Duke Thomas: The Signal, Outsiders, We are Robin Appreciation 2023

[lemonpeace]

Pretty uneventful 2022 for our boy, not gonna lie. his buzz is still going and growing, he made a couple appearances here and there but the biggest development was easily the curing of Elaine Thomas! that's a major story development and I hope we see that explored some time soon. here's hoping for something major for Duke Thomas in 2023!

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Created by: Scott Snyder (writer) Greg Capullo (artist)

First Appearance: Batman Vol 2 #21 (August 2013).

Powers: Duke is a metahuman with the photokinetic ability to manipulate, absorb, and redistribute both light and shadow. Duke primary concentrates light through the eyes, manipulating the way the light is processed for a variety of visual tasks.

Duke's most notable abilities are his precognition and his retrocognition. Duke's sight is atemporal, meaning he can see across time. By manipulating the way he processes light, Duke can perceive the "ghosts" of where light has been in his vicinity and see few minutes into the past. he can also glimpse into the future by seeing where light will be before it gets there. Duke's precognitive abilities, plus his training from Batman and all of his former Robins, give him an edge in combat, being able to react faster to attacks than normally possible and even catch projectiles in midair.

Duke's photokinetic vision can be used in a variety of practical ways. He can see beyond the known Electromagnetic spectrum, follow and detect someone through walls, ceilings, smoke and most materials, and focus his vision to see a target at a great distance or to see extremely small objects down to the subdermal level. my boi is stacked with the practical superpowers.

Duke's powers also allow him to absorb and redistribute darknesss. Duke can pull shadows to himself, revealing more light, or expel darkness from himself like a tide enveloping everything in darkness. Duke can also shape and move a shadow like a physical object, which he uses to augment his hand to hand combat.

Duke's metahuman abilities come from the metagene, a genetic variation caused by naturally occurring traces of Nth metal in the bloodstream. Duke inherited this genetic trait from both of his biological parents; Elaine Thomas and an immortal metahuman named Gnomon. After experiencing the touch of Ishmael, Duke's abilities "evolved" to include the ability to manipulate darkness as well as light.

Duke's unique metahuman physiology gives him an affinity for Nth metal, often becoming reactive in the presence of powerful forms of Nth and/or 8th metal. Particularly potent forms of Nth metal can amplify his visions, allowing longer more vivid visions into the past, across dimensions, and he can even hearing some audio.



Essential Reading

We are Robin (2015) #1-12 written by Lee Bermejo, art by Khary Randolph

• Robin War (2016) written by Various Writers, art by Various Artists

Dark Days: The Forge (2017) #1 & The Casting (2017) #1 written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV art by Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, and John Romita Jr.
Batman and The Signal (2018) #1-3 story by Scott Snyder, written by Tony Patrick, art by Cully Hamner

• Immortal Men (2018) #1-6 written by James Tynion IV, art by Ryan Benjamin & Jim Lee

Batman & the Outsiders (2019) #1-17 written by Bryan Edward Hill, art by Dexter Soy & Veronica Gandini
Dark Nights: Death Metal - Robin King (2020) #1 [the back-up] written by Tony Patrick art by Danial Sampere
Tales from The Dark Multiverse: METAL (2020) #1 written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly art by Karl Mostert


[stay woke Mr. Thomas, stay woke...]

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At the end of the year, all Appreciation threads are closed and new threads for the coming year are put in place.

Appreciation threads are for just that - Appreciation. Not for debate, not for slamming and not for bringing other characters down by comparison.~

Commence appreciating! :-)

Link to the 2018 thread
Link to the 2019 thread
Link to the 2020 thread
Link to the 2021/2022 thread

[dietrich]

Happy New Year to Duke and fans. Hope he gets more content in 2023.

Do we know where he's going to appear next?

They should have given him a spot on Tec or Batman. Sad to see him not being utilised even in a supporting role.

That's what was great about UL. Characters without homes could at least get an arc or two in a series like that.

What do you guys think about Duke joining a team like TT? A team where he works with characters from the larger DCU. The Outsiders is a good team but I'd like Duke to interact with characters that rarely crossover with Gotham. Heck I'd like to see him with Kon, Sideways or even better some of DC's detective characters.

His power set is ideal for detective type stories making a team up with another detective an easy set up.

[millernumber1]

I'm still salty they didn't launch an Outsiders book with Duke written by Brandon Thomas.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Duke has some good material but nothing to really wow me yet.

I'm curious about Thomas's stuff in Urban Legend so I'm waiting for it to get collected individually or lead into something more like Watters's run on Azrael.

So here's hoping Duke has a great 2023.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

WFA latest fastpass episode is actually exploring Duke's powers and status as the daytime protector of Gotham......only took them 75 episodes to not only actually examine basic facts of his lore but to introduce them in the first place.........

Also it starts off by having Duke say "have you ever wondered what's it like to be different in a way you can't control"....and then mentions it is about his powers. But given this and his question of feeling like he belongs/worthy in the Batfamily along with confiding in Luke I feel like they trying to use his powers as an analogy for his race which NGL I find eyerolling if that is the case as I thought we moved past using fictional metaphors for dealing with race issues. I coud be wrong but that's the impression I'm getting.

[Rac7d*]

He should jump to the titans and become a part time member

[skyvolt2000]

DC Power - A Celebration

Has a pinup

And adventure of his was reference in the Black Lightning story.

[J. D. Guy]

Likewise, I hope Duke'll get more direct showings this year.

[skyvolt2000]

Duke's McFarlane action figure should be popping up in stores now as Target is now shipping them to folks like myself who preordered.

Likewise, I hope Duke'll get more direct showings this year.

To date-Duke has been in a pin up, variant cover and background duty.

The webtoon, webtoon trade and Bat cars show will do more with Duke than the comics he's from.

[lemonpeace]

damn, Duke's been disappointingly absent this year. as far as i can tell he isn't anywhere (and isn't slated to be anywhere) except Batwheels and Wayne Family Adventures.

[J. D. Guy]

damn, Duke's been disappointingly absent this year. as far as i can tell he isn't anywhere (and isn't slated to be anywhere) except Batwheels and Wayne Family Adventures.

Yep.

It's a shame, too, considering how he had an uptick for a bit in the last year or so, only to go right back into a state of general disuse.

[Katana500]

Dukes last solo issue ended on a cliffhanger regarding riko. Im dissapointed we will likely never see a conclusion.

[Korath]

I feel like most batbooks save Nightwings aren't in a good place right now, and the lack of Duke definitively plays a part...

[Rac7d*]

damn, Duke's been disappointingly absent this year. as far as i can tell he isn't anywhere (and isn't slated to be anywhere) except Batwheels and Wayne Family Adventures.

Too many bat characters to juggle

[Aahz]

I feel like most batbooks save Nightwings aren't in a good place right now, and the lack of Duke definitively plays a part...

I mean currently Dick is the only one with a solo book (and a teambook, and the World Finest Book).

Damian is going to share a book with Bruce.

Cass is going to be in Birds of Prey.

Jason appearently has the Tie in for the Batman-Catwoman-War and appears in he Joker series (which seems worse than being in limbo) and apparently another mini coming up.

Everybody else is in limbo.