sockpuppet shiesty

hi! I made a fanmade Duke Thomas trade, i titled it "The Signal Tape", and it collects all the stories with him and the Outsiders thus far in Infinite Frontier! I didn't know where to post it where comic fans will find it so, here it go.

this is a revision to my Duke + Constant theory.

ok now, gather 'round children, gather 'round! I have returned from the Source and i have taken a story (or a theory) to give to you.

See, I was looking into the DC cosmology and the story started to reveal itself. First we have The Constant, the head of the House of Knowledge. he's 1 of 5 ancient immortal metahumans from the dawn of man. he has a sun for a head. this got me thinking: what if Duke Thomas directly descends from the Constant?

First, some context. in the DC universe there are three important tribes from the dawn of humanity: the Wolf tribe, the Bear tribe, and the Bird tribe.

From the Bear tribe, there were five siblings who came into contact with a meteorite, the same meteorite Vandal Savage came into contact with which we later learn was a piece of The Totality. these five siblings became the Immortal Man, the Infinite Woman, the Forever Child, their unnamed sister, and The Constant.

coming into contacting with the meteorite gave them all immortality, making them the world's first metahumans. Considering these six are the earliest known metahumans on earth, it's very likely they are the ancestors of all naturally occurring metahumans on earth in modern day.

However, more pointedly, The Constant's gold/yellow solar visual motif he got going on with his mask-headdress thing is reminiscent of another Immortal. he shares this motif with Gnomon: the mysterious immortal father of Duke Thomas!

while we don't know much about Gnomon, what we do know is that Duke could sense that Gnomon was telling the truth when he revealed the little we know about his plans and history. this confirms Gnomon is a) indeed Immortal & b) Duke's father

Gnomon claims to be centuries old and has been working on his machinations over a thousand years, placing his origin somewhere in precolonial Africa; and who else was operating in ancient Africa? the The Constant! he's spotted overlooking the construction of the Library of Alexandria

See, after becoming Immortals the Bear Tribe separated and formed their own "houses" based around their individual philosophy on how to best guide humanity. Each Immortal House traveled to, influenced, and implemented their philosophy for mankind in a different region of the world. the House of Conquest was spotted in the Roman Empire, the House of Expression at the Vatican in Italy, House of Harmony in Bodh Gaya in India, House of Action in the Americas and the Constant (the House of Knowledge) was spotted in Egypt; pre-colonial Africa. this also provides a rough racial/ethnic breakdown of which metahumans descend from whom.

I posit Gnomon is or was part of the House of Knowledge, as The Constant's direct descendant or (even more wildly) is The Constant himself. Before it's cancellation, Duke was meant to cross paths with the Immortal Men down the line, I think this was how he was meant to connect.

why do I say that? In the back of the Immortal Men TPB, we learn the House of Knowledge are scholarly monks who study everything about the world and hoard the knowledge rather than sharing. a mission perfect for metas with photosensory powers like Gnomon, Duke and even Duke's mother; Elaine Thomas.

You see, before coming to Gotham, Duke's mother was involved with the Immortal Man and the secret war between Immortals. At some point she turned her back on all the Immortals to hide Duke away from Gnomon.

connecting the dots here, I think Gnomon was a member of the House of Knowledge who got ambitious and grew tired of only learning about things. for whatever reason, he specifically picks Elaine and breaks from the House of Knowledge; likely to build his own empire with his family

but why Elaine? she's a metahuman, sure, but what would make her special enough to warrant attention from Gnomon, the al Ghuls, and the Immortal Man? for the longest time I couldn't think of a particular reason why, until recently. now mind you, this probaably the biggest reach i'm gonna make but just go wit me here since it'll likely be disproved soon anyway 😁

Duke is the Last Monitor in the upcoming Tales from the Dark Multiverse: METAL story. a name that calls to mind Nix Uotan, the last member of the Monitor race descended from Mar Novu (The OG Monitor) and a being Duke has seen in a vision from an Nth metal isotope.

Duke's name (The Signal) is a reference to his mother, who had a habit of going to work at the first light of day; like a signal knight on the frontlines. what if The Last Monitor is the same? a name in deference to his mother. perhaps her lineage. What if Elaine Thomas (and thus Duke) is descended from Nix Uotan and by extension the Monitor race, Mar Novu all the way to the Over-void aka the Source! It would make sense that the House of Knowledge would know of and seek out anything related to the Monitors (cosmic chroniclers like themselves) and would be able to track any one related to them on earth.

That's the secret origin: Duke is the nexus point of humanity and DC cosmology, the descendant of both the first Metahumans and the Monitor race. a Human-Source entity.

this is the story that I have taken and given to you

another thing that may point to a connection between Duke's family and The Constant is this silhouette of the Bear Tribe.

given what we know of the siblings that the identities of the silhouettes are as followed:

the large man and the horned woman are the Immortal Man and the Infinite Woman. we know the unnamed head of the House of Harmony is their sister, making her the one we see kneeling next to the Infinite Woman. We can surmise the Forever Child is the small one given his name. that leaves this archer as a young Constant. another vocation that is suited for the photosensory nature of Duke and his metahuman family.

another thing to note is this connection to The Bear Tribe via the House of Knowledge explains not only how Gnomon would know who Bruce Wayne is but why he despises him and Duke wearing his symbol.

Bruce Wayne bears the symbol of the bat and (unknowingly) was actually the originator of The Bat Tribe, the dark fourth tribe. the Bat Tribe were originally the sheepish Deer Tribe, who lived under the thumb of the Wolf Tribe, until a time-displaced Bruce Wayne inspired them to take up his mark (the Bat) and fight after he defeated Vandal Savage. they would go on to wage war with the other early tribes, particularly the Bird Tribe of the Hawkman mythology. they would eventually link up with a splinter group of the Bird Tribe (who would later become the Court of Owls) and follow Barbatos the Dragon of Dark Multiverse.

OKAY at the drop of a hat here we GO

My Top 3 Duke Moments:

#3 - Duke revealing he Knew Alfred was the Nest (in We Are Robin #12)

We all KNOW that Duke is a Puzzle solver! That he’s got all the right makings of a Good Detective! But I feel like this little drop... at the VERY end of the run is just 👌👌👌👌 perfect set up for what was to come for Duke’s character. Either that or Alfred REALLY needs to brush up on his disguises lmao

#2 - Duke making the Decision to leave the manor despite Bruce’s bed rest orders (All-Star Batman #7)

The CINEMA of this page absolutely THRILLS me and I feel like it’s overlooked a lot for the next issue’s Page Splash of Duke on the bike driving in daytime Gotham for the first time (which is equally iconic tbh) but for me this just 👏👏👏👏 slaps v hard while being so dialogue-less. Letting the art and lighting speak for itself and conveying Dukes Determination in taking down Riddler during this arc without needing so many words. We first met Duke as a boy when he wanted to step up to save Gotham from Riddler, and here he will NOT sit at home when he has a chance to do Exactly That.

#1 - Duke thinking that his first day as signal might end up being his last 🥺 (Batman & the Signal #3)

so I read the Robin War saga and the event tie-ins earlier during the lockdown and I have some thoughts. 

【—– SPOILERS BELOW —–】

First off, the political allegory wrt the We Are Robin movement? Absolutely brilliant. Gave me shivers. This here:

“to use every means to find and arrest anyone participating in this movement”

antagonists are so much more effective when you know there are real life people in power just like them. her eating expensive steaks while she more or less declares war on kids from working and middle class backgrounds twice less her age? ugh, those optics, pure evil.

And the fact that this Councilwoman is later revealed to be colluding with the Court of Owls just makes it even more chilling. This, “Robin War”, only began because a bunch of aristocratic oligarchs willed it so, and they were willing to militarise and mobilise the police force to do their dirty deeds while they hide from the shadows.

Frankly, how quickly the GCPD became a tool of oppression in the hands of political leaders like her reminds me a Lot of the reasons why ACABs say that the police force is structurally made for suppression and violence towards citizens………

I rest my case. These explorations of police brutality hit very close to home - something that with Duke’s character in the mix (see the next comic cap below) feels a lot like DC was deliberately harkening back to the BLM movement. And I would say they got a good thing going with that comparison.

(we are robin #1)

(we are robin #12)

(batman and the outsiders #4)

(future state outsiders #2, in future state the next batman #3)