DC Universe: Helltown

Helltown is a book all fans of The Question have been in a panic for, thinking we'd die before we'd see it. But here it finally is, and it's Denny O'Neil's way of rendering in prose form what he created in comic form with lots of interesting updates thrown in (he borrows largely from issues 1-4 and 14 of the 1986 series but updates the plot and main characters involved). First I'll talk about what I think is great about this book, and then, because I feel morally compelled to, I'll talk about the mistakes, problems, and huge gaffs in the book. That being said, even with its frankly embarrassing amount of mistakes, I'll take this novel any day against some others. WARNING: SPOILERS HEREAFTER. The novel centers around Charles Victor Szasz's / Vic Sage's return to Hub City after a ten year self-exile and his desire to find out who his parents are. He runs afoul of Mayor Fermin (an alcoholic puppet political figurehead who beats women because he's so easily controlled by his addiction and anyone with an IQ of a four-year-old or so), Reverend Hatch (a paranoiac and demented preacher who wants to bring Christ to Earth by beginning Armageddon himself), and former USM Colonel Thaddeus McFeeley, aka Crate (a vicious, capable warrior who wants to bring back his family's prestige by raking in millions of dollars worth of profit by outfitted folks for the end times). The allies pitted against the evil axis are Lady Shiva (who nearly kills Sage but comes to revere him), Aristotle Rodor (former prodigy, now adult genius who's been shafted in business but creates his own venerable, peaceful life in spite of it all), Richard Dragon (martial arts master extraordinaire), Myra Connelly (a martyr for her child and love interest of Sage), and Batman and Alfred (enough said). Without completely ruining the plot, this story involves threats on the lives of children, high tech weaponry, religious zealots, and the entire misuse of the best qualities of humanity. What I especially appreciated about this story is the addition of The Dream (I'll say no more so that you can experience it completely new, too) to The Question's origin. The story itself is intriguing, thoughtful , well-paced, action-packed, essentially the quintessential Question story. Awesome stuff. Now the problems. O'Neil wants to update the story, but after referencing Kris Kristofferson, Deanna Durbin, and Bob Dylan, he creates anachronisms by using words like "prolly," references Jackie Chan and Jessica Alba, has his characters use GPU (GPS?) technology; this creates a nearness of the 70s past but confuses us in a light speed jump to 2000 and beyond. Weird. Then there are the typos ("he turned onto a barren street without knowing way" p. 28; "Vic hiked up and path until he stood . . ." p. 46; the word "collegues" p. 50; "Vic throught he heard someone" p. 75; I could go on and on, but we'll leave it there). But the biggest mistake is, within a paragraph (p. 242) Jackie Connelly, Myra's daughter, is alter

This is the origin of The Question. Charles Victor Szasz is a drifter, who does not know where he came from. His story begins in Hub City, and that is where he is going back to. Showing some grit, he lands a job at the local podunk radio station, because no-one else wants it. Drops the name as too foreign, and his boss suggests Sage, so Vic Sage it is. He rapidly gets into trouble, and severely injured. Blame Lady Shiva the unpredictable for part of it, but she rescues him, and takes him to Richard Dragon for recovery and training. He meets Bruce there, who decides to himself he will offer him advice and aid. A retired local scientists outfits him after he too suffers violence. An arms maker is operating in Hub City, using coercion via children, a mercenary band, and a crazy reverend to keep it quiet. An interesting aside between Batman and Alfred : "I wish I knew someone I could trust to send to Hub City." "How about the fellow who advised you? The one with the laugh" "Alfred, he's ninety-five, and besides, he's a bit too bloodthirsty for me" After The Question does some legwork, and is captured, but manages to signal a friend, Batman takes an interest, and Shiva owes him a favor. O'Neill has produced a fine book.

dont count this book out. people might say bad thing about this book but dont listen. it reads well, no slow parts, very descrptive and half the time you forget its a superhero book. The Question is an interesting character and does have and interesting origin.

Wow. After reading this book, I decided it was appropriate to write a positive review but then I came here and saw what other people said. The weird thing is, I kinda agree with many of the other readers' comments ... but I still think this book deserves a strong thumbs up. The superhero novel is a strange beast, IMO, and rarely done well. A superhero like The Question in particular seems out of place here. As others have pointed out, this is, in many ways, a pretty standard adventure/mystery story and the sole "comic book" element (outside of the "guest stars," which is a strange way to describe characters in a novel...) is The Question's appearance. He doesn't have super powers or even odd gadgets like Batarangs or boxing glove arrows. The issue becomes, I think, is this still a "comic book" novel? I suspect O'Neil's response was, "It doesn't *have* to be..." So he kept the striking appearance of the character but made it more of a quirk, more Columbo's raincoat than Captain America's shield. The end result is a book that many may buy thinking they're going to get the character from the comic book when in fact, this story is much more in line with an ongoing paperback adventure series like "The Destroyer." As a comic book reader, I've read many of these kinds of novels and many are just awful for reasons ranging from rampant "Mary Sue-ism" to the fact that a description of Spider-Man fighting Doctor Octopus over New York City without some accompanying illustration just doesn't convey the proper spectacle. Comic books are a visual medium and I think the characters (at least the superheroes or other extreme adventure characters) just work better when they can be seen as in comic books, cartoons or film. But "Helltown" was a good, enjoyable read. I think the open minded comic book fan will enjoy this but, even more, I think the non-fan would like this as well. I think some of the other readers may have made some mistaken assumptions about O'Neil's approach. I think O'Neil decided to take the approach of adapting a work from one medium to another. I think he chose not to simply re-write what he had already accomplished when he wrote the comic book series but to take the basic premise and take it along parallel lines like a musician who creates a Reggae version of a Beatles song. I think O'Neil does *not* see this as the only novel in the series and left some unanswered questions deliberately. I actually could see The Question succeed as a sort-of brainy "men's adventure" series because the character has those distinguishing quirks but not to the extreme that it might alientate the non-comic book fan. I will admit that someone who buys the book based on the cover expecting strong participation by Batman would be disappointed. I think even those expecting a straight prose translation of O'Neil and Denys Cowan's comic book series will be disappointed. But for the casual fan or those who can enjoy the sort of "Vertigo" re-invention of well-establishe