The art is passable but I think the central concept of the book — that Duke is willing to join the Batfamily and deal with Batman’s whole schtick — is an issue. Duke’s whole reason for doing what he did was that he didn’t want or need Batman, so to have him constantly being in awe of Batman or trying to win his approval or saying he wasn’t “worthy” of being part of the Batfamily seemed completely wrong to me. Why would Duke go along with Batman being such a despot in the first place? The book depends on the writer and reader being so in awe of Batman that it’s incomprehensible for someone to NOT want Batman up in their business. It reads really badly for a white writer to be putting the words “I’m not worthy” into the mouth of the first Black member of the Batfamily. I’m glad Duke exists but I wish DC would have given his storyline to a writer who’s more skeptical of the legend of Batman.

Unfortunately its a quick read! However, there was way too many new things introduced in the 3 issue miniseries that is the only new content here. But overall worth picking up!

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.

This team up featuring Batman and the Signal is one of Scott Snyder's best efforts helming the Dark Knight. His grasp of the character and understanding of The Caped Crusader's psyche continues to place him amongst the greatest writers ever to write a Batman story.

This was a fun read for me. Serious story, but a fun read because it introduces a new character 'Duke", and it's through his inexperienced eyes being trained as an ally by the Batman, that I get to imagine how I would feel in the same circumstances. A lot of the thoughts and questions Duke has, mirrored my own.
The story unfolded with a few twists and turns and surprised to keep it entertaining and engaging.
I recommend this title.

Batman and the Signal lumps together heavily edited stories from All Star Batman 1-9, New Talent Showcase 2017, and Batman and the Signal 1-3. The All Star story starts with Batman using the Cursed Wheel to train Duke while giving us the backstory about Duke’s mother, who inhaled too much Joker gas. The first few issues focus on Zsasz the slasher, followed by a focus on the Riddler. The best part of the story deals with Duke’s struggle to find a way to fit in with the Bat-family while remaining true to his own identity.

Then there’s a training story involving Red Hood that doesn’t amount to much. And then we finally get around to Duke getting a handle on his superpowers (they have something to do with seeing where light has been and where it’s going) and changing his name to the Signal. He battles somebody named Null who wields something called Negative Space (which seems to amount to making holes in stuff). He’s one of a bunch of kids who are turning into metahumans to the befuddlement of a tattooed police detective named Alex Aisi. She’s apparently destined to be a series regular.

Batman has given the Signal a lair and a mission: stay awake during the day. It’s tough for a teenager to do that, but Signal seems determined.

The story gets better when the Signal is trying to figure out what his powers might be (I’ll bet the writers are trying to figure that out too). He’s also trying to figure out why all the metateens are telling him that he’s the center of their universe, the source of their powers. That kind of talk could give a teen a God complex, not that most teens don’t have one already. I did.

Gnomon is in the Signal’s head and the Signal figures out why by the volume’s end. Kid Cobra makes an appearance because no story is complete without a talking snake.

Apart from featuring some atrocious art, the volume mixes worthwhile character development with enough Bat cameos to add heft to a superhero who isn’t yet sufficiently weighty to carry the series on his own. The Signal isn’t “there” yet but the series has potential. Maybe when it’s “there” DC will assign some artists to the series who have learned to draw iconic characters.

ARC from Netgalley.
I wanted to like this. Scott Snyder is an amazing writer and has brought some of the best Batman stories I have ever read. This was not one of them.
Duke Thomas was introduced in the "We Are Robin" storyline a few years ago, and has been a minor part of the whole Bat-books scene since. Here though, he all of a sudden is a metahuman, who's powers are never really defined. His villain (the one giving meta powers to people) is odd and not well defined. The villain's henchmen (are they henchmen, or just bad metas who don't like Bat-family heroes??) seem kind of unoriginal. I DO like that Duke has fashioned himself as sort of the "Batman of the daytime" and he works really well with cops.
Snyder teamed with new author Tony Patrick on this book, and the lack of experience kind of shows. The book is not horrible, but with such great stuff coming from Bat-titles, this one just shows as lacking.
Kind of recommend, with slight hesitation.

Duke Thomas was involved in the "Robin War" and now he is being trained and mentored by Batman. But Duke will be operating by day, not at night, as Signal. But is he up to the task of cracking the case of metahuman teenagers cropping up in the Narrows of Gotham? He has a team backing him, but they need to learn how to operate the equipment Batman supplied and they have modified. Will see what the morning light reveals of Signal.

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.

Following the events of We Are… Robin and the crossover Robin War, Duke is no longer about carrying the mantle of Batman’s trusted sidekick, which is probably a good thing given that donning the Robin suit is similar to wearing a red shirt in Star Trek. In regards to the new suit he wears, it is a cool and bright spin on the Batsuit and with its primary color of yellow — it looks a bit like Wolverine.

What begins this book is a repackaging of the backup issues from Snyder’s All-Star Batman. Illustrated by the moody visuals of Declan Shalvey and later the noir-tinged art of Francesco Francavilla, this tale showcases Duke under the mentorship of Batman as he is put through the eponymous wheel, a test in psychology that uses colors to define whether a person becomes good or evil.

When it comes to the bleak nature of Snyder, he is about connecting the dots through various arcs that are told in one title to the next, so a prior knowledge of this continuity helps to understand our young African-American hero facing his past demons. Certainly, the main title that is only three issues long does rely on how much you know about recent events within the DC Universe, most notably the fact that Duke is a metahuman.

Written by Tony Patrick, who co-developed the story with Snyder, it revolves around Duke on his first day of protecting Gotham as the Signal when an imminent crisis is about to happen involving the rising nature of teenage metahumans. Centralizing on a youthful optimistic hero who prefers to fight crime during the daylight as oppose to his mentor, this approach is visually depicted by artist Cully Hamner who gives us a colorful and modern presentation of Gotham that doesn’t look as gothic.


However, the biggest problem with this storyline is Patrick’s writing as there is a disconnect in grabbing the reader’s attention with a cast of characters that we don’t really get to know. The masked villain in particular plays with the idea of Duke being something greater than he realizes, due to his metahuman biology, which feels like an unnecessary addition to Duke’s character that was initially interesting thanks to his poor background in the Narrows.

The Verdict
With its repackaging of old material and a new title that feels more like a missed opportunity, this whole comic is ultimately redundant and an unworthy addition to Scott Snyder’s bibliography in the DC Universe.

With today marking the annual Batman Day, it is certainly fitting that one of his latest graphic novel entries, Batman & the Signal, should be the title covered for an HBB Reviews review. Symbolizing everything that is right and wrong with the past decades of the Caped Crusader, Batman & the Signal is a concoction of variant stories that attempts to merge them all together. However, as expected, the concept doesn’t pan nearly as well as DC Entertainment may have hoped. Marred by its repetitive nature, the graphic novel often never truly lives up to full potential, opting for a more simplistic and basic approach. It is an utter shame at that, given that there are elements to the book that provoke some genuine potential. Batman & the Signal is a boisterous, loud, and stunning work that attempts to recreate what represents the Caped Crusader, but ultimately comes off capturing none of it.

At its very core, Batman & the Signal is the tale of the relationship of a mentor and a student. The scenario will be very familiar to any fan who is knowledgeable about the Dark Knight’s history. Indeed, the book never innovates on the simplistic story design that has been repeated a limitless number of times. Even with a brand-new character from Duke Thomas, his role and character feel both blunted and cheap. There is nothing to the character that ever provokes a reaction, leading to his moments feeling dull and uninteresting in relation to Batman’s other sidekicks. In addition, the Dark Knight himself also disappointingly falls flat to this issue as well.
Not once is his previous history ever mentioned, insinuating that the story takes place outside of the central canon. In this regard and as an introductory piece to the DC Universe, Batman & the Signal does a serviceable job at portraying what are the central pieces of the Dark Knight character. By being one of the most recognized and established superheroes, there is a sizable chunk of history for both writers and readers to chew on, and Batman & the Signal does help set a hearty appetizer for those who dare dip their toes into comics. But its greatest strength comes at just that. For long-time fans of the character, there is practically nothing either interesting or compelling about this incarnation of the character, especially given just how ridiculously similar it is to other incarnations of the character.

These issues lead to an experience that felt dull and uninteresting, simply because of the furious number of attributes that Scott Snyder, writer of All-Star Batman, attempts to stuff into this introductory volume. It may be a serviceable piece that is worthy for new-comers to the DC Universe but when seen as anything else, it unfortunately comes across as a dull and drab experience that can hardly pick itself out from the dirt.

Score: 3.4 out of 10

I'd never scoff at the opportunity for a bunch of issues drawn by Cully Hamner, and writer Tony Patrick (with Scott Snyder) creates a viable world for Duke Thomas in Batman and the Signal, with his own supporting cast and villains. Batman and the Signal is very heartfelt in its attestations that Duke has an important destiny and he represents something new and different in Gotham. There's a strong aspirational sense that "something important is happening" in this book. Batman here is part kind and motivational uncle, part technology-fueled super-god -- all of this very positive and feeling exceptionally Scott Snyder-esque.

'Batman & The Signal' by Scott Snyder and Tony Patrick with art by Cully Hamner and Declan Shalvey takes the Duke Thomas character and makes him a hero. At least he's not another Robin.

He was never meant to be a Robin. Batman has been training Duke for something. Only Batman seemed to know what. He's been a decent enough support team member for the Batman team. Suddenly he seems to have meta powers and a new resolve to be the protector of Gotham during the day. He soon finds other metas that are strangely attracted to him, and he means to get to the bottom of things.

It's a book made up of the back up stories in All Star Batman. The stories are short chapters, and they are ok, but nothing really compelling. I did really like the art. It had a clean style that really appealed to me. I'm curious to see where they take this character, but I wish his debut as a hero had been a bit better.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

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.

Batman and the Signal
Writers: Scott Snyder
Tony Patrick
Artists: Cully Hamner
Declan Shalvey
Francesco Francavilla
Minkyu Jung
Klaus Janson
Publication Date: August 28, 2018
Collects Batman and the Signal #1-3, All-Star Batman #1-4, #6-9, New Talent Showcase 2017 #1
I was provided a copy of Batman and the Signal from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. The graphic novel follows Duke Thomas, the newest addition to the Bat Family. Duke’s first appearance was in Batman Vol 2 #21 (August 2013). He became a vigilante in the “We are Robin” movement. I was first introduced to Duke in the Batman Rebirth series.
Story:
The first arc follows Batman and the Signal tracking down the knife-wielding Zsasz. There are flashbacks to Duke’s childhood. Both his parents were hit with Joker gas leaving the couple insane. The second story focuses on the Riddler. The crossword clues tied nice with the arc panels. In another issue, Red Hood aka Jason Todd. Red Hood was a good character choice to have an interaction with the Signal as Red Hood was a repercussion of Batman’s mistakes. The last arc follows the Signal taking on Gnomon. Duke struggles with family and his role on Batman’s team. Overall, it was interesting to see Duke get his own comic series within the Batman titles.
Art:
Vibrant colors. Signal’s suit is the opposite of Batman hence making his Batman’s ally in the daytime hours. The facial expressions are realistic and well-defined; I could feel and see the emotion. Also, the panels, I thought the crossword panels were an ingenious way of tying the Riddler’s game into the artwork.
Overall:
I liked the story and art of the graphic novel, and I thought it tied nicely together. This isn’t something that I would pick up for myself but I would recommend it to others who are getting into comics.

I was very impressed by Batman and the Signal. You get to see the trials this new hero goes through to become a hero, and the challenges they meet along the way. Just as they are ready to fight crime, a new threat arises that only they can stop. Somehow they may be connected to it all, and the person behind it will leave them with only more questions than answers. They are a great addition to this team, and fans will love watching them in action.

As previously stated, I'm not sure what I think of DC's recent push to surround Batman with a family. It tends to get in the way of the whole grim avenger what avengers grimly vibe. We've got four Robins, a Batwoman, a couple of Batgirls and...Clayface...as parts of the extended Bat-Family. Its a little crowded

Enter Duke Williams, the only one of the New 52's street "Robins" to make it to the show. Now with an actual set of powers and a spiffy yellow suit of armor, Williams patrols Gotham in the daylight as The Signal.

Okay, that's a fun idea. A member of the Bat Family reminding Gotham that they care about the city as much in daylight as in the night? And co-opting the Bat-Signal as his namesake? That's right up on clever.

The first story arc is collected in a new trade paperback that goes on sale tomorrow. It's a quality read for the Bat-Fan in your life.

The Narrows, the poorest part of Gotham has a new problem. It is being terrorized by new meta human teenagers that no one can determine where they came from or how they got their powers . Duke Thomas, Batman’s new protege and also a teen meta human is being trained to deal with is and other problems in the Narrows. Sounds reasonable , right? Well, what it really is mostly is a mess.

The book is a compilation of a three issue arc which is really too short to try and develop a major new character like the Signal, but that’s only part of the problem. He, along with two girls who work with him, were apparently introduced in a book that is referenced but which I haven’t Read and as a result felt confused about many things throughout this story. Several plot points were, I believe, intentionally left confusing and while that detracted from the enjoyment of the story a great deal. I can’t blame that on not having read the prior book. However, Duke, himself, was never really explained, nor were the two girls who formed his support team. Where did they come from and how did they become a team? How did Duke become Bruce Wayne/Batman’s new protege - he is definitely not a sidekick - and does the Bat family need a new member? Who is this detective that is going to be Signal’s police “partner” in the way Jim Gordon is Batman’s?

Then, there is the mess of the plot. The teen meta humans are never explained . Where they came from and how they got powers remains as much a mystery now as it did when we started. Sure, that’s the basis of future stories but we don’t have many clues. The big bad is rather weak. He appears out of nowhere with no explanation, knows everything about Duke and seemingly everyone else, claims falsely ? To be Duke’s dad and is generally as much a mess as the rest of the story. So, basically, what we have are lots of people dropping in and out with minimal explanation of why while Duke spends the whole book trying to figure out what his powers are all the while trying to take down the big bad with a dumb name who doesn’t even appear until chapter 3.

The idea of Signal as a young analogue to Batman patrolling the Narrows and the rest of Gotham by day and primarily dealing with his age group is not a bad one. It holds a lot of promise, especially with Scott Snyder behind it and the art was decent, for the most part. It’s just that Snyder whiffed the opening chapters.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and DC in exchange for an honest review.

A merely mediocre book introducing a merely mediocre character in a cack-handed, but otherwise mediocre, fashion.

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.

The newest addition to the Bat Family is Duke Thomas, who chooses the name The Signal as his nom de guerre. Like many trainees before him his parents have come to harm, this time poisoned into insanity by Joker venom. But Duke is different. He doesn't want to work in the shadows, but in the light of day. And he gets that okay from Batman to do so. He takes on the dayshift in Gotham. The writing was good. I really liked the character development. This volume of Batman was all about the new kid. And he carried it well