How do you feel about Duke Thomas?

[rev516]

I don't like Duke. The family is way too crowded, he is boring, and he is useless. The whole thing about him being independent from Bruce as a hero is nothing new or major.

Nightwing is the prime example.

What they are setting Duke up for is failure. What 'unique' role can you give him that is not filled by someone else?

My opinion.

[Sodam Yat]

I voted for Too early to tell, give it time. From what I've seen he's lacking lots of panel time and that's really Tom King's fault. He doesn't really have any decent role as a supporting character. If you don't want to do nothing with him, then why the hell are you putting him in the book!?

[jbmasta]

I voted for Too early to tell, give it time. From what I've seen he's lacking lots of panel time and that's really Tom King's fault. He doesn't really have any decent role as a supporting character. If you don't want to do nothing with him, then why the hell are you putting him in the book!?

Corporate mandate? Snyder seems to be really keen on the character, and that can override any say King has on the matter.

[MajorHoy]

. . . he's lacking lots of panel time and that's really Tom King's fault. He doesn't really have any decent role as a supporting character. If you don't want to do nothing with him, then why the hell are you putting him in the book!?

Corporate mandate? Snyder seems to be really keen on the character, and that can override any say King has on the matter.

Yeah, I'm pissed with how Duke is being "used" in King's Batman, especially since I'm sure that's helping to drive up Duke's unlikability factor among many of the haters.
But we don't really know if Duke is being misused in Batman because King is a bad writer or if he's been told to include Duke even if he really doesn't know what to do with him in the current stories.

[Caivu]

Yeah, I'm pissed with how Duke is being "used" in King's Batman, especially since I'm sure that's helping to drive up Duke's unlikability factor among many of the haters.
But we don't really know if Duke is being misused in Batman because King is a bad writer or if he's been told to include Duke even if he really doesn't know what to do with him in the current stories.

I think given King's track record we can pretty much say it's not the first option.

[Frontier]

I voted for Too early to tell, give it time. From what I've seen he's lacking lots of panel time and that's really Tom King's fault. He doesn't really have any decent role as a supporting character. If you don't want to do nothing with him, then why the hell are you putting him in the book!?

Well, the brunt of Duke's development is being handled in All-Star by his creator Scott Snyder, but King is still promoting the character in the main Batman book by including him in pretty much every issue and even giving him his own storyline and role in King's overall arc through his relationship with Gotham Girl. He's just not necessarily as physically active in that book as he is in All-Star.

Between his appearances in Batman, All-Star, Night of the Monster Men and even a cameo in 'Tec, I think Duke's actually getting plenty of panel-time

[skyvolt2000]

I think given King's track record we can pretty much say it's not the first option.

King is not a bad writer.

It maybe be the Chuck Clayton mandate in action. According to a former Archie artist-everyone was ordered to use Chuck Clayton in anything they did. And since EVERYTHING is approved by 3 sets of folks including the CEO-people did what they were told.

One little issue-unlike the 70-80 Archie at Riverdale High that featured Chuck & Archie adventures-the stuff that came out had Chuck there and he HONESTLY did nothing to help the story. He was just there and this was really evident in Life with Archie.
And why you saw him in Little Archie books when he was not a friend of Archie when he was a little kid.
And even stories that were made before his creation somehow included him in the digest reprints. I know of one where in the original it was Reggie in the story and now Chuck is in it. A story from 1950.
Of course the idea was he would boost sales after the positive reception of the first only Chuck mini series in 2009. Like Duke-NOBODY did anything with him.
That's why he vanished in 2011 after the Glee crossover and Nancy loves girls now as seen in Archie Afterlife.
And he has been MIA in the reboot Archie series outside of Jughead issue 1.

The artist that said this was Fernando Ruiz on the Archiefan website. I have the link somewhere in a previous post as that website crashed and restarted with a lot of stuff lost.

Looking at the 7 issues of Batman-Duke is starting to look like Chuck Clayton. I don't think we will see him do anything (outside of the backup) until whatever King had planned for the first 12 issues. Hard to rewrite a book when it comes out biweekly or has already approved stories.

[Batmaniac]

I'm still waiting for somebody to do anything remotely interesting with Duke. He's just there, taking up panel time that could easily be given to better, more interesting members of the Bat-Family, and I'm actively starting to dislike him because of it.

[Nite-Wing]

I'm still waiting for somebody to do anything remotely interesting with Duke. He's just there, taking up panel time that could easily be given to better, more interesting members of the Bat-Family, and I'm actively starting to dislike him because of it.

Like who?
I keep hearing this being said but give anyone else the same story and you'd have the same complaints

[Batmaniac]

Like who?
I keep hearing this being said but give anyone else the same story and you'd have the same complaints

A character with a personality, maybe? Even if they were written poorly, at least we wouldn't have to look at Duke's eyesore of a motorcycle get-up.

If we're being specific though, how about Damian? Y'know, the actual current Robin.

[Nite-Wing]

A character with a personality, maybe? Even if they were written poorly, at least we wouldn't have to look at Duke's eyesore of a motorcycle get-up.

If we're being specific though, how about Damian? Y'know, the actual current Robin.

Duke is only wearing the costume in All star Batman. If you don't like Snyder because he isn't using other characters steer clear of the book and read something like detective comics.
For that matter
Damian has a terrible dynamic with Bruce and that have been proven since Morrison left. No point shoehorning him back into the Batman title to see that train wreck occur again. I'd actually like him to show up more in Nightwing since that was what made him likable in the first place not his relationship with Bruce.

[darkseidpwns]

Duke is only wearing the costume in All star Batman. If you don't like Snyder because he isn't using other characters steer clear of the book and read something like detective comics.
For that matter
Damian has a terrible dynamic with Bruce and that have been proven since Morrison left. No point shoehorning him back into the Batman title to see that train wreck occur again. I'd actually like him to show up more in Nightwing since that was what made him likable in the first place not his relationship with Bruce.

Train wreck WTH are you talking about?
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abafef35efd3f0cfd145a2f0540b8670.jpg

This is a train wreck
download.jpg

[Atlanta96]

Duke is only wearing the costume in All star Batman. If you don't like Snyder because he isn't using other characters steer clear of the book and read something like detective comics.
For that matter
Damian has a terrible dynamic with Bruce and that have been proven since Morrison left. No point shoehorning him back into the Batman title to see that train wreck occur again. I'd actually like him to show up more in Nightwing since that was what made him likable in the first place not his relationship with Bruce.

New 52 Batman and Robin was fine. Bruce cares about his son and guiding him into a better person. He's a more stoic and troubled mentor for Damian than Dick was so it's a different kind of relationship. They can do some interesting stuff with Damians struggles and efforts to better himself and how Bruce relates to his son as someone who's struggled with his humanity and doing the right thing himself.

[Frontier]

I know Bruce and Damian aren't necessarily as dynamic a duo as Damian and Dick were, but I think they had their moments.

Though I don't think Bruce has ever had as natural and good a partner since Tim got shipped off to the New 52 Teen Titans.

[Batmaniac]

Duke is only wearing the costume in All star Batman. If you don't like Snyder because he isn't using other characters steer clear of the book and read something like detective comics.

What? I never said I dislike Snyder. I said I'm starting to actively dislike Duke because he's a bland, useless character that's being pushed in not one, but two Batman titles in favor of better, more interesting characters.

For that matter
Damian has a terrible dynamic with Bruce and that have been proven since Morrison left.

I disagree, but regardless of how one feels about Bruce and Damian's dynamic, at least they had one. Duke doesn't even have that.