Duke Thomas: We Are Robin, Signal Appreciation 2018

[Orujo-man]

Duke is getting more exposure cos more pairs of eyes are seeing him. What you could argue is that that exposure is being wasted cos he's not getting to do much and that is where i lay the fault on Synder's.

Okay, let's we say that the overexposure of Duke is wasted thanks to Snyder's development of him.

If Snyder maked a faster development of him, this consumed more space if he appeared in other bat-books. Because he needed more space to do something, right? not only stay in the bat-cave with 2 o 3 panels per issue with two dialogues.

I don't get it. Fans complains about overexposure, fans complains about slow development...really, I feel more lost than a bastard in Father's Day.

[dietrich]

Okay, let's we say that the overexposure of Duke is wasted thanks to Snyder's development of him.

If Snyder maked a faster development of him, this consumed more space if he appeared in other bat-books. Because he needed more space to do something, right? not only stay in the bat-cave with 2 o 3 panels per issue with two dialogues.

I don't get it. Fans complains about overexposure, fans complains about slow development...really, I feel more lost than a bastard in Father's Day.

I'm sure I never said Duke was over exposed. My statement is those arguing that King hasn't done much with him and to correct those saying that he isn't as exposed as others.

[Orujo-man]

I'm sure I never said Duke was over exposed. My statement is those arguing that King hasn't done much with him and to correct those saying that he isn't as exposed as others.

Well, you said it's more exposed, I interpreted that wrong. My mistake.

[skyvolt2000]

I don't get it. Fans complains about overexposure, fans complains about slow development...really, I feel more lost than a bastard in Father's Day.

Most folk understand this is Batman's book not Duke's. This is also a book unlike say Cyborg's that is NEVER in danger of getting axed. So the pace of development for Duke is tolerable as time is not of the essences.

What most folks complain about Duke is he's taking page time that somehow belongs to Tim, Jason, Dick & Damian. A complaint Stephanie & Cassandra never get. While ignoring the various other books those guys star in aside from Tim.

It's like it's more important for say Dick to appear in 2 or 3 panels of Batman or get a 7 page backup in All Star than star in his own book & Titans. Which makes no sense.


Those guys lives along with Babs and the girls do not require them to revolve around Batman. It's like saying Harley needs the Joker all the time and we have seen she doesn't. Nobody had this complaint until DUKE showed up.

It's just funny it's HIM and nobody else. And he hasn't done anything yet to warrant it.

What is going to happen when he finally does?

[darkseidpwns]

You're correct in that the specific context of Duke's roles in the books he's in are being ignored in favored of him merely being in those two books and other characters not. Worse still, we, or at least I mysef, weren't even speaking on anyone else. This is a Duke Thomas Appreciation thread after all.



Saying Duke is the most exposed Batman family character, other than Batman himself, simply because of the two books he's in is so very much untrue. This is because saying this does not account for the context of his role within the book, nor does it account for the roles other Batfamily characters have in the books they are in.

I also feel somewhat that you are giving Tom King too much of a pass for not utilizing Duke as much as he could or should have in Batman (not counting how it's no use crying over spilled milk), as well as putting too much undue fault on Synder, considering he's the only one who's actively using.

Not to say I angry with Tom King myself, but I am frustrated a bit.



This is an example of what I spoke of earlier. It should be noted that he didn't do much more than what we see in this image during that point in the story (and Gotham Girl escapes later anyway, and needs to be calmed down by Batman when she does).

Darkseidpwns is not a Duke hater, Darkseidpwns just wants to see a story with this character that is worth a damn. The other poster Irene effectively stated the same thing I've said. In all these years Snyder has failed to give him a story, a purpose etc, there is nothing for the company to push even if they wanted to. If he was a Caucasian you can bet he would have been dismissed as a "boring, straight White guy" which is the internets favorite argument these days. But since he's Black, he can be guilty of the same but still get a pass.

Take Red Lion over in Deathstroke or Jon Kent, these characters are more recent and yet have been more positively received. Snyder is just killing page time with Duke, he thinks by keeping him constantly exposed people will warm up to him but it wont happen. If there is no story then there is no investment and there is no larger push period. Duke is pushed a LOT for a completely blank canvas of a character.

I'm doing Duke a favor, I WANT DC and Snyder to do something with him but I'm not going to pretend that DC is being discriminatory against Duke when his own creator has failed to do anything with him after years. What incentive does another writer have? or the company? The only thing they can do is snatch him away from Snyder and subject him to different plans altogether which will result in a pissed off Snyder which DC obviously doesn't want.

[darkseidpwns]

Okay, let's we say that the overexposure of Duke is wasted thanks to Snyder's development of him.

If Snyder maked a faster development of him, this consumed more space if he appeared in other bat-books. Because he needed more space to do something, right? not only stay in the bat-cave with 2 o 3 panels per issue with two dialogues.

I don't get it. Fans complains about overexposure, fans complains about slow development...really, I feel more lost than a bastard in Father's Day.

It's pretty simple actually, Duke needs a story. Yes it's that simple, if he has a story then his involvement in the plot will be justified and he can show up in 22 pages of Batman, do something significant and no one will complain. If he has no story then he can show up in 2 pages per issue, stand behind a computer screen and do nothing and still get hated because the average reader would have rather had those 2 pages be used for something interesting other than twice weekly reminder that this character exists.

Snyder's approach to Duke so far has been "lets just keep him in print as long as possible". He's afraid that if he tells Duke's story there is a good chance he wont catch on and once his story is told there will be no reason to keep him in print, from that point its all about demand and supply.

[Orujo-man]

It's pretty simple actually, Duke needs a story. Yes it's that simple, if he has a story then his involvement in the plot will be justified and he can show up in 22 pages of Batman, do something significant and no one will complain. If he has no story then he can show up in 2 pages per issue, stand behind a computer screen and do nothing and still get hated because the average reader would have rather had those 2 pages be used for something interesting other than twice weekly reminder that this character exists.

Snyder's approach to Duke so far has been "lets just keep him in print as long as possible". He's afraid that if he tells Duke's story there is a good chance he wont catch on and once his story is told there will be no reason to keep him in print, from that point its all about demand and supply.

Edit: Damn editions. Look I don't know if is Snyder's ego or DC with his sales or what. At least I agree with you in one thing. Ends Duke development in ASB with an arc, and if works, maintain him around and maybe creates another book like We Are Robin with another name. If not bad luck.

[JasonTodd428]

Take Red Lion over in Deathstroke or Jon Kent, these characters are more recent and yet have been more positively received. Snyder is just killing page time with Duke, he thinks by keeping him constantly exposed people will warm up to him but it wont happen. If there is no story then there is no investment and there is no larger push period. Duke is pushed a LOT for a completely blank canvas of a character.

I gave proper arguments, I supported my statements with fact and logic you've done nothing, you just complain about DC not pushing Duke and then you complain about me not liking him. Keep living in your own bubble of denial, it'll only speed up Duke's demise. I'm doing Duke a favor, I WANT DC and Snyder to do something with him but I'm not going to pretend that DC is being discriminatory against Duke when his own creator has failed to do anything with him after years. What incentive does another writer have? or the company? The only thing they can do is snatch him away from Snyder and subject him to different plans altogether which will result in a pissed off Snyder which DC obviously doesn't want.

I also wish to heck that Snyder would get off his butt and give Duke a story where he is the focus. If Snyder wants him to catch on then he needs to start doing more with him then having Duke sit on the sidelines. He needs to be involved. He needs to interact with the others. He needs his time to shine. Heck, I would argue that he needs to maybe even disobey Batman and just jump out there. Every other character that has been Batman's partner in the past has done so and that's how they caught on. We need to see that with Duke even if there are fans who will complain about it.

[darkseidpwns]

I also wish to heck that Snyder would get off his butt and give Duke a story where he is the focus. If Snyder wants him to catch on then he needs to start doing more with him then having Duke sit on the sidelines. He needs to be involved. He needs to interact with the others. He needs his time to shine. Heck, I would argue that he needs to maybe even disobey Batman and just jump out there. Every other character that has been Batman's partner in the past has done so and that's how they caught on. We need to see that with Duke even if there are fans who will complain about it.

I firmly believe Snyder is uninterested in giving Batman sidekicks. Oh he wants Duke to succeed no doubt but only because he wants his character to be big. In short I think he is insincere with Duke, he just wants Duke to become a thing because it makes him happy that his character is getting some page time but I dont see that emotional/creative attachment that I see with Tomasi/Gleason on Damian or Seeley on Dick or Lobdell on Jason or Tynion on Tim regardless of how one feels they write those characters, there is however never been any doubt in my mind that those creators legit invest in those characters creatively and emotionally. Snyder on the other hand he dumped Harper Row, he shies away from using the family, He just thinks Duke will become a thing if he gets x amount of pages over y amount of years. Even one page with proper investment can go a long way.

[oasis1313]

Was Duke created for any reason besides a token black character?

[skyvolt2000]

https://henchman4hire.com/2017/02/24...-i-gotta-have/

Toy Fair was this past weekend, and while once again I did not attend, I could very much salivate over all the pictures and good action figure news I found online! Among the good news was this stellar Duke Thomas as Robin action figure that I now gotta have.
Fortunately, DC decided to make an action figure of Duke in his badass, helmeted Robin costume instead of his Yellow Batman Junior jumpsuit.

Was Duke created for any reason besides a token black character?

Sorry that is Cyborg's job

[millernumber1]

They made a We Are Robin Duke action figure? What even?

[skyvolt2000]

They made a We Are Robin Duke action figure? What even?

Depends on when that figure was greenlighted.

Also depends on what body molds they already have. Like the why is it not out yet Static figure. You look at his body parts and 95% of that is old body molds including Gambit's jacket.

The heads look new but I think I have seen some of those body parts on other figures.

[J. D. Guy]

https://henchman4hire.com/2017/02/24...-i-gotta-have/

Cool! I think that's the second Duke figure out now, or that will be out. There's also the Duke as Lark figure you linked to awhile ago.

Wish I could get them. Outside the stray comic here and there, stuff like that tends to be out of my price range.

They made a We Are Robin Duke action figure? What even?

Why not? It's his history, after all.

Also, like Skyvolt said, it likely depends on when it was given the green light, as these things don't have the fastest of turnarounds. It was probably greenlit some time back in 2015 or early 2016.

[millernumber1]

Cool! I think that's the second Duke figure out now, or that will be out. There's also the Duke as Lark figure you linked to awhile ago.

Wish I could get them. Outside the stray comic here and there, stuff like that tends to be out of my price range.



Why not? It's his history, after all.

Also, like Skyvolt said, it likely depends on when it was given the green light, as these things don't have the fastest of turnarounds. It was probably greenlit some time back in 2015 or early 2016.

I want the Lark figure instead. And also ALL of the We Are Robin kids!