Duke Thomas’ debut as a solo hero has been a long time coming.

From his roots as the leader of a renegade gang of Robins in We Are Robin to his time spent as Batman’s apprentice throughout All-Star Batman and finally to his shocking potential metahuman reveal in Dark Nights: Metal, the Bat Family creative teams have been working for years to build Duke into a character who can mesh with Gotham City in a way that lasts.

RELATED: Batman & The Signal: Duke Thomas Gets New Costume, Miniseries

Now, it’s time for the real test: Batman and The Signal by DC Talent Workshop alum Tony Patrick, co-written with Scott Snyder and illustrated by comics veteran Cully Hamner is set to unleash Duke in his newly crafted heroic identity as Gotham’s first proper “hero by day.”

CBR sat down with Patrick and Hamner to get their take on Duke’s trajectory in the DC Universe, as well as tease some of the upcoming challenges he might face along the way.

CBR: To start things out, talk to me a little about how you see Duke’s dynamic with the rest of the Bat Family working out. If he’s Gotham’s hero by day, when and where does he intersect with the heroes by night?

Tony Patrick: You’re talking about, well -- first, Duke’s a teenager, so there’s gonna be some teen angst, of course, especially amongst his peers. But also you’re talking about a teenager who is really trying to find his role in the Bat Family, which is it’s own struggle. And then there’s the other element of Duke being a teenager with no parents -- but with parents who are still alive.

Cully Hamner: That’s the interesting thing. It’s not like he lost his parents the same way that Batman or Nightwing did; his parents are right there, but they’re still lost to him. It’s interesting to talk about that dynamic, finding his place in the Bat Family because literally that’s there from page one. It’s front and center. It’s Duke asking, “Where do I belong? Do I have a place? Have I earned a place?” It’s there.

Now, Tony, you came to this project from the talent workshop, correct? Can you talk a little about your process with Scott Snyder on this book and how things came together?

Patrick: Well, it was a little cave where they made us work on our first draft, no windows, no coffee… [Laughs] No, no, that experience was phenomenal. It was out of, I think, twelve hundred applicants? And they picked eight of us. I had some very talented workshop classmates that I think you might be seeing some stuff from very soon.

But working with Scott? That’s a once in a lifetime opportunity -- and I don’t say that to blow smoke. I mean, he’s the guy who comes in at the last moment and says, “Hmm...I have this idea…” and then this one note unfolds into this whole universe. And usually? He’s right. I just feel like I leveled-up simply by being part of that workshop.

Hamner: Scott’s great at writing out loud, I’ve found. When you talk on the phone with him, it’s like, “So I was thinking we’d do this, which would lead to this, which would -- and what do you think if we did this?” I’m always like, [Nodding] "Yeah. Okay." Just trying to keep up.

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Duke’s a character who really came into his own in We Are Robin, which is a book that really stood apart from the other Bat books at the time. It had a very distinct visual aesthetic and a very unusual “cadence” in terms of how they story unfolded. Is that something you’re trying to fold into The Signal?

Hamner: Y’know, I’m purposefully not trying to look at other things when I’m coming at this book. For one thing, some of the people who worked on We Are Robin are friends of mine, so I don’t want to step on what they did. But I also feel like, this is Duke’s book, and Duke’s book should have a signature look all it’s own. That’s kind of why I was brought in, to give it that signature look -- to create something new. That explains why there’s a new costume, the whole motif of it being daytime in Gotham -- it all really folds into the look of this book.

Speaking of unique features for this book, there’s been some talk of a “juvie” version of Arkham coming into play --

Patrick: That is -- I have to say -- I’ve been given one of the best sandboxes to play in. and I’m having just so much fun with it and the opportunity to create new rogues who are also younger. We’re talking about everything, the full range, from irredeemable to redeemable. So each rogue has his or her own trajectory.

What initially piqued your interest about Duke? How did the two of you come together to work with him?

Batman-and-the-Signal-2-Duke-Thomas

Patrick: A few years ago I was walking through a convention and I saw art of an African American Robin and I was like, “What’s going on?” I wasn’t even sure. I was reading Scott’s stuff off and on, but I didn’t know it was Duke Thomas, I didn’t know what was going on. So then I actually went back to read We Are Robin and became a huge fan.

Then I met Cully -- I think it was about two years ago? At a festival in Austin. And then I think it was last year, I reached out to him on Twitter --

Hamner: [Laughs] And I was like, "Hands off, joker!"

Patrick: I was like, “Hey I met you at that thing a little while ago…” I had no idea we’d end up working together later.

Hamner: Really? Because I’m a little creeped out! I thought you were stalking me.

Patrick: I thought you were stalking me!

Well, I think it’s safe to say you both got it worked out for the best! Now, I’ll admit something here: I was part of the camp of people who were basically positive that Duke’s superhero name was going to be “Lark.”

Patrick: Oh, man -- the name issue is so fascinating to me. So when it comes to the costume design and the name, sometimes I have to admit, I’ll go on Twitter, I’ll go on forums -- which I’ve been warned not to, but I’ll do it anyway. But just looking at what the feedback is, the thing that I realized that, on both sides of the coin, is that people -- even the people who hate Duke -- they’re all still very, very invested. There’s this ongoing conversation about him.

There was this event at Google with just the Batman writers, and Frank Miller was there. He was joking a little bit and said, “The purpose of a Robin is to be expendable. They’re bulletproof vests for Batman.” And he was joking, but I think really that’s the challenge of being a Robin, y’know? To not be a bulletproof vest, to establish yourself in the family -- to bring this full circle -- and I think with Duke, he’s gotta be his own here.

We’re watching this evolution of this group of autonomous Robins, to Duke becoming his own hero. I love the idea that Batman had a chance to get in on the ground floor and be a mentor to someone who is not going to be a Robin -- who might have metahuman abilities, too.

Batman and The Signal #1 hits shelves January 3, 2018.