Welcome to The Outside: Outsiders Appreciation 2021

[lemonpeace]

Isn't Duke still a teen? Like 16 years old? He looks like he is built like Mike Tyson in those pages, lol.

yeah, he's pretty big for someone who's supposed to be 17-18 (he was 17 when he became Signal and some time has passed since due to Death Metal). Ironically, Tyson was similarly brolic when he was 17. but to be fair, Tyson was a freak of nature tho.

[lemonpeace]

how are y'all feeling about the arrival of the Soultaker II and Future State Jefferson in present day? i think Duke will keep the Soultaker but how do you think they're gonna deal with the Jefferson's doppelganger?

[J. D. Guy]

Isn't Duke still a teen? Like 16 years old? He looks like he is built like Mike Tyson in those pages, lol.

yeah, he's pretty big for someone who's supposed to be 17-18 (he was 17 when he became Signal and some time has passed since due to Death Metal). Ironically, Tyson was similarly brolic when he was 17. but to be fair, Tyson was a freak of nature tho.

17 (and by rights outta be 18+ by this point). As well, having and maintaining a physique akin to The Signal's depiction here at that age is something that is possible for some, even if popular perception believes otherwise. Indeed, Mike Tyson is a good example of this. (Many folks don't realize how diverse growing into an "adult" body actually is, which is part of why the "Teens Are Short" fictional shorthand is able to be as prevalent as it is.)

[J. D. Guy]

how are y'all feeling about the arrival of the Soultaker II and Future State Jefferson in present day? i think Duke will keep the Soultaker but how do you think they're gonna deal with the Jefferson's doppelganger?

Not sure. It would be cool for Duke to gain access to that sword. But as for Future Ultra-Energy Jefferson? Either he fades away, performs a heroic sacrifice, or merges his power with present-day Jefferson to give him a permanent deific power boost.

[Nomads1]

Loved the dialogue in this page. Lol.

Peace

[lemonpeace]

Not sure. It would be cool for Duke to gain access to that sword. But as for Future Ultra-Energy Jefferson? Either he fades away, performs a heroic sacrifice, or merges his power with present-day Jefferson to give him a permanent deific power boost.

yeah, I'm inclined to believe the merging scenario is the most likely one; or at least my ideal one. it could go a long way toward getting Jefferson closer to being recognized as the Batman/Superman/Green Lantern level heavyhitter he could be, and it would make a solid way to re-introduce and explain how he gets his Black electricity, since Future Jefferson has that ability. I would love for Duke to gain the sword permanently (I'm fairly certain he will but you never know) but I hope if he does it goes back to the flame effects once Jefferson's soul leaves. the electricity was a cool aesthetic in Future State but I would rather Duke not have such prominent electrical attacks on deck like that, to avoid talk of the tired "electric negros" psuedo-take. if it has to have an elemental affect at least the fire is closer to Sun motifs.

Loved the dialogue in this page. Lol.

Peace

same! one thing I always appreciate about Thomas is he does a solid job making his characters feel natural when speaking, especially the way his Black characters sound. some writers try to "write black" for their black characters and it doesn't really work (lookin at you Johns) but i like how in Thomas' works his black voices typically sound authentically and identifiably black; like how actual black people in my life speak. still kinda in awe that he's actually writing Duke tbh.

[Frontier]

same! one thing I always appreciate about Thomas is he does a solid job making his characters feel natural when speaking, especially the way his Black characters sound. some writers try to "write black" for their black characters and it doesn't really work (lookin at you Johns) but i like how in Thomas' works his black voices typically sound authentically and identifiably black; like how actual black people in my life speak. still kinda in awe that he's actually writing Duke tbh.

Do you have any examples where you've seen this in particular?

[lemonpeace]

Do you have any examples where you've seen this in particular?

only one, there was a scene in i think it was Green Lantern: Rebirth where he tried to have John use the old saying "i ain't gotta do nothing but stay black and die" when he was fighting parallax Kyle iirc. I personally love the cheesy phrase and I initially thought it was kinda cool that John said because it's one I've heard my whole life, but the way Johns kinda threw it in felt awkward. I think it felt kinda jarring due to the fact that the vernacular is pretty different from how he typically writes John (which is admittedly pretty flat) which kinda highlighted the feeling of "oh this is someone trying to write someone black"

[Anthony Shaw]

Do you have any examples where you've seen this in particular?

That time John Stewart made a cringe comment about staying black during the Sinestro Corps arc springs to mind.

[Frontier]

only one, there was a scene in i think it was Green Lantern: Rebirth where he tried to have John use the old saying "i ain't gotta do nothing but stay black and die" when he was fighting parallax Kyle iirc. I personally thought it was kinda cool to have John use the phrase because it's one I've heard my whole life but the way Johns kinda threw it in felt awkward and kinda jarring considering the vernacular is pretty different from how he typically writes John (which is admittedly pretty flat).

That time John Stewart made a cringe comment about staying black during the Sinestro Corps arc springs to mind.

Oh, okay. I guess for how stoic John tended to be back then it would kind of stand out.

[lemonpeace]

Oh, okay. I guess for how stoic John tended to be back then it would kind of stand out.

also the fact that it wasn't really used well either.

[LukeCagefan]

What happened to the story of Tatsu's husband's family trying to kill Jefferson because her husband soul was jealous or something? I don't remember it being resolved. Am I mistaken? I'm confused about the jump to the future state stuff.

[lemonpeace]

What happened to the story of Tatsu's husband's family trying to kill Jefferson because her husband soul was jealous or something? I don't remember it being resolved. Am I mistaken? I'm confused about the jump to the future state stuff.

Tatsu and the Yamashiro clan made a truce at the end of that story, giving her one year to fix whatever happened with Maseo's soul. it's also not a jump, we see them re-form the Outsiders and tee up this story at the end of the very same story. the Future State stuff is also a direct continuation of Duke's story at the end of Future State: Outsiders, Brandon Thomas is just bridging his two stories.

[LukeCagefan]

Tatsu and the Yamashiro clan made a truce at the end of that story, giving her one year to fix whatever happened with Maseo's soul. it's also not a jump, we see them re-form the Outsiders and tee up this story at the end of the very same story. the Future State stuff is also a direct continuation of Duke's story at the end of Future State: Outsiders, Brandon Thomas is just bridging his two stories.

Guess I was hoping it'd see how she'd fix the issue. Not really invested in the Future State stuff.

[John Venus]

Batman & Duke Thomas by James Tucker.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVtkwbSP...EXQU9-6iGn2o0/

jtuckeranimator_250401089_3062541.jpg

With Duke making the jump to animation with “Batwheels” plus catching his solo book recently, I thought it’d be fun to put him in the BTBATB style. Too bad he wasn’t created back then! We coulda used him!