That's...debatable. It's not limbo I'm annoyed with, it's taking him completely off the board. If they had retired him after his book got cancelled then I could see that being the reason BUT that's not when the character got retired. They retired him within months of Duke becoming The Signal, 4 years after his title got canned and after years of him popping up in small spots like Batgirl, Eternal, and Tec. There are plenty heroes who exist in limbo who aren't retired so they could pop up at anytime. The fact that they actively retired him (and only him out of the Gotham Knights team) is suspect, especially when they had JUST raised Duke to hero status. Now am I not saying it was outright nefarious, I can't say I know what goes into DC's creative decisions but I can say that the optics of canning the previous black character (who himself teetering on tokenism and was swapped in for a different black character before him) looks suspect and problematic.
Going back to your point about there not being a book to put batmembers without their own book, there are plenty of them who didn't have books post-Tec who didn't get retired. Batwoman's currently kicking somewhere despite no book, Spoiler left with Tim Drake to do their own thing and is currently in limbo (but at least they compellingly set her up to want out if the cape), Azreal wasn't doing anything until he got put onto JL: O, Cassandra hasn't had her own book in years but is still kicking too. Hell, after his mini, Duke was pretty much in limbo, popping up rarely until Bryan Hill pulled him into Outsiders.
It was just a dumb move to me that they would outright retire Batwing. At the absolute least, it was horribly timed.
Last edited by lemonpeace; 03-24-2019 at 09:48 PM.
THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki
also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.
currently following:
- DC: Red Hood: The Hill
- Marvel: TBD
- Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force
"power does not corrupt, power always reveals."
"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does? - Gaff Blade Runner
"In a short time, this will be a long time ago." - Werner Slow West
"One of the biggest problems in the industry is apathy right now." - Dan Didio Co-Publisher of I Wonder Why That Is Comics
Ok I missed that.
But when it comes to the other TEC members, those are all bigger names than Luke.
Batwoman had far higher sales than Batwing, and has an upcoming TV show (and is DCs flagship LGBT charcter).
Azrael was as at least back in the day quite successful (his orginal run went on for 100 issues).
Cass was also quite successful as Batgirl.
And Steph is at least as Supporting character for Tim and Cass quite popular.
And Btw. wasn't he already retired before TEC and and just came out of retirement to help after Tim died? It kind of makes sense that he goes back to his civilian life after the end of the team, opposed to characters like Azrael and Cass who don't have a civilian life.
Last edited by Aahz; 03-24-2019 at 11:14 PM.
Dick Grayson should have remained Robin for life (as he did on Pre-COIE Earth-Two). He would have become increasingly independent from Batman, and would have upgraded his costume to something resembling what Tim Drake wore during the 1990s, but he would have remained as the only Robin.
Not that I haven't enjoyed the characters of Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and to a lesser extent, Damian Wayne and Stephanie Brown, but to me, Dick Grayson will always be Robin.
Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)
Buried Alien - THE FASTEST POST ALIVE!
First CBR Appearance (Historical): November, 1996
First CBR Appearance (Modern): April, 2014
Not really controversial but I would like to see the Batman who laughs and/or the Grim Knight go after the Bat-family and see how they deal with that. Honestly I think they would be screwed, having two psychotic and murderous Batmen with all the skills, focus and determination of the "original" intent on killing them would be something. I would like to see Jason going up against the Grim Knight or Kate facing off against the TBWL, even Damien bonding with a "killer daddy dearest". I foresee a lot of maiming and death, it would be glorious.
As of now:
All-Star Batman, Batman, Doom Patrol, The Flash, The Fix, The Flintstones, Green Valley, Hadrian's Wall, The Hellblazer, Moonshine, New Super-Man, Suicide Squad, Superman, 'Tec, Unfollow
Nightwing belongs in the Justice League.
Gotham can be taken care of by Oracle, Tim, and Cassie.
Maybe Damian on the Titans?
Retire Batwoman, Spoiler, Huntress, Signal... Let Red Hood die.
And let Bruce be happy with Selina somewhere else.