All-Star Batman, #1

[Rakiduam]

Hes taken talons on hand to hand. hes long surpassed david or luke, and is on par with Dick.

David also has taken Talons hand to hand, at the time Talons were actually a threat.

[Lhynn]

David also has taken Talons hand to hand, at the time Talons were actually a threat.

He didnt take them wearing a hoodie.

[DGraysonWorldsGreatestSpy]

Hes taken talons on hand to hand. hes long surpassed david or luke, and is on par with Dick.

Hitting Dick Grayson to knock him down is not a achievement but a Bat Trope all caused by an Internent meme.

[Lhynn]

Hitting Dick Grayson to knock him down is not a achievement but a Bat Trope all caused by an Internent meme.

Just making a point on why duke thomas actively hurts the batverse by merely existing. And i believe i have.

[skyvolt2000]

Okay I finally managed to read the issue.

What is with Alfred? He does too much blaming himself for stuff.

As for Duke-reading that back up-

Duke will have that hero/villain defining moment with some villain-probably Joker probably issue 25.

Depending on how it ends-Duke gets a solo or mini and Tim comes back because Batman realizes he needs a Robin.

[AlexanderLuthor]

I said midway through Snyder's N52 run that he writes the absolute worst Alfred in the history of Batman comics. Basically, a simpering, sentimental old fool with no redeeming qualities that is constantly working against Bruce "for his own good". I've just given up at this point - either Snyder doean't like or understand the character.

As for Duke, people act like they've never read comics before. He's not going to go through this clean process and emerge as better than all of the Robins. He will be torn down, make mistakes and emerge better for it, and then Bruce will make a big speech about how he was mistaken that anyone could be perfect and how proud he is that Duke is his own unique brand of "Robin"

[Stormcrow]

Depending on how it ends-Duke gets a solo or mini and Tim comes back because Batman realizes he needs a Robin.

Batman has a Robin, Damian hasn't gone anywhere...

It continues to annoy me how Snyder completely disregards Damian Wayne. It's one thing to go out of his way not to write him during his previous run, but now he's actually undermining Robin's role with whatever Duke is supposed to be in that awful costume.

[Rakiduam]

He didnt take them wearing a hoodie.

That only proves Talons are not longer a real threat.

[Lhynn]

Its pretty obvious hes butthurt at the fan reception of duke and feels like going against his readership is the best course of action.

[mike627]

I loved this issue! Snyder and JRjr. hit this one outta the park and a new take on Two-Face as a blackmailer who is trying to show that everyone has a darkside and has secrets they would do anything to protect Alfred included.The back up is intriguing.We are gonna see Duke's training in real time.

[DGraysonWorldsGreatestSpy]

Just making a point on why duke thomas actively hurts the batverse by merely existing. And i believe i have.

I don't think that Duke should not exist I was just pointing out that Dick Grayson has had internet memes take over his character on multiple occasions with the recent being slap him down and he will do nothing when the actual comic it came from he got right back up and knocked the Batman out. Duke is a Green Lantern situation magnified, Snyder is really contradictory in that he is against Damian since that is Bruce's son and he has a son so he did not want to write that but a underage kid violates that stance. I wish Duck was 18+.Eeven the friendship the pushed in Robin War is not going to elevate this until Snyder writes Damian in All Star Batman and if he does not Duke will forever have to deal with people hating on for taking Damian slot and Snyder having bias. He has already been attacked on twitter and had to block users, I feel sorry that Duke/Harper have to be hated but that is what is going to happen when you are fighting for page time and meaningful stories with your favorite
character and they get sidelined for a new character who get talked up as being so much better than those who have already been there and done things. Duke and Harper still have life and I do not hate them or want to see them fail but it clear that they are building hatred at the same time they are building love without a angle to make them likable. Damian Wayne was hated but Morrison who created him put him on a journey that improved them while Dick Grayson shined as Batman, even though Tim got the short end of the stick he had his own solo and was still much apart of the Return of Bruce Wayne, Jason was still in limbo until the New 52. Harper has failed the most as she has been featured in over 40 issues and already is a nomad bouncing from Batgirl to Detective after the Eternal's have finished and Duke just needs to be more unique than a Black Robin who is not Robin, don't say how good this person is or how much better they are than another person's favorite character. The Bat family already struggles for keeping position in the face of Batman and all the angles you can take are drying up with Dick grabbing a firm hold and International/Titan, Barbara with her own solo+Birds of Prey, Jason has his Dark Trinity, and you have Detective Comics which is basically trying to have Bat X-men for all you favorite characters who have formally had a solo but no longer have one because they were wiped from existence/could not support it. Batman running with a sidekick all the time in his solo series has not been the formula since Jason died so unless Snyder keeps doing All star past 13 issues Duke will have his Gotham moment where either he is good enough to find success away from Batman or he will get stuck in limbo at worst and just be a consistent back up from here on out. Dick is the only Bat character who has succeeded completely cut off from Batman for extended periods of time with NTT & parts of Grayson other than that each character has needed some deep connection to Batman whether it be as small as wearing his logo or being related to him.

[Nite-Wing]

Duke was great this issue
Alfred needs to stop trying to undermine Bruce
He's been doing that a lot lately
It will be interesting to see if they ever acknowledge how Alfred has been all over the place character wise almost makes me wish Julia would come back

[sustainentropy]

Sustainentropy, Duke indeed wears two different yellow batman masks, due do the acidic rain. Batman does not because Batman.

In my opinion, this issue was superb. This is really a Two-face scheme, exposing everybody's duality. It's also very interesting to see Batman out of his ambient - night and Gotham. I enjoyed a lot this blackmail side of two-face. If everyone, from the waitress on a truck stop to good old [spooooilers] is trying to get the Caped Crusader, how will he survive?

Only complain, the generic look on Firefly and Killer Moth. They look like Cobra soldiers on the GI Joe cartoon. Head-to-toe armor, different weapons, nothing that gives the story of the characters, no nothing.

Other than that, so far it's one of the best Batman tales I read in a long time

Agreed on the redesign of Killer Moth and Firefly. Romita's own designs tend to come off as a bit blocky and weird sometimes. I'm sure the next time they appear in an arc somewhere they'll have either been redesigned again, or streamlined to an extent.

[sustainentropy]

RomitaJR art definitely suits Batman more than Superman was evident when Batman appeared in the Superman run, plus different colourists and inkers.
But this wasn't surprising. His art in DK Last Crusade was pretty darn fantastic.

It's funny how much Romita benefits from a different style of inker a lot of the time. This was especially evident when he was on Spider-Man at Marvel back in the 90's. I just hope he keeps bringing it at this level of quality.

[Tony]

does duke have a code-name or did i miss it?

Bright Yellow Decoy...jk