EYES WIDE OPEN IN A CITY ASLEEP

We Are Robin is the foundational Duke comic in a lot of ways because it sets up some of his most important relationships and just has really instructive Duke personality writing, also Duke was/is a Robin so the Robin mantle is really important to understanding him. But All-Star Batman might be the definitive Duke comic for me in terms of how much it makes your brain melt with the sheer Duke of it all. There's no coming out of that first five issues without Duke thoughts streaming out your ears.

In terms of Duke's opinion on Robin it is VITALLY important that Duke as a child never cared about Robin. He was a Batman fan way more like he dressed up as Batman for Halloween and it was Batman who promised him he'd save his parents. Therefore, it was Batman who failed him. Batman's failure to uphold his promise is symbolic of how the adult world fails children. Throughout all of this, Robin is not even a thought in Duke's mind until he meets/is recruited into We Are Robin. It is Izzy, Dax, Dre, Riko, and Troy who help Duke understand what Robin can mean. And it is only when he puts on the symbol himself that he starts to believe in the Robin promise - the promise of youth & agency, of revolution, of a social movement. There is no Robin prior to him becoming Robin and this is foundational to him and how he understands Robin and heroism as a whole.

people who do not understand that David Cain genuinely did love Cassandra and that's deliberately portrayed as (partially) what makes his actions so monstrous are people who fundamentally missed the point of Puckett's Batgirl run

genuinely it kills me that the only thing people know about duke is he’s a meta day time hero named signal because his pre meta signal stuff is so good and like the meat of his character to me like omg I just feel bad these people are missing out. They don’t even know “it’s why I got these puzzles out Mr Wayne. I’m going to take him on. They all say I’m crazy, but theyll see… you’re only crazy if it doesn’t work, right? Now, like I said… what’s a six letter word for hit-or-miss?” They don’t even know his parents got jokerized in an exact replica of the wayne family murders. They don’t even know We are Robin. They don’t know he’s a puzzle master. They don’t know everything he went through trying to find his parents. They don’t know he threw himself in front of a train because he was pissed Bruce was an amnesiac and wanted him to lock in and be Batman again. They don’t even know We are Robin. They don’t know he blasted Two-Face underwater with his favorite heavy metal band “Batmans bitch” and/or pussy it depends how you interpret the censor. They don’t even know “look at this. This is me. This is you. I love you.” They don’t even know We are Robin. They don’t even know he wanted to be called Lark. They don’t even know the name signal is based off his mom and being the first knight on the battlefield. They don’t even know “and you told me you had a rule. That when you weren’t sure about someone, you met them first thing in the morning. In the new light, you said. People have a harder time hiding who they are first thing in the morning.” They don’t even know he quotes Tarantino movies and is a poet and collects card games. They don’t even know “You think Joker is just pure evil, just pure black. But he’s not. He attacks what he loves. His serum makes victims do the same. So my parents? Every horrible thing out of their mouths? They’re actually telling me how much they love me. That’s the motivation behind the blackness. So please. Let them stay. I can take it.” They DONT EVEN KNOW WE ARE ROBIN

Hating on Bat comics is so beautiful until someone reblogs your post saying 'this is why I prefer Wayne Family Adventures'. well now you've ruined it

Something neuroscience-y that helps with prose: attention is selective. A character will not notice everything in a room. They will notice what matters to their goal, fear, desire, training, wound, or obsession. A jealous character notices hands. a hungry character notices food. A soldier notices exits. A lonely character notices pairs. Description becomes character when attention has a bias.

Duke notices people btw if you even care, he notices their emotions, he notices how they respond to the environment around them and sometimes he uses that power for evil which is always hilarious but he’s always noticing people

(girl who's been thinking about The Character nonstop for two months voice) you'll never guess what this song reminds me of

duke being in the variant covers for bad seeds: gotham general which is all about the hospital and it’s staff during the event like, that is so exciting because duke is such a community oriented character and so much of his character and story is built around being that guy who wants to help those around him and to see him in a community (civilian cast) focused comic again is like feeling a cool breeze after hours of being in the sun