The Question, Volume 1: Zen and Violence

I first heard of the Question when the Justice League cartoon became Justice League Unlimited. He was introduced in "Fearful Symetry", and although his name was not mentioned, and he had no powers to speak of, I knew he was incredibly cool. I began researching his character, and my hopes of finding any comics about him dwindled. He was such a minor player, how could he ever get a compilation like Batman or Superman? I don't know what triggered it- maybe Question's role in 52, or the sudden resurgeange of interest in Watchmen -but Question got his compilations, and thank God I found them. Question is not like most super heroes. He has a simple costume, and lacks over-the-top themed enemies. He lives in what could be deemed "the real world" and fights real criminals. Now, I normally prefer some fantasy elements in my comics, but the setting fits the Question incredibly well. He needs no Joker, nor Brainiac, nor Gorilla Grod. He needs corrupt politicians, street thugs, and gangsters. This, coupled with excellent writing and stylish art, allows the book to transcend being silly, and so it becomes film noir told in panels. If you ask me, the Question needs his own movie. Who knows? Pending the success of The Spirit and Watchmen, it might happen. For now, though, we have the source material of the comics, and they are so amazing, you can't go wrong.

Whether you see Denny O'Neil's zen interpretation of The Question as a departure from Steve Ditko's (the artist / writer who created the character to be an adherent of Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophies), there is little doubt that this new line of DC publications is exactly what comic-industry trade paperbacks are made for: bringing back an incomparable run of stories to current readers who missed (like me) or weren't around for (like my children) the original series. Everyone benefits from the reason upsurge of interest in The Question's appearance in 52 and its aftermath, as well as his highly-touted appearances in the Justice League Unlimited cartoons. This tpb collects issues 1-6 of stories written from 1986-1987 by Denny O'Neil, drawn by Deny Cowan, and inked by Rick Magyar. Something also needs to be said for colorist Tatjana Wood who is able to dip out of the 1980s era palette dominated by bright pinks, blues, oranges, greens types of hues. (One of my favorite color-divergences, for instance, is in issue #2 when The Questions body is floating up from the water and looks very surreal because it is rendered completely in various shades of black and white.) If you like lots of action with a sharply-honed intellectual edge, you'll appreciate The Question. These stories are centered around the deterioration and corruption of The Question's hometown, Hub City. Another moment of reinvention here is the newly-created origin of the character as an orphaned child who grew up in a Catholic orphanage and becomes a television journalist named Vic Sage, aka Charles Victor Szasz, aka The Question. This becomes all the more meaningful when a young girl is being used as a potential religious cult's sacrifice as well as a hostage for bribery and blackmail. It truly irks The Question. Although he can deal with horrible ethics and immorality, it doesn't mean he's going to let a child be the plaything of them. There's lots of things like that to like here. You get to see Vic make fun of the police; when asked by one of the big blue, "If yer so smart, why don't you join the force," he cooly responds -- while holding up a criminal that he had to go catch for them --, "They wouldn't let me. I passed the IQ test." You get to see Batman dress The Question down after he, for all intents and purposes actually dies, for being an "obscenely lucky," "arrogant dilettante" who simply doesn't understand that his life is so extremely valuable it shouldn't be risked unwisely. You get to see scenes of utmost violence drawn as accurately as textbooks for martial artists as well as being illustrated as beautifully as choreographed dances. And although there is a lot of violence here, it is not violence for violence's sake. The violence is taken seriously, and it is used as a cautionary device. O'Neil's Question is different from Ditko's Question and Mr. A in that, in these tales, he only commits acts of violence when he is left no other choice and only after he is aggressed

I usually shy away from this kind of novel, but I went for it this time because I love The Question. This is really a great read for anyone wondering how that hero of 52 got that way. It's a little primitive, but it's also insightful and interesting and way ahead of its time. I thouroughly loved it.

One of the highlights of DC's recent '52' series, The Question was originally created in 1967 by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko for Charlton Comics. DC Comics obtained the rights to the character and published this series starting in February 1987. This trade paperback collects the first six issues, each 28 pages long with a 1987 cover price of $1.50. Vic Sage is an KEBL-TV investigative reporter in 1980s Hub City where 'the social contract is a shambles and the city's in chaos'. He uses the guise of 'The Question' by applying an artificial skin that bonds to his face but allows for normal breathing and speaking. Lacking faith in the law enforcement and judicial systems, Sage uses both identities to pursue horribly corrupt Hub City politicians and criminals. The first story arc focuses on a sinister cabal that has hijacked the Hub City government from a pathetic, drunken mayor. After an initial setback (beaten and left for dead on a river bottom at the end of issue 1) Sage trains in martial arts and Eastern philosophy and returns to Hub City to resume his battles with thugs and demagogues. Writer O'Neil explores moral and philosophical issues through the violent but introspective plot. The series lasted for 36 issues (plus annuals and a separate quarterly series) so I'm hoping to see future volumes. I've read praise for the original letters columns (some even featured reading recommendations from O'Neil) but unfortunately they are not reprinted herein. One suggestion for DC: include these in Volume 2.