#*manifesting a run in with him*

[z13lovebot]

The ghosts of smilk past and future playing wingman 🌀

[justn0t]

do u see my vision

[onlykiwi]

guys I miss him

[artmistersealy]

for when Albion's need is greatest

Arthur will rise again

[sforzesco]

so the 2025 eleksyon, huh! what a time. vote buying, violence, red-tagging, the ongoing uniteam (derogatory) divorce shitshow, entitled dynast families and their fuckin nepo baby politician children. good grief.

anyway. following tradition, we're bringing back the roman stage! it's octavian & friends! discussing politics and power, with uhhhhh less enthusiasm than octavian might be hoping for. the jury is out on what's going on in agrippa's head.

technically, this is part of an early roman empire comic that I've been writing but not posting: this is goofy abridging of a more serious scene discussing the currency of victory and legacies (additionally roman bossism dynamics and assimilation into a national identity) and the return to appropriating the divine. it's early on in the narrative soup that everyone is kind of thorny about octavian's empire-nation building project some way or another.

@ octavian: this conversation would probably be better received by your wife and/or your sister lmao

[lucentel]

wake up world its time to go , and turn around the opposite way

[casscainmainly]

You haven't talked about Duke Thomas in a while so here's your excuse

Well thank you because I did finish my canon Duke read (have to specify canon because I did not get to a lot of Elseworlds 😭) so here are my unnecessary opinions on EVERY SINGLE DUKE THING I'VE READ SO FAR!! Under a cut because this is going to be super long (do not click unless you want to read a whole bunch of yapping):

New 52

Zero Year: I love me some Snyder but what on earth was going on 😭 I didn't really process the plot at all tbh because it was so. like just stuff happening. DUKE WAS GREAT THOUGH PEAK OUT THE GATE!!! Also Snyder writes a really good Alfred, like between this and Absolute Alfred his Alfred always slaps.

Endgame: Even more incomprehensible than Zero Year like I have no clue if I liked or disliked it. WAY too much Joker for my taste (this read put Joker in my top 10 most read characters 😭😭😭 WHY SNYDER WHYYYY)

We Are Robin: PEAK

Batman and Robin: Eternal: This is awful and ableist overall, but it DOES have the most interesting Dick and Duke interaction outside Robin War. It's the only time we see Dick discomfited by the idea of We Are Robin!!!

Superheavy: I can't get on board with Robo!Jim I'm sorry 😭 but Duke PEAK moments here. I miss Snyder writing him omg, the train scene is the SCENE OF ALL TIME!!!

Rebirth

Batman: Rebirth: Fine but I'm NEVER forgiving them for writing Duke's transition to Signal and giving NO REASON ugh whatever. Duke is driven by such concrete ideals it makes no sense why they didn't clarify WHAT made him agree to Bruce's offer

Batman (2016) #1-6: GARBAGE HORRIBLE EVIL. Why is he stuck in the cave??? Why is he future married to Claire Clover???? Why does Bruce only refer to him as "Mr. Thomas" and call himself Duke's teacher?????? Tom King you will pay

All-Star Batman: PEAKKKK PEAK OF ALL TIME SO PEAK. Actually wild this was running concurrently to TK's Batman it's SO much better Duke-wise. Absolute best Bruce-Duke relationship ever, NOTHING has come close. And CURSED WHEEL TOO!!! THE biggest delight for me in this readthrough by a huge margin!!!!

Night of the Monster Men: Duke makes a joke and I was like 'omg Tom King writing Duke with personality??' and I scrolled up and it was a different writer. Anyway fun crossover! Duke is quite nice in this, and we get cool Steph & Cass moments (I think this was their first Batfam crossover in years!!!)

Batman (2016) Annual #1: The briefest Duke bit ever but he looks GOOD and I love the way the Bruce-Duke dialogue is written!!

I Am Bane: If see that Batburger scene one more time I'm going to send TK hate mail. That man cannot write Duke to save his LIFE

Detective Comics #952: Just a cameo but pretty neat! The only major (canon) Duke-Kate interaction I think, so worth it for that.

Dark Days: The Forge / The Casting: There's just way too much going on in both 😭 I did not really enjoy this, the Duke stuff is perfectly fine but this is suuuuper skippable just read a summary or something

Batman (2016) #33: Tom King REALLY wants you to know Duke isn't Robin 😒

Role Call: Cute! Tony Patrick's hit or miss for me, this is a pretty good one though

Batman & The Signal: On the subject of Tony Patrick... sigh. This has some neat Duke moments (I'M SORRY MOM!!!), but there's a LOT I dislike too. The Robin -> Signal transition isn't handled that well, it feels too dismissive of WAR. Also the writing of Riko and Izzy SUCKS omg. Riko this isn't you... But on the whole a solid Duke story, and very important to understanding him!

Detective Comics #982: Duke only cameos in this one but I love it! Reading this issue through Duke goggles is lovely, there's no better issue to demonstrate how Bruce and Duke's ideals fit together!

Detective Comics #983-987: The WORST surprise on this list. There's a few good Bruce-Duke moments but the narrative is a retread of better Batman stories, Karma is boring, and some of the characterisation is baffling. Sadly makes Outsiders worse in retrospect😔 The redeeming factor here is the Babs-Cass snippet... Hill is a REAL one for that

The Unexpected #4: Y'know what I did enjoy this. The only Helena-Duke interaction ever and it's fun!! I love how Duke is sort of famous, like yeah that's the SIGNAL!!! 🫶🫶🫶

Detective Comics #990, 992: LOVED this but mostly because this story is peak BatGordonHarvey. Also #990 references All-Star Batman!!! Not an integral Duke read BUT a great read overall.

Detective Comics #1000: Tom King strikes again (overall also not THAT great a read. a slog if I'm being honest)

Gotham Nights #8: PEAKKK. A lovely story that captures Duke's energy and personality really well!! A hidden gem for sure!!!!!

Batman & The Outsiders: I like the version I invented in my head

Dark Nights: Death Metal Robin King: Help why was this my favourite Tony Patrick story 😭 I feel like this REALLY captured Duke's themes of future, home, and hope. Weirdly enough this is now one of my fav Duke stories 😭😭😭

Infinite Frontier

Batman: The Secret Files: The Signal: I've made my hatred for this one pretty clear. Patrick does NOT know how to write the WAR kids 😔 and the story just feels so half-baked. I don't think I'll ever get over Riko calling Duke a diversity hire, I get the message but SHE WOULD NOT SAY THAT??? Also GET DRE OUT OF ARKHAM

Batman: Urban Legends #8-9: Was not expecting to like this one as much as I did!! It's a charming story and I like how Thomas focuses a lot on Duke's future selves!

Batman: Urban Legends #18-19: It's fine... I feel like this could've been executed way better. The way it doesn't make THAT big a deal of Duke's mom being healed, or them getting back together, annoys me. It's worse because we still haven't really had a follow up!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO DOUG THOMAS???

Gotham War: Don't get me wrong this is horrible for Duke and Cass, but it was entertaining 😭😭 Zdarsky was putting Bruce THROUGH it. Idk if it was good but it was fun!!!

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths: Fine for Duke, but Wonder Woman kicks BUTT in this. I love how much this event focuses on her!!

DC Power 2024: I wasn't too hot on this one. This is the only time Harper and Duke are together and they don't even talk?? This story retreads a LOT of other Duke stories, including Thomas' own (better) Urban Legends #8-9. The anthology as a whole is really good though!!

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #10: Another hidden gem!! it's not revolutionary, but Duke's dialogue is super fun and there are some GREAT character beats here. Deserves a follow up!!!

DC Rise of the Power Company: Lovely!! I like this anthology as a whole, but Duke's personality really does shine through in his story! A good cleanser to the Duke drought.

DC Power Company: Recharged: More a Jace story than anything, but Duke gets some nice moments! Clearly meant to be a bigger story though. WHERE IS THE FOLLOW-UP DC??? WHERE????

Elseworlds (that I got to):

Batman and Robin: Future's End: Fine (Dukebin!) but I find his suit ugly :(((

Future State: The Next Batman: DUKE THOMASSS. The best of Brandon Thomas' Duke, I really love him as a symbol of rebellion and hope!!! The Outsiders back-ups are REALLY good please check them out. As for the main story... I like Jace, but this introduction does really weird things to other members of the Fox fam that I don't like. Like it fridges Tam AGAIN. DC will pay for what they did to Tamara Fox 💔💔💔💔

To me the highlights of Duke are We Are Robin, Snyder's Batman run, All-Star Batman, Gotham Nights #8, Dark Nights: Death Metal Robin King, Future State: The Next Batman, Batman: Urban Legends #8-9, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #10, and DC Rise of the Power Company! That's not all his important reads or all the good ones but they are the ones that brought me the most joy. Anyway thank you for this ask and I hope that's enough Duke talking to your liking 😭😭

[quinnintheabyss]

Your honor, ✨THIS✨is the man who stole my heart 😩

[omegalerc]

https://x.com/archivechalex/status/1902931842795217009?s=46&t=aXa7jOHcJzgn2Y5FDpdQcw

Saw this video of him jogging and thought of you, the waist and ass shots, we know what he is.

thank you for thinking of me. That’s like my only goal on here, to be thought of when there’s any kind of chass/choobs/chaist moment and to be sent it in my inbox immediately

[gravedigg]

Wear me like a leather

Just for you.

[vanityangel]

looks like someone dug their enforcer uniform out of the closet

[twilight-deviant]

[Avengers Academy: Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic (2024) #29]

The holidays are over and the darkest days of winter are upon us. The newly human Blackheart wrestles with the sins of his father – and those of his own. Guest-starring Daredevil!

Do I... ship Matt/Blackheart now...? 🖤

[cringelordlikesplaz]

crackship doomed yaoi GO

711 was a character that ran alongside Plastic Man in the OG police comics. He died (shot 3 times) after 15 issues to make way for a newer, hopefully more popular hero, 'cause he was boring as hell. Understandable really, I would've done the same. Very cool for the writers to merc his ass. I always liked how stupid his premise was though, and liked the idea of 711 and Plas hanging out. I also like it when there's the Horrors

[ingravinoveritas]

Nothing says "supportive partner" like promoting his second run in a highly acclaimed play by making a crack about him struggling to relearn his lines, particularly when his own father is currently living with Alzheimer's. Definitely queen behavior, for sure...

[yinyuedijun]

also everyday I fight for the love triangle to be with gaku but everyday I also realize the chemistry with kei would be spicier. gaku could be kinda normal about tumblrina which she does deserve but kei could not be unfortunately . his guilt at being the eldest sibling and failing his youngest most fragile sibling would just haunt him too much rip

[thearunadragon]

Eragon: Nobody loves me

Eragon: —but that’s okay, because I don’t love me either.

*Runs through the empire with a grumpy asshole on his back by CHOICE*