile within the wider DC universe. I'm super excited for this one. Brandon Thomas did amazing job with Future State then did a great job grounding and tying the Future State stuff into Duke's mainline continuity with his previous Urban Legends, so I'm stoked to see what direction he takes Duke in now that he's focused squarely on Duke Thomas in the mainline DC continuity. the only thing I'm nervous about is the reveal in part 2, but only because I really hope they go the obvious Gnomon route (he took Elaine) so we can finally bring those plot threads full circle. it's now or never, if DC doesn't announce a BrandonThomas Outsiders run (whether it be limited/ongoing/whatever) after this arc then I don't see it happening any time soon.

[Superboy-Prime]

A story to resolve Duke’s mommy disappearing. I wondered when they would follow up on that.

[thefinalguy]

I really wanna believe some time has passed since Duke joined the The Outsiders and he's now like 18-19ish; creeping up on that college/young adult age. I know some fans would like to just keep it simple and explore Duke as a teenager more but I think Duke (along with characters like Cassandra Cain, Jackson Hyde, Tim Drake) have more potential fitting in the young adult/full time hero bracket that characters like Dick Grayson, Wally West, Kyle Rayner used to occupy, now that those characters are veteran heroes.

Agreed. I don't what's holding them back from pushing these characters outside of teens into fully young adults. It'd open up a lot of storytelling. Not sure how Duke would've worked pre-Flashpoint, but that 2nd gen of sidekicks was moving to that point before the N52.

[lemonpeace]

I was thinking about it and I think i figured out a better way of looking at how his shadow powers work; their essentially a mix of Cloak's Darkforce (or Obsidian or Shade, etc) and Noh-Var's White Run. When using his shadow powers he can move himself and other things through space by entering a shadow (or having whatever he wants to move enter a shadow) then poppping out somewhere else like Cloak (or Obsidian, or Ebon, or Shade, etc). But when he's tapping into his darkness and light powers simultaneously, he physically moves through space on a set path at a speed that everything else around him pretty much freezes. he would have to be physically moving through space because he can still be hit. So it's like he's using his photokinetic senses to focus his mind, body and reflexes in a similar fashion to Marvel Boy when he enters into his White Run, but Duke's also tapping into the light and shadows around him and using them to propel or push and pull him toward his destination.



We saw that he was able to use that ability to blitz a room full of villains then open a shadow to escape but Future State Black Lightning was able to tag him with a lightning bolt. So that mean he may not necessarily be speedster fast but when he's in his zone Duke's speed must be pretty formidable.



another good example would be Naoya Zenin's projection sorcery technique in Jujutsu Kaisen. in that series, there is an ability called projection sorcery where essential the user splits their perception of time into 24 frames of motions per second. The user decides which 24 moves (frames) they want to do and the ability then allows them to perform those 24 moves in the span of that single second. Duke's "path" are the "frames".

[Aahz]

Does the Urban Legends story imply that Duke already attends collage or have U.S. high schools lecture halls like that and allow the use of note books?

[J. D. Guy]

I mean, you don't need to go to school to choose to write stuff down into one of those notebooks.

[Rac7d*]

I mean, you don't need to go to school to choose to write stuff down into one of those notebooks.

the classroom setting indicates hes in college, im suprised thought all the batkids dropped out
so duke must be 17 now

so my question for his character is why doesnt his meta abilities never get used?
hes on a team with 2 other metas so it should not be an issue

[skyvolt2000]

Does the Urban Legends story imply that Duke already attends collage or have U.S. high schools lecture halls like that and allow the use of note books?

That is a college campus.

Rarely will a high school campus have that lecture hall unless it's a specialty school or a high school whose located inside a college.

I can think of one school that I know of that would have that lecture hall (because the school use to be a college).

Anyone else notice his cousin is MIA in this? Don't they live in the same house?

[Hellscream]

That is a college campus.

Rarely will a high school campus have that lecture hall unless it's a specialty school or a high school whose located inside a college.

I can think of one school that I know of that would have that lecture hall (because the school use to be a college).

Anyone else notice his cousin is MIA in this? Don't they live in the same house?

Duke Thomas stay with his Uncle that was introduced in Batman and the Signal.

There are alot of schools (private) that require kids to have a tablet now.

This issue felt like a rehash of the last Outsider run, that had Cassandra and Duke on the team. Same story beats from Duke being blown up and tortured. That lead to Batman joining the team to talk about said issue in the comic.
I'm not really sure what is going on or why he staying in the apartment. But Duke has his own Batcave/Signal lair It seems to me the writer is doing some kind rewrite or reboot.

The main issue I have is and in other stories. Is that Duke isn't using his abilities. As if they dont won't the character to be its own thing. But another Batwing or Robin. Because in the White Knight universe everything about Duke is done off panel. Duke is mostly just someone back up to the story. Not leading the story or his story while events are going on.

Last critic the issue wasn't good. And I read the writer Aquaman/mens. And the only character that got a new coat of paint was Black Manta. Jackson Hyde characteristics were all over the place. Especially when he torture Orum. I think that was him or some atlantean.

[lemonpeace]

That is a college campus.

Rarely will a high school campus have that lecture hall unless it's a specialty school or a high school whose located inside a college.

I can think of one school that I know of that would have that lecture hall (because the school use to be a college).

Anyone else notice his cousin is MIA in this? Don't they live in the same house?

yeah, I've been giving it some thought since I read this issue and it definitely feels like an occam's razor situation. comics is a visual medium, it looks like a typical college lecture hall and there really isn't a reason that if it were meant to be a school classroom that it wouldn't just look like one. at best you could say the artist didn't know what age Duke was and just gambled on college but he was MEANT to still be in high school. however, it would make sense if Duke was in college now.

Duke was 17 as of Batman & The Signal, based on the We are Robin promotional content saying he is 16 and him saying in #1 it's been at least a year since then. so it wouldn't be THAT much of a stretch that he (similarly) turned 18, graduated high school and started college at some time between BaTS, joining the Outsiders, and now; just off-screen. which makes sense because a lot of events have happened while Duke was largely off-screen and we know this because he makes cameos in them. it's also TECHNICALLY never been stated in canon how old Duke is, only in the We are Robin promotional material. canonically iirc we just know he was in high school during We are Robin, trained and lived with Batman for over a year to become Signal, and that at that point Bruce was helping to get him and Cassandra Cain into a school; then he started going on adventures with the Outsiders. so there technically is narrative room for them to soft update Duke's age from teenager to young adult age. There is also the fact that Brandon Thomas has already written an older Duke twice and has been pretty overt about his intentions to build up and mature Duke in every Outsiders story he's done so far. So if anyone were to make that leap, I could see him taking that angle.

Brandon Thomas is somewhat active on Twitter, if anyone wants to get a concrete answer they could always reach out to him.

anyway, I imagine if this is indeed a college-age Duke then he could be living in a dorm now or even could've moved into his own spot. I really hope he's still living with unc even if he is in college now tho. I feel like there is potential in the relationship between Duke and Uncle Jay.