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Batman and The Signal #1-3
Batman and The Signal
THE SIGNAL, Batman's trainee and Gotham's daytime protector, is back with his own three issue miniseries! From the legendary New York Times best-selling author of BATMAN and ALL-STAR BATMAN, Scott Snyder, and exciting new talent Tony Patrick.
Batman may own the night, but with new villains emerging during the day he needs an ally to defend the city when he can't. Only one teen is up to the challenge, Duke Thomas. After months of training, he's ready to step out of the shadow of the bat to become his own kind of hero. Meet Gotham City's newest protector: The Signal!
Spinning out of adventures in ALL-STAR BATMAN and WE ARE ROBIN, comics superstar Scott Snyder and newcomer Tony Patrick take our young hero to new heights in this exciting miniseries with artwork by Cully Hamner.
Collects BATMAN & THE SIGNAL #1-3 plus stories from ALL-STAR BATMAN.
Batman may own the night, but with new villains emerging during the day he needs an ally to defend the city when he can't. Only one teen is up to the challenge, Duke Thomas. After months of training, he's ready to step out of the shadow of the bat to become his own kind of hero. Meet Gotham City's newest protector: The Signal!
Spinning out of adventures in ALL-STAR BATMAN and WE ARE ROBIN, comics superstar Scott Snyder and newcomer Tony Patrick take our young hero to new heights in this exciting miniseries with artwork by Cully Hamner.
Collects BATMAN & THE SIGNAL #1-3 plus stories from ALL-STAR BATMAN.
148 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 28, 2018
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1607 people want to read
About the author
Scott Snyder
1,781 books5,156 followersScott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, American Vampire. He is also the author of the short story collection, Voodoo Heart, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
August 25, 2018
Does anyone like Duke Thomas?? I never have! Scott Snyder’s annoyingly been trying to make this character a thing for the longest time now and he’s never taken off with the Batman readership – take the hint, dude!
Batman & The Signal was DC’s last chance to make the case for Duke Thomas to convince me to care and they failed! The first half of the book collects the back-ups from Snyder’s All-Star Batman, a super-dull storyline called The Cursed Wheel where Batman and Duke do something and beat the bad guys or whatever. It rehashes Duke’s boring origin from Endgame before touching on the even more dismal Bloom storyline, both from Snyder’s New 52 Batman run (the bad half).
Then we’re into The Signal miniseries by Tony Patrick, set in the wake of Metal. Duke’s suddenly got superpowers - and he’s still not interesting! He’s got light powers because his deal – and the whole thing behind the name, The Signal – is that he’s the Light Knight, going out during daytime while Batman, the Dark Knight, goes out at night. Bleeeeurgh! Throw in some characters nobody could possibly remember from that godawful Robin War storyline and some cruddy villain who thinks Duke is the Chosen One or whatever, and you’ve got a book that has “REMAINDER” written all over its future!
Batman & The Signal (what a terrible name!) is full of such poorly constructed and told stories that are completely unengaging. The Bat Signal for Duke would be a turd!
At this point there’s just too many people in the Bat family. It’s time to thin the numbers down considerably, and not just Duke but also ridiculous members like Clayface. Time to dust off that crowbar, Joker!
Batman & The Signal was DC’s last chance to make the case for Duke Thomas to convince me to care and they failed! The first half of the book collects the back-ups from Snyder’s All-Star Batman, a super-dull storyline called The Cursed Wheel where Batman and Duke do something and beat the bad guys or whatever. It rehashes Duke’s boring origin from Endgame before touching on the even more dismal Bloom storyline, both from Snyder’s New 52 Batman run (the bad half).
Then we’re into The Signal miniseries by Tony Patrick, set in the wake of Metal. Duke’s suddenly got superpowers - and he’s still not interesting! He’s got light powers because his deal – and the whole thing behind the name, The Signal – is that he’s the Light Knight, going out during daytime while Batman, the Dark Knight, goes out at night. Bleeeeurgh! Throw in some characters nobody could possibly remember from that godawful Robin War storyline and some cruddy villain who thinks Duke is the Chosen One or whatever, and you’ve got a book that has “REMAINDER” written all over its future!
Batman & The Signal (what a terrible name!) is full of such poorly constructed and told stories that are completely unengaging. The Bat Signal for Duke would be a turd!
At this point there’s just too many people in the Bat family. It’s time to thin the numbers down considerably, and not just Duke but also ridiculous members like Clayface. Time to dust off that crowbar, Joker!
August 22, 2018
Snyder does a good job of establishing Duke Thomas's character in the All Star Batman back up stories that are reprinted here as well as in the All Star Batman trades. However, there was way too many new things introduced in the 3 issue miniseries that is the only new content here.
1. Out of nowhere Duke is now a metahuman?
2. His powers are all over the map. He can see other light spectrums. He can see the past and the future? His powers are very nebulous. If he gets his shit together, he'll be way too powerful to be Batman's sidekick.
3. Half the cast of We Are Robin are brought in without any introductions. 90% of people reading this book probably don't even know Duke came from that book, let alone Izzy and Reiko. No one read that turd of a book.
4. A gazillion new metahumans pop up. It's a lot to keep track of, none of which ultimately matter.
5. The big bad pops in with a made-up name I'll never remember and lays down a bunch of revelations that will rock Duke's world if they are confirmed. But they can't be because his parents are batshit crazy. Why would you try and upend the world you're trying to build before you've even legitimately established it?
I did like the look of daytime Gotham and how they are trying to establish the differences between daytime and nighttime Gotham. The Signal has potential. He just needs some editing to pare all this new stuff down. Cully Hammer's art was good. I like how it's evolving.
Received an advance copy from DC and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.
1. Out of nowhere Duke is now a metahuman?
2. His powers are all over the map. He can see other light spectrums. He can see the past and the future? His powers are very nebulous. If he gets his shit together, he'll be way too powerful to be Batman's sidekick.
3. Half the cast of We Are Robin are brought in without any introductions. 90% of people reading this book probably don't even know Duke came from that book, let alone Izzy and Reiko. No one read that turd of a book.
4. A gazillion new metahumans pop up. It's a lot to keep track of, none of which ultimately matter.
5. The big bad pops in with a made-up name I'll never remember and lays down a bunch of revelations that will rock Duke's world if they are confirmed. But they can't be because his parents are batshit crazy. Why would you try and upend the world you're trying to build before you've even legitimately established it?
I did like the look of daytime Gotham and how they are trying to establish the differences between daytime and nighttime Gotham. The Signal has potential. He just needs some editing to pare all this new stuff down. Cully Hammer's art was good. I like how it's evolving.
Received an advance copy from DC and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.
September 6, 2018
First, a thank you to Edelweiss and DC Comics for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book. Duke is not a character I would ordinarily be interested by but he is an interesting lens through which to see the Bat Family – not mention he adds some much-needed diversity to the group.
Building on what Snyder started in his Batman series, Snyder & Patrick write a brilliant story in which they really showcase Duke and his unique set of skills. This book, whilst being called ‘Batman & the Signal’ (and featuring all the Bat-family members and some old favourites from We Are Robin) is really all Duke’s with Bruce playing much more of a supporting character role.
This story follows him as he helps to solve crimes with his mentor, whilst also trying to establish what sort of hero he is and what his place is within the larger group dynamic. This latter part is the central focus of the story and really endeared Duke to me as a character; his feelings of inadequacy and feeling the need to repeatedly prove his worth are ones many people can relate to and are showed brilliantly in his reflective style of narrative.
I especially like the art; the layout and design of the panels on every page alone is something to enjoy, but I also really enjoyed the black and yellow accented pieces and action scenes. I really like Duke’s costume design too, I think it fits perfectly with the corner of Gotham that he has carved out as his to protect.
Overall, I’d consider this a great jumping on point for anyone interesting in reading about Duke, the Bat-family or comics in general. That being said, though you don't have to have read We Are Robin prior to reading this (I haven't), I would recommend it as it will add a little more context.
Writing Quality – 7/10
Image/Illustration Quality – 8/10
Character Development – 9/10
Overall – 8/10
Find my full review on my blog, Bloodthirsty Little Beasts.
I really enjoyed this book. Duke is not a character I would ordinarily be interested by but he is an interesting lens through which to see the Bat Family – not mention he adds some much-needed diversity to the group.
Building on what Snyder started in his Batman series, Snyder & Patrick write a brilliant story in which they really showcase Duke and his unique set of skills. This book, whilst being called ‘Batman & the Signal’ (and featuring all the Bat-family members and some old favourites from We Are Robin) is really all Duke’s with Bruce playing much more of a supporting character role.
This story follows him as he helps to solve crimes with his mentor, whilst also trying to establish what sort of hero he is and what his place is within the larger group dynamic. This latter part is the central focus of the story and really endeared Duke to me as a character; his feelings of inadequacy and feeling the need to repeatedly prove his worth are ones many people can relate to and are showed brilliantly in his reflective style of narrative.
I especially like the art; the layout and design of the panels on every page alone is something to enjoy, but I also really enjoyed the black and yellow accented pieces and action scenes. I really like Duke’s costume design too, I think it fits perfectly with the corner of Gotham that he has carved out as his to protect.
Overall, I’d consider this a great jumping on point for anyone interesting in reading about Duke, the Bat-family or comics in general. That being said, though you don't have to have read We Are Robin prior to reading this (I haven't), I would recommend it as it will add a little more context.
Writing Quality – 7/10
Image/Illustration Quality – 8/10
Character Development – 9/10
Overall – 8/10
Find my full review on my blog, Bloodthirsty Little Beasts.
February 9, 2022
@The Writers, I hope you know that getting the characters to say that Duke is special, interesting, deserving and every other positive thing under the sun does not make him any of those things. Not once whilst reading this did I feel like Duke displayed any of those qualities, and it feels like another poor attempt to make the least interesting Batfam character relevant. Some of the earlier stories, before the confusing and nonsensical Duke Thomas powers storyline takes centre stage, are not too bad. The Zsasz part of 'The Cursed Wheel' even involves a small semblence of detective work and has semi-satisfying conclusion. I think this quote perfectly sums up my feelings: "And there's no place for me." Yes, Duke Thomas, there is no place for you, and there's no place for this book either.
September 20, 2022
I've never heard of the Signal before. His costume design is really cool, I would have dressed up as him for Halloween had I read this as a kid.
Francavilla and Delcan Shalvey share art duties on a Riddler story. I lost interest in the story, and it's a shame both artists only draw half a story.
Francavilla and Delcan Shalvey share art duties on a Riddler story. I lost interest in the story, and it's a shame both artists only draw half a story.
September 21, 2022
Typical Snyder, it starts out with a bang, then ends in a convoluted mess.
August 6, 2018
Not that good at all.
World: The art is okay, it’s nothing special, the colours are a bit muted and the characters are a bit stagnant and lack enough personality to express emotion. The world building is okay, it’s probably the most solid part of the book. The idea of building a juvie is kinda stupid and is pretty much against everything Batman stands for so it does not really make that much sense. The sudden realisation that Duke and family has meta abilities is also jarring and kinda not needed. The pieces of Gotham that this creative team has created is okay, but not really well constructed or detailed, the team and the police and villains all need work.
Story: The story is kinda choppy and 3 issues is simply not enough to tell a good coherent and meaningful story. Duke deserves more, but this is what he’s been given and for 3 issues it is choppy and the story does not really work. There are simply too many things to deal with and in the end none of them are handled well. There’s: Duke and his powers, Duke’s new team, Duke’s new name, the new police staff, the place Duke is living in, Arkham juvie, the villains and the list goes on. That’s not doable in 3 issues so we end up with a mash of nothing, half created ideas and characters that readers just need to buy.
Characters: I don’t like Duke with meta powers why does it need to be this way? In fact there are already to many Batkids and having Duke around is actually way too much. I know they are trying to make him the daytime guy but that’s just shuffling him there, may as well just ignore him. His story has not been compelling since Zero Year and I don’t know why DC needs to keep cramming these new characters to us that are not that compelling. I know he’s not a Robin cause there simply are too man Robins but calling him The Signal doesn’t change the fact that he’s a sidekick no matter what name you give. He’s not compelling, there’s nothing special about him and now the half baked meta powers angle makes him even more of a chore. Batman is about normal characters and Duke simply does not fit. Just like Batwing and Azrael, Duke Thomas is redundant. The rest of the cast is just as boring and unimportant, the created team he has is half baked and so is the new police woman he’s going to work with. Don’t even get me started about the villain.
I don’t like this, it’s redundant and pointless and serves no purpose but to muddy and makes the crowd to be too big.
Onward to the next book!
*read individual issues* *only focusing on the 3 issue mini series not all the additions which I’ve already read elsewhere*
World: The art is okay, it’s nothing special, the colours are a bit muted and the characters are a bit stagnant and lack enough personality to express emotion. The world building is okay, it’s probably the most solid part of the book. The idea of building a juvie is kinda stupid and is pretty much against everything Batman stands for so it does not really make that much sense. The sudden realisation that Duke and family has meta abilities is also jarring and kinda not needed. The pieces of Gotham that this creative team has created is okay, but not really well constructed or detailed, the team and the police and villains all need work.
Story: The story is kinda choppy and 3 issues is simply not enough to tell a good coherent and meaningful story. Duke deserves more, but this is what he’s been given and for 3 issues it is choppy and the story does not really work. There are simply too many things to deal with and in the end none of them are handled well. There’s: Duke and his powers, Duke’s new team, Duke’s new name, the new police staff, the place Duke is living in, Arkham juvie, the villains and the list goes on. That’s not doable in 3 issues so we end up with a mash of nothing, half created ideas and characters that readers just need to buy.
Characters: I don’t like Duke with meta powers why does it need to be this way? In fact there are already to many Batkids and having Duke around is actually way too much. I know they are trying to make him the daytime guy but that’s just shuffling him there, may as well just ignore him. His story has not been compelling since Zero Year and I don’t know why DC needs to keep cramming these new characters to us that are not that compelling. I know he’s not a Robin cause there simply are too man Robins but calling him The Signal doesn’t change the fact that he’s a sidekick no matter what name you give. He’s not compelling, there’s nothing special about him and now the half baked meta powers angle makes him even more of a chore. Batman is about normal characters and Duke simply does not fit. Just like Batwing and Azrael, Duke Thomas is redundant. The rest of the cast is just as boring and unimportant, the created team he has is half baked and so is the new police woman he’s going to work with. Don’t even get me started about the villain.
I don’t like this, it’s redundant and pointless and serves no purpose but to muddy and makes the crowd to be too big.
Onward to the next book!
*read individual issues* *only focusing on the 3 issue mini series not all the additions which I’ve already read elsewhere*
February 18, 2019
My God! Did Scott Snyder really write this ? Coz this is awful , the worst think I have read from Snyder .
This is basically a push for Duke Thomas , in the hopes that people like it and then Duke becomes a big thing like other batfamily member . However it's really hard to make a fascinating Batfamily member when the existing one are so brilliant . Duke at least has a very distinct and unique identity .
Duke unlike other 'Bats' is not relying on the usual bat-family motif , he is working in day and he has powers and as a whole , he stands unique and separate from the usual Bat-family gimmick . Simply put he is Signal , not a "Robin"
The problem though , is that no one really like Duke as a character , there's nothing alluring in Duke Thomas's character and there's certainly isn't any character development that we might have seen so far . In fact the whole super power thing ... Where did those power thingy came from ? Did I miss some comics or storyline ? Coz I never knew that ? And what exactly are his powers ? And who was the villain ?
The story was written as if everyone reading is already familiar with those answers , I for one certainly wasn't . Maybe I need to do more reading to answer those questions , but as of now I don't like Duke , I don't understand Duke and apparently I don't know Duke
And finally the art and plot of this issue ... It made no sense , I could draw holes in the plot as big as my fist here and even ignoring those flaws , the story was boring and created no excitement for me whatsoever. For a story set in Day time in the Bat-universe , this appeared more bland and dull than any night time storyline .
Simply put , it's a big fat NO for me .
This is basically a push for Duke Thomas , in the hopes that people like it and then Duke becomes a big thing like other batfamily member . However it's really hard to make a fascinating Batfamily member when the existing one are so brilliant . Duke at least has a very distinct and unique identity .
Duke unlike other 'Bats' is not relying on the usual bat-family motif , he is working in day and he has powers and as a whole , he stands unique and separate from the usual Bat-family gimmick . Simply put he is Signal , not a "Robin"
The problem though , is that no one really like Duke as a character , there's nothing alluring in Duke Thomas's character and there's certainly isn't any character development that we might have seen so far . In fact the whole super power thing ... Where did those power thingy came from ? Did I miss some comics or storyline ? Coz I never knew that ? And what exactly are his powers ? And who was the villain ?
The story was written as if everyone reading is already familiar with those answers , I for one certainly wasn't . Maybe I need to do more reading to answer those questions , but as of now I don't like Duke , I don't understand Duke and apparently I don't know Duke
And finally the art and plot of this issue ... It made no sense , I could draw holes in the plot as big as my fist here and even ignoring those flaws , the story was boring and created no excitement for me whatsoever. For a story set in Day time in the Bat-universe , this appeared more bland and dull than any night time storyline .
Simply put , it's a big fat NO for me .
July 27, 2018
Not bad, but I want to see more, to know more about Duke and what's going on with him. He supposedly has some sort of meta-human abilities, but what the heck are they? They never make an appearance in this volume that I can see. Duke Thomas, The Signal, is the latest in a fairly long line of sidekicks to Batman and this is the first volume that shows him striking out on his own. There's a bunch of backup stories from Snyder's All-Star Batman, as well as a 3-issue series focused on Duke. But it isn't really enough. We don't know a whole lot more about Duke at the end than we did at the beginning, other than that he's going to be Gotham's "day" hero (the day/night thing isn't a bad idea, but it's barely developed). Unless there's going to be a Signal series or something (and I'd be really surprised if one materializes), this seems like a bit of a lost opportunity to really develop a character that could have lasting impact on the DC universe. Great artwork from Cully Hamner and Declan Shalvey. Less so from Francesco Francavilla. Snyder shows again that he understands Batman about as well as anyone. Here's hoping we see more of Duke Thomas in future projects.
August 6, 2018
[Read as single issues]
Duke Thomas is Batman’s newest sidekick – The Signal! But where Batman and his associates usually operate at night, The Signal’s time is from sun-up to sundown. With untested powers, no back-up, his We Are Robin friends pissed at him for ditching them, and Batman nowhere to be seen, will Duke’s first solo case also be his last?
I’ve liked the idea of Duke as a sidekick for Batman since he was first introduced, and it’s been a long time coming. Unfortunately his first outing here is a bit muddled, and attempts to shove a little too much into three issues. That said, I think this is Tony Patrick’s first outing as a professional writer so it definitely could have been worse. There’s a lot of groundwork laid with respect to the powers that Duke has and the potential that he could have in the future, and Duke’s inner monologue feels different to everyone else in the circle of Bat characters, but throw in a weird parental revelation and too many minion characters standing in the way of the main villain, and this story really could have benefited from another issue or two to breathe.
That said, most of the supporting characters are pretty good – Duke’s We Are Robin friends are new to me since I didn’t read that series, but they’re a good foil for him, and it’s nice for him to have his own friends outside of the Bat Family. The police officer introduced here is a great addition too, I’d like to see more of her since she’s basically DC’s answer to Misty Knight.
Also included here are the Duke-centric back-ups from All-Star Batman which were basically a prelude to this series. These dig right into Duke’s psyche to show how he fits into Batman’s plans, and what makes him so special that Bruce would invest the time into shaping this kid into yet another sidekick. They also give the reader a crash course in Duke’s history before all this Signal stuff, which drills home his motivation for wanting to do these things himself as well. They’re a good addition to the collection, rather than just shoved in to pad out the page count for a three issue mini.
The main series is pencilled by Cully Hamner, who I didn’t think even did interiors anymore and just stuck with design work. I always associate Hamner with Blue Beetle, so it’s nice to get his style back onto a similar teenage hero. The colours really pop here too, with Laura Martin’s palette for the midday scenes a welcome change to the dark and dingy we’re used to in a Batman comic, and Duke’s canary yellow outfit manages somehow to not look silly. The back-ups are by Declan Shalvey and Francesco Francavilla, who basically need no introduction at this point – their work speaks for itself, and is as superb as ever.
Batman & The Signal’s not a perfect first outing for Duke or newbie writer Tony Patrick, but both show a lot of promise. Patrick has a lot of ideas but not the real estate to express it all, and Duke’s got a lot of heart but not a lot of time to show it to us. With excellent back-matter and great art, there’s a lot to like despite the few flaws, and I’m hoping we get to see more of both Duke and Patrick from DC in the future.
Duke Thomas is Batman’s newest sidekick – The Signal! But where Batman and his associates usually operate at night, The Signal’s time is from sun-up to sundown. With untested powers, no back-up, his We Are Robin friends pissed at him for ditching them, and Batman nowhere to be seen, will Duke’s first solo case also be his last?
I’ve liked the idea of Duke as a sidekick for Batman since he was first introduced, and it’s been a long time coming. Unfortunately his first outing here is a bit muddled, and attempts to shove a little too much into three issues. That said, I think this is Tony Patrick’s first outing as a professional writer so it definitely could have been worse. There’s a lot of groundwork laid with respect to the powers that Duke has and the potential that he could have in the future, and Duke’s inner monologue feels different to everyone else in the circle of Bat characters, but throw in a weird parental revelation and too many minion characters standing in the way of the main villain, and this story really could have benefited from another issue or two to breathe.
That said, most of the supporting characters are pretty good – Duke’s We Are Robin friends are new to me since I didn’t read that series, but they’re a good foil for him, and it’s nice for him to have his own friends outside of the Bat Family. The police officer introduced here is a great addition too, I’d like to see more of her since she’s basically DC’s answer to Misty Knight.
Also included here are the Duke-centric back-ups from All-Star Batman which were basically a prelude to this series. These dig right into Duke’s psyche to show how he fits into Batman’s plans, and what makes him so special that Bruce would invest the time into shaping this kid into yet another sidekick. They also give the reader a crash course in Duke’s history before all this Signal stuff, which drills home his motivation for wanting to do these things himself as well. They’re a good addition to the collection, rather than just shoved in to pad out the page count for a three issue mini.
The main series is pencilled by Cully Hamner, who I didn’t think even did interiors anymore and just stuck with design work. I always associate Hamner with Blue Beetle, so it’s nice to get his style back onto a similar teenage hero. The colours really pop here too, with Laura Martin’s palette for the midday scenes a welcome change to the dark and dingy we’re used to in a Batman comic, and Duke’s canary yellow outfit manages somehow to not look silly. The back-ups are by Declan Shalvey and Francesco Francavilla, who basically need no introduction at this point – their work speaks for itself, and is as superb as ever.
Batman & The Signal’s not a perfect first outing for Duke or newbie writer Tony Patrick, but both show a lot of promise. Patrick has a lot of ideas but not the real estate to express it all, and Duke’s got a lot of heart but not a lot of time to show it to us. With excellent back-matter and great art, there’s a lot to like despite the few flaws, and I’m hoping we get to see more of both Duke and Patrick from DC in the future.
June 29, 2019
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley to read and review.
BATMAN & THE SIGNAL is part of “Batman: Miseries” by Scott Snyder, Tony Patrick, & Cully Hammer.
The Signal is Batman’s daytime protégé who is learning on the job, and is hindered by doubts as a result of his difficult upbringing that haunts him in strange and unusual ways making what would be a difficult beginning as a super hero even more daunting of a task.
Batman assures the young man that he is indeed special and well suited to the task, giving him all the support he can to prepare him for this new and important role.
I liked the mentor role of Batman in this, and although this would appeal to a much younger target audience, I still found it interesting and the art work was well done, making it a book that would lead me to read others in the series to follow.
4 stars.
BATMAN & THE SIGNAL is part of “Batman: Miseries” by Scott Snyder, Tony Patrick, & Cully Hammer.
The Signal is Batman’s daytime protégé who is learning on the job, and is hindered by doubts as a result of his difficult upbringing that haunts him in strange and unusual ways making what would be a difficult beginning as a super hero even more daunting of a task.
Batman assures the young man that he is indeed special and well suited to the task, giving him all the support he can to prepare him for this new and important role.
I liked the mentor role of Batman in this, and although this would appeal to a much younger target audience, I still found it interesting and the art work was well done, making it a book that would lead me to read others in the series to follow.
4 stars.
August 22, 2018
Introduced in the first issue of the Zero Year arc during Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman run, Duke Thomas is initially presented as an incidental character. However, much like Harper Row — another original creation by Snyder — the more appearances he makes, it’s obvious that the writer has big plans towards Duke, who becomes part of the Bat’s war on crime.
Please click here for my full review.
Please click here for my full review.
May 14, 2018
Yep, I'm cheating again. Adding the TPB, even though I read this in floppies. But, hey it reads ok either in installment or in one sitting IMO (damn, I'm so old when it comes to net slang).
Look, I'm way behind in Scott Snyder's Batman and, that I barely know who Duke Thomas is. Regardless thanks to Google and a couple of brief exposition dumps the average reader will be able to catch up on Duke's back story. Duke is a likable enough addition to the Bat family. Not quite as earnest as Tim, nor a swashbuckler like Dick.
And, Duke's mandate, if you will, is to be daytime Gotham's protector. The rest of the Bat family gets the night, but Duke get the day shift (and a different supporting cast even on the police side).
The plot, which is basically about someone creating super humans and presenting Duke and Gotham with a new set of daytime problems to deal with, is serviceable enough.
I'm a little disappointed this is ending at three issues. I was interested in enough in Duke crew that I wanted more.
Look, I'm way behind in Scott Snyder's Batman and, that I barely know who Duke Thomas is. Regardless thanks to Google and a couple of brief exposition dumps the average reader will be able to catch up on Duke's back story. Duke is a likable enough addition to the Bat family. Not quite as earnest as Tim, nor a swashbuckler like Dick.
And, Duke's mandate, if you will, is to be daytime Gotham's protector. The rest of the Bat family gets the night, but Duke get the day shift (and a different supporting cast even on the police side).
The plot, which is basically about someone creating super humans and presenting Duke and Gotham with a new set of daytime problems to deal with, is serviceable enough.
I'm a little disappointed this is ending at three issues. I was interested in enough in Duke crew that I wanted more.
May 17, 2020
This 2 stars is only for the mini, and not the backups that were originally in All Star Batman. The art is very nice. That’s it. That’s all I have to say.
August 30, 2023
I like Duke, but this is meh.
October 14, 2018
Duke Thomas arrives to take the Bat-family's day shift.
The story here, which seems to be both a retelling and a rebooting of Duke Thomas as a character, was more than a little bit confusing. Duke's being a meta was news to me, even after all his other appearances in Snyder's various Bat books, and his powers were never really explained clearly. That was really my one problem with the book, but since exactly who Duke is, his being meta, and how his powers work are central to the whole plot of the miniseries, it's a big problem that it wasn't more clearly handled.
That said, for me, Duke works as a character, and it makes sense that given all the psycho/meta baddies in Gotham there would be times they'd operate in the daytime as well as at night and addressing them immediately rather than waiting for nightfall might be a good idea, so it gives him a place in the family, even if it feels a bit work-a-day to think of a day shift/night shift set of superheroes. Duke's work with Bruce and on his own in this book, and the vision of a day time Gotham and daytime characters provide a new look at some very old material that I found intriguing. This could be really good if better handled.
The story here, which seems to be both a retelling and a rebooting of Duke Thomas as a character, was more than a little bit confusing. Duke's being a meta was news to me, even after all his other appearances in Snyder's various Bat books, and his powers were never really explained clearly. That was really my one problem with the book, but since exactly who Duke is, his being meta, and how his powers work are central to the whole plot of the miniseries, it's a big problem that it wasn't more clearly handled.
That said, for me, Duke works as a character, and it makes sense that given all the psycho/meta baddies in Gotham there would be times they'd operate in the daytime as well as at night and addressing them immediately rather than waiting for nightfall might be a good idea, so it gives him a place in the family, even if it feels a bit work-a-day to think of a day shift/night shift set of superheroes. Duke's work with Bruce and on his own in this book, and the vision of a day time Gotham and daytime characters provide a new look at some very old material that I found intriguing. This could be really good if better handled.
June 21, 2020
This is really more of a Signal story with Batman popping up. It's okay, but the Signal isn't really doing it for me as a character. I think he'll be fine as a background character in the Batverse, but for a solo character he's a little weak. Art's not bad and this is okay overall.
August 31, 2018
Batman and the Signal was a little too focused on the Signal’s feelings and history to feel like a fully fleshed out plot.
Duke Thomas, formerly a Robin, is now the Signal, a daytime crimefighter in Gotham. In addition, Duke is one of the increasingly common metahumans, those whose superpowers are in their genes set off by a triggering event.
The brighter colors and clearer pictures are a nice change that emphasizes that Batman and the Signal is set in the daylight. Duke as the Signal has self doubts and confusion about his power and role as a Gotham protector. However, the underlying mystery of what or who is activating the metahumans is the star here.
By the end, I was exhausted by the sheer volume of teenage angst. It felt like I was reading a young adult book. While the art was beautiful, the story just didn’t pop for me. 3 stars.
Thanks to DC Comics and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
Duke Thomas, formerly a Robin, is now the Signal, a daytime crimefighter in Gotham. In addition, Duke is one of the increasingly common metahumans, those whose superpowers are in their genes set off by a triggering event.
The brighter colors and clearer pictures are a nice change that emphasizes that Batman and the Signal is set in the daylight. Duke as the Signal has self doubts and confusion about his power and role as a Gotham protector. However, the underlying mystery of what or who is activating the metahumans is the star here.
By the end, I was exhausted by the sheer volume of teenage angst. It felt like I was reading a young adult book. While the art was beautiful, the story just didn’t pop for me. 3 stars.
Thanks to DC Comics and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
July 17, 2025
This is a collection of both the "Batman and the Signal" miniseries as well some Duke-centric stories from "All-Star Batman." Altogether, they are meant to tell us the story of how Duke went from being a member of the We Are Robin group to being the Signal, with a lot of focus put on his vigilante training under Bruce's tutelage.
Unfortunately, this fragmented story is not very well written and are really confusing to read. The art isn't terrible, but it has its failings too (for example, why does Izzy look white??? I definitely remember her having a much darker complexion and more textured hair the last time I saw her). There's also a severe disconnect between the writing and the art, leading to us reading a lot of dialogue where characters are talking about how Duke hasn't picked a vigilante name or suit design yet, while also seeing artwork depicting him in the Signal suit. So, yeah, not a lot of actual care being put into this one by the creative team.
Those problems aside, there are a lot of parts of this that I really liked. I like that we get to see more of Duke by himself, so we get to see his thoughts and reactions. His parents aren't doing well and he's worried about them. He has to hide his double life from his cousin/guardian. He's devoted to his role as the Signal, but he's also worried that Bruce has only taken him on out of guilt. He feels inadequate next to the other Robins. His just learned that he's a meta, and that the man who raised him is not his biological father, and he doesn't know what either of those mean for his future or his present.
I went into this knowing very little about Duke and feeling very neutral toward him as a character, but I grew very fond of him while reading this (in spite of the lackluster efforts of the creative team!). I think he's a character who has great potential, and I hope to see more of him as a solo act in the future. 💛🦇☀️
Unfortunately, this fragmented story is not very well written and are really confusing to read. The art isn't terrible, but it has its failings too (for example, why does Izzy look white??? I definitely remember her having a much darker complexion and more textured hair the last time I saw her). There's also a severe disconnect between the writing and the art, leading to us reading a lot of dialogue where characters are talking about how Duke hasn't picked a vigilante name or suit design yet, while also seeing artwork depicting him in the Signal suit. So, yeah, not a lot of actual care being put into this one by the creative team.
Those problems aside, there are a lot of parts of this that I really liked. I like that we get to see more of Duke by himself, so we get to see his thoughts and reactions. His parents aren't doing well and he's worried about them. He has to hide his double life from his cousin/guardian. He's devoted to his role as the Signal, but he's also worried that Bruce has only taken him on out of guilt. He feels inadequate next to the other Robins. His just learned that he's a meta, and that the man who raised him is not his biological father, and he doesn't know what either of those mean for his future or his present.
I went into this knowing very little about Duke and feeling very neutral toward him as a character, but I grew very fond of him while reading this (in spite of the lackluster efforts of the creative team!). I think he's a character who has great potential, and I hope to see more of him as a solo act in the future. 💛🦇☀️
July 30, 2019
The majority of this trade is the "Wheel" storyline that I had read published elsewhere (in All-Star Batman and possibly another trade), and I found it to be frustratingly self-referential in that the Duke character's purpose and trajectory are a big mystery. After that long introduction, by the end of which Duke has been training and fighting alongside Batman for a whole year, he gets his own series, which is a measly three issues long. By the end of this collection, I was convinced Duke was going to get killed off and was only created to serve as a piece of the Metal puzzle Scott Snyder spent so much time building up to and masterminding.
April 24, 2024
I know im biased but I LOVE Duke Thomas and this comic book, everything about him is just cool and I enjoyed this book quite a lot!
July 20, 2018
It's time to meet Gotham's day shift. Batman & the Signal introduces a young new super-hero, the Signal. Trained by Batman, the Signal is well on his way to being a great detective who wants to stand on his own two feet. No side-kick roll for him, the Signal even has his own lair. A meta-human with powers, the Signal patrols the Narrows during the day trying to solve the case that he seems to be the center of. With a new cool villain and an interesting new police ally, the Signal is unique and gripping new super-hero with a well written story. Snyder's story telling is a top notch detective story with plenty of action that is both suspenseful and engrossing and completely entertaining. While not my favorite embodiment of Batman, the art is nicely drawn and beautifully colored. The Signal contains the potential to be a new favorite and is a must read for Batman fans. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.
April 16, 2019
I adore this story! It’s so good to see Duke get his due as part of the Batfamily. I love the exploration of day time Gotham versus nighttime Gotham. I love the way this story leans hard into the idea of found family and claiming your place at the table. It’s also a pretty great depiction of Bruce in full Batdad mode. Scott Snyder continues to be the best
April 24, 2022
Collects: “The Cursed Wheel” 1-6, “Role Call”, Batman & The Signal: “Gotham by Day” 1-3
Full transparency this is only half review and half in-defense-of-Duke-Thomas cause he gets a lot of sh*t from Batman stans. Anyone calling Duke “Batman’s new sidekick” or saying he doesn’t belong in the bat family cause he’s too different, is expressly missing the point of his arch. Yeah, Duke doesn’t belong— that’s the point! He’s not a Robin, he’s not Batman’s shadow, he doesn’t fight for Gotham in the same way.
Duke has special powers which is just one of his contradictions to the rest of the bat family, but he has a really hard time grappling with that. He feels like a freak, out of place, and like he can’t be part of this family because of something in his identity that he has no control over. That’s devastating! And I think it’s what makes him relatable. Bruce is his mentor not his role model- that’s a key different between him and the Robins. Duke isn’t planning on being Batman. I hope this book will connect to readers who need to hear that they can feel confident in their difference.
Duke is fighting to prove himself -to himself!- not to Batman.I think some readers may have read this as Duke trying to prove himself to the bats, and he fell short for them cause he’s so obviously different. But Duke was always trying to convince himself of his own worth and that’s a very different story. Duke doesn’t fall short when he becomes the Signal because he’s not living up to anyone’s expectations but his own, and that’s really powerful. Duke needed to trust the value of his skills but at the same time not do everything alone- he had help from friends and family. It’s especially hard to accept help when you’re trying to prove yourself, so Duke had to learn to do that.
I found a lot to love in this book but I especially enjoyed the turn away from Batman’s legacy in “Gotham by Day”. The idea of Gotham in daylight needing a fundamentally different hero, I think is pretty cool. Was the cursed wheel an amazing and totally wasted concept? …unfortunately yes. But we get some really great stuff too, like Duke’s relationship to his parents. There’s an especially powerful moment where he explains that his parents saying hateful things under the influence of the Joker’s poison is actually them communicating how much they love him (bc Joker turns ppl against what they love most). This kid is hope in adversity. I really enjoy Duke and I hope he gets more comics with a focus on him cause there’s a lot of cool places DC could take Duke as his character grows.
Full transparency this is only half review and half in-defense-of-Duke-Thomas cause he gets a lot of sh*t from Batman stans. Anyone calling Duke “Batman’s new sidekick” or saying he doesn’t belong in the bat family cause he’s too different, is expressly missing the point of his arch. Yeah, Duke doesn’t belong— that’s the point! He’s not a Robin, he’s not Batman’s shadow, he doesn’t fight for Gotham in the same way.
Duke has special powers which is just one of his contradictions to the rest of the bat family, but he has a really hard time grappling with that. He feels like a freak, out of place, and like he can’t be part of this family because of something in his identity that he has no control over. That’s devastating! And I think it’s what makes him relatable. Bruce is his mentor not his role model- that’s a key different between him and the Robins. Duke isn’t planning on being Batman. I hope this book will connect to readers who need to hear that they can feel confident in their difference.
Duke is fighting to prove himself -to himself!- not to Batman.I think some readers may have read this as Duke trying to prove himself to the bats, and he fell short for them cause he’s so obviously different. But Duke was always trying to convince himself of his own worth and that’s a very different story. Duke doesn’t fall short when he becomes the Signal because he’s not living up to anyone’s expectations but his own, and that’s really powerful. Duke needed to trust the value of his skills but at the same time not do everything alone- he had help from friends and family. It’s especially hard to accept help when you’re trying to prove yourself, so Duke had to learn to do that.
I found a lot to love in this book but I especially enjoyed the turn away from Batman’s legacy in “Gotham by Day”. The idea of Gotham in daylight needing a fundamentally different hero, I think is pretty cool. Was the cursed wheel an amazing and totally wasted concept? …unfortunately yes. But we get some really great stuff too, like Duke’s relationship to his parents. There’s an especially powerful moment where he explains that his parents saying hateful things under the influence of the Joker’s poison is actually them communicating how much they love him (bc Joker turns ppl against what they love most). This kid is hope in adversity. I really enjoy Duke and I hope he gets more comics with a focus on him cause there’s a lot of cool places DC could take Duke as his character grows.
May 19, 2018
I'm not that familiar with the Duke Thomas character. I did read the backups featuring him in Snyder's All-Star Batman, and those were interesting. But I never read the We Are Robin series or any of his other appearances. So I'm not terribly familiar with him or with the supporting characters in this book. You don't really need much prior knowledge to read this, though.
This is a pretty good story, told well. The day/night theme is maybe overdone a bit, but it's fine. The art, by Cully Hamner, is very good. I liked it a lot.
Overall, this mini-series was good enough that I'd buy it as an ongoing series, if they let the creators do one. (I don't think that's happening though. There are already more than enough ongoing Batman books.)
This is a pretty good story, told well. The day/night theme is maybe overdone a bit, but it's fine. The art, by Cully Hamner, is very good. I liked it a lot.
Overall, this mini-series was good enough that I'd buy it as an ongoing series, if they let the creators do one. (I don't think that's happening though. There are already more than enough ongoing Batman books.)
December 17, 2019
I was decently entertained. His powers are rather too vague though, which makes it hard for one to root for him since we don't know what the limitations are... but I get that the writers want to keep it vague so they can expand upon the mystery in the future. Still a little annoying, though. Art is nice and crisp.
August 31, 2018
Ever since Duke Thomas helped Batman just as he was beginning his vigilante career as a child, Duke Thomas always wanted to be a hero. He led an insurgency of teen Robins who insisted that their movement's namesake did not really need a partner. In the aftermath, Batman himself has taken Duke under his wing to train him – not to be a sidekick, but to be his own superhero. This trade paperback collects "The Cursed Wheel", a backup story, from All-Star Batman #1–4, 6–9, "Roll Call" from the New Talent Showcase 2017, and the three-issue mini-series of Batman and the Signal.
Batman and the Signal open with the story of "The Cursed Wheel", which is an eight-part story that served as a back-end of the All-Star Batman series (All-Star Batman #1–4, 6–9). Once Bruce Wayne returned to the mantle of Batman after he had previously lost his memory, Batman offered Duke Thomas a position as his new protégé, which the boy accepted under the condition that he not become just another Robin. Handing him a yellow suit instead, Batman agreed to teach him as something else.
Beginning their training together, in what Alfred Pennyworth would call the Cursed Wheel, Batman taught Duke Thomas the basics of becoming a professional vigilante by first following a string of murders committed by Victor Zsasz. Later, they continued the training when they investigated how the Riddler was managing to terrorizing Gotham City from his cell in Arkham Asylum to celebrate the anniversary of his first attack on Gotham City (Zero Year).
With the story in the New Talent Showcase 2017, "Roll Call", we have Duke Thomas and Jason Todd as Red Hood training in the Mud Room. While battling the simulation, Jason Todd has a few choice words to teach the newly graduate recruit. It is good to have Duke Thomas in communication with the rest of the Bat Family and Jason Todd is a rather good, albeit unexpected first choice.
The three-issue mini-series, Batman and the Signal is the first case of Duke Thomas as The Signal. Batman and his associates own the night, but with new villains emerging during the day, they need an ally to defend the city when they cannot. Duke Thomas is the vigilante to fill that spot. His first mission is to find out why there is a meta-human boom in the Narrows and we follow him through three issues as he tries to investigate and solve this mystery.
Scott Snyder penned the entire trade paperback and planned the mini-series with the exception of the story in the New Talent Showcase 2017 and the mini-series, which was written by Tony Patrick. For the most part, I rather like the story of Duke Thomas' training, albeit a tad brief and his first mission. Scott Snyder created Duke Thomas and it is good to hear from the originator what he envisioned his character. Scott Snyder mentored Tony Patrick as a new writer, so he made sure that he left Duke Thomas safe hands, which I think he did.
Although, being a Robin fan, I was a tad dismayed of how trivial Snyder made being Robin meant – as it was a lesser thing to want to be a Robin than one's own superhero. Furthermore, I'm not really a fan of the code name of The Signal – I was hoping for a more avian name to fit in with most of the Batman Family and allies.
However, there are more things, which are not subjective that I found problematic. Firstly, I love the idea of a daytime protector for Gotham City – I think it is an idea that needed to be addressed for a long time. However, Duke Thomas – a teenager? Most of his time during the day should be spent at school, which still leaves eight hours unprotected.
Secondly, they made Duke Thomas into a meta-human with photokinetic powers – not that I hate the idea – I do not. It just that the Batman Family has always prided themselves as normal humans that with training could stand equal to those with powers and even surpass them. Therefore, giving Duke Thomas powers made him an outlier in the Batman Family.
This trade paperback had four different pencilers: Declan Shalvey and Francesco Francavilla penciled four issues each (All-Star Batman #1–4 and All-Star Batman #6–9 respectively), Cully Hamner had penciled the mini-series (Batman and the Signal), and Minkyu Jung penciled one ("Roll Call", New Talent Showcase 2017). With the exception of Francesco Francavilla, whose penciling style is much to be desired, the other penciling styles complemented and worked well with each other, which I quite enjoyed.
However, I did have a problem with Cully Hamner who also served as colorist for Batman and the Signal. Two characters from Duke Thomas' Robins days were fellow former Robins Isabella Oritz and Riko Sheridan who are Cuban and Japanese respectively, but were whitewashed. I rather liked Cully Hamner's penciling and coloring style – I just wished that he would have colored these characters appropriately.
All in all, Batman and the Signal is a rather a wonderful written and conceived trade paperback. For the most part, I really enjoyed this trade paperback, despite some of the misgivings that arose when I read through it.
Batman and the Signal open with the story of "The Cursed Wheel", which is an eight-part story that served as a back-end of the All-Star Batman series (All-Star Batman #1–4, 6–9). Once Bruce Wayne returned to the mantle of Batman after he had previously lost his memory, Batman offered Duke Thomas a position as his new protégé, which the boy accepted under the condition that he not become just another Robin. Handing him a yellow suit instead, Batman agreed to teach him as something else.
Beginning their training together, in what Alfred Pennyworth would call the Cursed Wheel, Batman taught Duke Thomas the basics of becoming a professional vigilante by first following a string of murders committed by Victor Zsasz. Later, they continued the training when they investigated how the Riddler was managing to terrorizing Gotham City from his cell in Arkham Asylum to celebrate the anniversary of his first attack on Gotham City (Zero Year).
With the story in the New Talent Showcase 2017, "Roll Call", we have Duke Thomas and Jason Todd as Red Hood training in the Mud Room. While battling the simulation, Jason Todd has a few choice words to teach the newly graduate recruit. It is good to have Duke Thomas in communication with the rest of the Bat Family and Jason Todd is a rather good, albeit unexpected first choice.
The three-issue mini-series, Batman and the Signal is the first case of Duke Thomas as The Signal. Batman and his associates own the night, but with new villains emerging during the day, they need an ally to defend the city when they cannot. Duke Thomas is the vigilante to fill that spot. His first mission is to find out why there is a meta-human boom in the Narrows and we follow him through three issues as he tries to investigate and solve this mystery.
Scott Snyder penned the entire trade paperback and planned the mini-series with the exception of the story in the New Talent Showcase 2017 and the mini-series, which was written by Tony Patrick. For the most part, I rather like the story of Duke Thomas' training, albeit a tad brief and his first mission. Scott Snyder created Duke Thomas and it is good to hear from the originator what he envisioned his character. Scott Snyder mentored Tony Patrick as a new writer, so he made sure that he left Duke Thomas safe hands, which I think he did.
Although, being a Robin fan, I was a tad dismayed of how trivial Snyder made being Robin meant – as it was a lesser thing to want to be a Robin than one's own superhero. Furthermore, I'm not really a fan of the code name of The Signal – I was hoping for a more avian name to fit in with most of the Batman Family and allies.
However, there are more things, which are not subjective that I found problematic. Firstly, I love the idea of a daytime protector for Gotham City – I think it is an idea that needed to be addressed for a long time. However, Duke Thomas – a teenager? Most of his time during the day should be spent at school, which still leaves eight hours unprotected.
Secondly, they made Duke Thomas into a meta-human with photokinetic powers – not that I hate the idea – I do not. It just that the Batman Family has always prided themselves as normal humans that with training could stand equal to those with powers and even surpass them. Therefore, giving Duke Thomas powers made him an outlier in the Batman Family.
This trade paperback had four different pencilers: Declan Shalvey and Francesco Francavilla penciled four issues each (All-Star Batman #1–4 and All-Star Batman #6–9 respectively), Cully Hamner had penciled the mini-series (Batman and the Signal), and Minkyu Jung penciled one ("Roll Call", New Talent Showcase 2017). With the exception of Francesco Francavilla, whose penciling style is much to be desired, the other penciling styles complemented and worked well with each other, which I quite enjoyed.
However, I did have a problem with Cully Hamner who also served as colorist for Batman and the Signal. Two characters from Duke Thomas' Robins days were fellow former Robins Isabella Oritz and Riko Sheridan who are Cuban and Japanese respectively, but were whitewashed. I rather liked Cully Hamner's penciling and coloring style – I just wished that he would have colored these characters appropriately.
All in all, Batman and the Signal is a rather a wonderful written and conceived trade paperback. For the most part, I really enjoyed this trade paperback, despite some of the misgivings that arose when I read through it.
September 21, 2018
This was more about the new DC Comic hero “the Signal” than it was about Batman although Batman played a big part in this book and it was Batman who trained the Signal into his role of being a crime fighting hero. This book collects various issues of Batman and tells us different stories about Duke Thomas who later became known as “the Signal” in the second half of the book. One of the thing that I like about the character Duke is that it breaks out of the mold that Batman’s partner has to be another “Robin.” Instead in the collected stories of Duke Thomas both in this book and elsewhere we see Batman’s deliberate attempt to raise Duke up to be more than just a “sidekick” but for him to be his own person. I really appreciate the writer Scott Snyder exploring a deeper and more maturing view of human nature and longings and desires.
As mentioned earlier this book collects various stories about Batman and Duke Thomas. It began with a story called “Cursed Wheel” and then on page 72 there is a different story called “Role Call.” While I was reading “Cursed Wheel” I felt I had a sense of Déjà vu of being familiar with this story already; it turns out the story appeared earlier in DC Comic’s All-Star Batman, Volume 2: Ends of the Earth. The second story “Roll Call” actually felt like it was more as a “filler” rather than a fully developed story. “Role Call” begins with Batman’s sidekick name Duke fighting “Red Hood” which in this version is former Robin name Jason Todd. It later turn out that Duke was actually in a training program that Batman set up to prepare Duke for his calling of being a superhero. The third and final story began on page 83 and is the “Batman and the Signal” story that the title of this book derived its name. Honestly I felt the first two stories were added to this book as fillers for this volume. The final story in this book was the best one. This final story happen to be told in three part with the first being “Gotham by Day. Part One: Morning” and the final installment being “Gotham by Day: Part Three; Dusk.” Here we see the transition of Duke becoming “The Signal” on his first day of being an hero on his own. This is almost an origin story of “The Signal” since it is here that we see “The Signal” trying to discover what is his secret power that he had and which his villains realize he has and wishes to harvest his power. I appreciate the writer Scott Snyder and his ability to build suspense and mystery especially with the anxiety of wondering who was behind the attack and whether Batman might be knowing a lot more than he let on. The storyline was incredibly well done.
I enjoyed this book for several reasons. First off I think it is awesome that the Signal was a different person and character than the typical side kick of Batman who wore the Robin costume. The Signal has a different uniform with a different color (Yellow) and Batman even moves him away to another location for his operations center so that he can be his own person. Secondly I think you also see a more mature Batman; he’s willing to “think outside the box.” This include training Duke in a different manner than the way he trained other sidekicks. Also Batman has Duke become the Signal as the hero for daytime Gotham as opposed to the usual Batman and Robin duo who worked primarily at night. Thirdly I enjoyed also how Duke parallel Bruce Wayne in many ways. Both have seen their parents get killed as a child. Both are principled superheroes who are detective first and fighters second. Both also work with law enforcement in their fight against injustice. Fourthly I also enjoyed the new characters in this book that I haven’t seen before from older Batman comic books. For instance the Signal is largely new although I was also surprised at how Duke, the character being the hero has been around for DC comics stories about Batman for over ten years beginning with Duke Thomas being a kid that saved Batman by patching him up during Batman’s fight against the Riddler when he held Gotham hostage for months known as Year Zero I never made the connection until after I read this work. That is kind of neat to see.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by DC Comics and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
As mentioned earlier this book collects various stories about Batman and Duke Thomas. It began with a story called “Cursed Wheel” and then on page 72 there is a different story called “Role Call.” While I was reading “Cursed Wheel” I felt I had a sense of Déjà vu of being familiar with this story already; it turns out the story appeared earlier in DC Comic’s All-Star Batman, Volume 2: Ends of the Earth. The second story “Roll Call” actually felt like it was more as a “filler” rather than a fully developed story. “Role Call” begins with Batman’s sidekick name Duke fighting “Red Hood” which in this version is former Robin name Jason Todd. It later turn out that Duke was actually in a training program that Batman set up to prepare Duke for his calling of being a superhero. The third and final story began on page 83 and is the “Batman and the Signal” story that the title of this book derived its name. Honestly I felt the first two stories were added to this book as fillers for this volume. The final story in this book was the best one. This final story happen to be told in three part with the first being “Gotham by Day. Part One: Morning” and the final installment being “Gotham by Day: Part Three; Dusk.” Here we see the transition of Duke becoming “The Signal” on his first day of being an hero on his own. This is almost an origin story of “The Signal” since it is here that we see “The Signal” trying to discover what is his secret power that he had and which his villains realize he has and wishes to harvest his power. I appreciate the writer Scott Snyder and his ability to build suspense and mystery especially with the anxiety of wondering who was behind the attack and whether Batman might be knowing a lot more than he let on. The storyline was incredibly well done.
I enjoyed this book for several reasons. First off I think it is awesome that the Signal was a different person and character than the typical side kick of Batman who wore the Robin costume. The Signal has a different uniform with a different color (Yellow) and Batman even moves him away to another location for his operations center so that he can be his own person. Secondly I think you also see a more mature Batman; he’s willing to “think outside the box.” This include training Duke in a different manner than the way he trained other sidekicks. Also Batman has Duke become the Signal as the hero for daytime Gotham as opposed to the usual Batman and Robin duo who worked primarily at night. Thirdly I enjoyed also how Duke parallel Bruce Wayne in many ways. Both have seen their parents get killed as a child. Both are principled superheroes who are detective first and fighters second. Both also work with law enforcement in their fight against injustice. Fourthly I also enjoyed the new characters in this book that I haven’t seen before from older Batman comic books. For instance the Signal is largely new although I was also surprised at how Duke, the character being the hero has been around for DC comics stories about Batman for over ten years beginning with Duke Thomas being a kid that saved Batman by patching him up during Batman’s fight against the Riddler when he held Gotham hostage for months known as Year Zero I never made the connection until after I read this work. That is kind of neat to see.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by DC Comics and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
April 29, 2022
I finally got this book to give Duke Thomas a chance. I’ve never hated him, I’ve just never cared for him. I’ve read I think all of Scott Snyder’s work on Batman yet I’m struggling to think of any personality traits or characteristics Duke has shown.
Batman’s name may be bigger on the cover but this book is very much Duke’s book. It collects the back up stories from All Star Batman that I’d already read and reviewed (the first half of The Cursed Wheel with Zsasz had potential, the second half with evil Darryl was awful). There’s then a short story called Role Call where Duke trains with Red Hood that is entirely un-notable. It’s included because it’s Tony Patrick’s DC New Talent Showcase story.
The main content of the book though is Patrick’s 3 issue Batman and The Signal miniseries, which for the record barely features Batman. This is Duke finally getting the spotlight so we can really get to know him, see where he fits in the Batfamily and get a sense of where his arc is going. It does not achieve any of this.
The one area where the story is competent, is that there is a clear attempt to establish Duke’s role in Gotham. The first page actually gave me hope.
“Before we start, I just want to say, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, hell no. You’re thinking we have enough Bat-people already.” - Yes, book, I am!
“Look, point is, you’re thinking this isn’t going to work. Why? Because I’m thinking it too. Hell, I dream about being at the weekly breakfast table to report in. And there’s no place for me.” - that’s promisingly self-aware writing. I was ready for this series to work through those doubts and prove Duke belonged. Instead it proved the exact opposite.
So let’s get to it then: The Signal is Gotham’s daytime behaviour. He wears bright yellow and calls himself The Signal because he goes outside when it’s light, unlike Batman who can’t cope with daylight. Now I get that Batman is a terrifying creature of the night. But the idea that he has left daytime Gotham entirely undefended up until this point is ludicrous. He’s a member of the Justice League and they definitely aren’t all nocturnal. He might have to go to stealth mode or operate more as Bruce Wayne or Matches Malone, but if daytime was safe from the shadow of the Bat then criminals would have sussed that out by now. And if Batman is sleeping off a big lunch, then he has about 30 brightly coloured Robins and Batgirls he can send out instead, since the criteria for being daytime vigilante is apparently just bright hideous costume.
There’s also an unexpected effort to give Duke his own supporting cast. Suddenly he has a legal guardian, big cousin Jay who doesn’t believe in letting teenagers close their bedroom doors. There’s his girlfriend Iz and friend Riko who’s names I just had to check but apparently were starring roles with Duke in DC’s We Are Robin series that I forgot existed and have never read. He even gets his own Commissioner Gordon through one armed grumpy Detective Alex Aisa. None of these characters appealed to me in the slightest.
Batman gives Duke ‘The Hatch’ to operate out of because apparently he’s his favourite child now. There’s some reference to Duke being the sidekick Batman trained the longest which I’m calling BS on. And then Duke is sent to go investigate how teenagers are suddenly being given superpowers (the exact plot of Scott Snyder’s questionable Mr Bloom story but much more boring). Guess what the answer to it all is: Duke’s secret evil father. Yes, they really did that.
It’s meant to be a big shock reveal that this boring bizarrely-named personality-less villain is Duke’s father but I couldn’t care less. Also bizarrely-named and personality-less is all I can tell you about The Signal so maybe there is a family resemblance.
It’s frustrating because I want to like Duke. All Star Batman showed he could have been a decent Robin or sidekick. But Snyder was determined he had to be something different so here we are and Duke is the most boring and useless member of the Batfamily around, with the most awful codename and costume imaginable.
The story was garbage. The characters were emotionless husks. The Signal is a failed concept. I regret buying this.
Batman’s name may be bigger on the cover but this book is very much Duke’s book. It collects the back up stories from All Star Batman that I’d already read and reviewed (the first half of The Cursed Wheel with Zsasz had potential, the second half with evil Darryl was awful). There’s then a short story called Role Call where Duke trains with Red Hood that is entirely un-notable. It’s included because it’s Tony Patrick’s DC New Talent Showcase story.
The main content of the book though is Patrick’s 3 issue Batman and The Signal miniseries, which for the record barely features Batman. This is Duke finally getting the spotlight so we can really get to know him, see where he fits in the Batfamily and get a sense of where his arc is going. It does not achieve any of this.
The one area where the story is competent, is that there is a clear attempt to establish Duke’s role in Gotham. The first page actually gave me hope.
“Before we start, I just want to say, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, hell no. You’re thinking we have enough Bat-people already.” - Yes, book, I am!
“Look, point is, you’re thinking this isn’t going to work. Why? Because I’m thinking it too. Hell, I dream about being at the weekly breakfast table to report in. And there’s no place for me.” - that’s promisingly self-aware writing. I was ready for this series to work through those doubts and prove Duke belonged. Instead it proved the exact opposite.
So let’s get to it then: The Signal is Gotham’s daytime behaviour. He wears bright yellow and calls himself The Signal because he goes outside when it’s light, unlike Batman who can’t cope with daylight. Now I get that Batman is a terrifying creature of the night. But the idea that he has left daytime Gotham entirely undefended up until this point is ludicrous. He’s a member of the Justice League and they definitely aren’t all nocturnal. He might have to go to stealth mode or operate more as Bruce Wayne or Matches Malone, but if daytime was safe from the shadow of the Bat then criminals would have sussed that out by now. And if Batman is sleeping off a big lunch, then he has about 30 brightly coloured Robins and Batgirls he can send out instead, since the criteria for being daytime vigilante is apparently just bright hideous costume.
There’s also an unexpected effort to give Duke his own supporting cast. Suddenly he has a legal guardian, big cousin Jay who doesn’t believe in letting teenagers close their bedroom doors. There’s his girlfriend Iz and friend Riko who’s names I just had to check but apparently were starring roles with Duke in DC’s We Are Robin series that I forgot existed and have never read. He even gets his own Commissioner Gordon through one armed grumpy Detective Alex Aisa. None of these characters appealed to me in the slightest.
Batman gives Duke ‘The Hatch’ to operate out of because apparently he’s his favourite child now. There’s some reference to Duke being the sidekick Batman trained the longest which I’m calling BS on. And then Duke is sent to go investigate how teenagers are suddenly being given superpowers (the exact plot of Scott Snyder’s questionable Mr Bloom story but much more boring). Guess what the answer to it all is: Duke’s secret evil father. Yes, they really did that.
It’s meant to be a big shock reveal that this boring bizarrely-named personality-less villain is Duke’s father but I couldn’t care less. Also bizarrely-named and personality-less is all I can tell you about The Signal so maybe there is a family resemblance.
It’s frustrating because I want to like Duke. All Star Batman showed he could have been a decent Robin or sidekick. But Snyder was determined he had to be something different so here we are and Duke is the most boring and useless member of the Batfamily around, with the most awful codename and costume imaginable.
The story was garbage. The characters were emotionless husks. The Signal is a failed concept. I regret buying this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2024
it just feels weak and underdeveloped and full of questionable choices. weak: it's plot feels paper thin, mostly because it doesn't go anywhere. there are metahuman kids in gotham now because some freak put them there for ? reasons and now duke's gotta save 'em. gnomon also was not an interesting villain to me, like why is he so invested in giving duke an army? is he supposed to be magneto? i don't get it, he makes it sound like he wants to take over (gotham? the world? unclear) but why? whether it's petty drama or belief in his superiority i'm not sure but it just felt lame and weird.
underdeveloped: the brief moments of good in this plot, the new characters, the old characters making a return, all feel like they get 0 time to grow. it's hinted that this meta-case has been going on for a while, going so far as to injure people on the police force who become recurring characters. but unless this story is spun out into far more than just these issues would entail, i do not see any background to this plotline, i don't get to see as much of these new characters as i want, and i don't understand why the returning characters are acting the way they do. riko and izzy(characters from we are robin) are back here, but they're just duke's version of oracle? why are they choosing to do that? there was already someone in we are robin who was the "person in the chair" even if they started to transition out of that role. now, why do i think they're doing this? easy.
questionable choices: i think scott snyder wanted duke to have someone in his earpiece, so he picked two random characters he found in we are robin. of course, he didn't pick the engineer or the experienced tech person, he just threw in two other big characters from the run and called it a day. i think they're weakly characterized at best, to my knowledge, and at worst just random personalities on familiar characters. unless i missed a lot, snyder missed the mark by a lot. batman is written SO oddly in this, especially coming from head chef "i'm going to backhand the boy i've raised from childhood to make my point rather than explain it normally". batman just like. is always super cool and chill and he's always Super Nice and Never does anything wrong. he's being cool dad and giving duke his own secret base(he has not given any single one of his other children/crimefighting partners this. why duke? not even intended as a "why would you pick duke" because duke is an incredible character, but like what changed) and starts giving speeches about how "they need to do things differently and in the daytime". you mean mr. stuck-in-his-ways is somehow magically unstuck on one specific thing? come on. also gnomon being duke's "real" dad is wack and just feels like a lame darth vader(and the "evil" family member is something he ALREADY did in the court of owls story, where it was also wack) that lacks any punch or weight. you think duke thomas, who loves his parents so much that they are consistently on his mind and he hunted all of gotham for months to find them, is suddenly going to care that you're his "actual" dad? no shot you're replacing the guy who's suffering in a hospital.
apparently duke thomas is great enough that even a really poorly written story about him still lets him shine, so there's that
underdeveloped: the brief moments of good in this plot, the new characters, the old characters making a return, all feel like they get 0 time to grow. it's hinted that this meta-case has been going on for a while, going so far as to injure people on the police force who become recurring characters. but unless this story is spun out into far more than just these issues would entail, i do not see any background to this plotline, i don't get to see as much of these new characters as i want, and i don't understand why the returning characters are acting the way they do. riko and izzy(characters from we are robin) are back here, but they're just duke's version of oracle? why are they choosing to do that? there was already someone in we are robin who was the "person in the chair" even if they started to transition out of that role. now, why do i think they're doing this? easy.
questionable choices: i think scott snyder wanted duke to have someone in his earpiece, so he picked two random characters he found in we are robin. of course, he didn't pick the engineer or the experienced tech person, he just threw in two other big characters from the run and called it a day. i think they're weakly characterized at best, to my knowledge, and at worst just random personalities on familiar characters. unless i missed a lot, snyder missed the mark by a lot. batman is written SO oddly in this, especially coming from head chef "i'm going to backhand the boy i've raised from childhood to make my point rather than explain it normally". batman just like. is always super cool and chill and he's always Super Nice and Never does anything wrong. he's being cool dad and giving duke his own secret base(he has not given any single one of his other children/crimefighting partners this. why duke? not even intended as a "why would you pick duke" because duke is an incredible character, but like what changed) and starts giving speeches about how "they need to do things differently and in the daytime". you mean mr. stuck-in-his-ways is somehow magically unstuck on one specific thing? come on. also gnomon being duke's "real" dad is wack and just feels like a lame darth vader(and the "evil" family member is something he ALREADY did in the court of owls story, where it was also wack) that lacks any punch or weight. you think duke thomas, who loves his parents so much that they are consistently on his mind and he hunted all of gotham for months to find them, is suddenly going to care that you're his "actual" dad? no shot you're replacing the guy who's suffering in a hospital.
apparently duke thomas is great enough that even a really poorly written story about him still lets him shine, so there's that
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