The Question at DC Comics

Character reworked by O'Neil/Cowan

 

Art by Denys Cowan from
The Question v1 #15

The Question came to DC in part of a gift purchase of the Charlton "Action Heroes" -- Captain Atom, Nightshade, Blue Beetle, Son of Vulcan, Judomaster, Thunderbolt, Sarge Steel and the Question -- for then-DC editor, former Charlton writer/editor Dick Giordano. The original plan, as detailed in the article, "Project Blockbuster" by Robert Greenberger in Comic Book Artist #09, was for the Charlton characters to feature in short, serialized stories in a monthly series, with the Question's particular stories to be penned by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Stan Woch. This idea soon went bust, with little artwork actually completed.

The Action Heroes made their debut in the DCU as Earth-4, one of many alternate worlds being collapsed into one during the historic Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986, and many of their fold earned solo books, including Blue Beetle (where the Question made his first post-Crisis story appearance), and the Question himself. All of this, of course, while the seminal Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons maxiseries The Watchmen riffed on a sort of alternate universe version of the Action Heroes.

Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan's version of the Question debuted to jeers from the Ditko audience who cried foul on O'Neil's non-objectivist portrayal of Ditko's creation. O'Neil addressed the issue by having The Question die at the end of the first issue, resurrected in the second and born again as a wholly different character. O'Neil's Charles Victor "Vic Sage" Szasz was an orphaned protector of a hellhole -- Hub City -- taught by a zen Kung Fu master, and dealing with a wealth of grotesque characters and villains as Hub toppled like Sodom and Gomorrah around him. The series became known for it's thoughtful handling of real-world issues, an excellent letter column, and, from some, for not being Ditko. The series featured detailed and absorbing art by a young African-American named Denys Cowan, who, along with inker Rick Magyar, was twice nominated for the Eisner Award for best art team.

After the Question series, and a brief follow-up Question Quarterly finished their runs, Vic Sage skipped here and there across the DC universe, making appearances in other O'Neil-penned one-shots and cameos in other characters' books. Giordano joined writer/inker Bob Layton (former Charlton Bullseye publisher) for a simple-but-fun six-issue teaming of the Charlton heroes called the L.A.W. Under the helm of writer Greg Rucka, a self-professed fan of the O'Neil series in college, the Question began a relationship with Gotham vigilante The Huntress in a six-part series called Cry For Blood.

Writer Rick Veitch and artist Tommy Lee Edwards took a new approach to the Question in their 2004-05 six-issue miniseries, turning the Question into a sort of urban shaman who "spoke" to cities through a channel of lifeforce. In the miniseries, the Question comes to Metropolis and has a run in with Superman himself, and it's revealed that, in journalism school, Vic had a huge crush on Lois Lane. The Question currently appears in the series 52, taking place in the year after the lackluster sequel to Crisis, Infinite Crisis.

For more information, see links to specific issues below.

+++ - Denotes a comic where the Question does not appear, yet is intergral to understanding a larger Question-related storyline.

Pre-Series Appearances

• Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 - "3 Earths 3 Deaths" - Sept. 1985
• Blue Beetle v.2 #4 - "The Answer is Alchemy" - Sept. 1986
• Blue Beetle v.2 #5 - "Ask the Right Question" - Oct. 1986
• Blue Beetle v.2 #6 - "Face Off" - Nov. 1986
• Blue Beetle v.2 #7 - "Gang War" - Dec. 1986

The Question v.1

• The Question v.1 #1 - "The Bad News" - Feb. 1987
• The Question v.1 #2 - "Butterfly" - Mar. 1987
• The Question v.1 #3 - "Suffer the Children" - Apr. 1987
• The Question v.1 #4 - "The Sacrifice" - May 1987
• The Question v.1 #5 - "Cityscape" - June 1987
• The Question v.1 #6 - "...That Small Rain Down Can Rain..." - July 1987
• The Question v.1 #7 - "Survivor" - Aug. 1987
• The Question v.1 #8 - "Mikado" - Sept. 1987
• The Question v.1 #9 - "Watchers" - Oct. 1987
• The Question v.1 #10 - "Santa Prisca" - Nov. 1987
• The Question v.1 #11 - "Transformation" - Dec. 1987
• The Question v.1 #12 - "Poisoned Ground" - Jan. 1988
• The Question v.1 #13 - "Be All That You Can Be..." - Feb. 1988
• The Question v.1 #14 - "Saving Face" - Mar. 1988
• The Question v.1 #15 - "Epitaph For a Hero" - Apr. 1988
• The Question v.1 #16 - "...Who Was That Masked Man" - May 1988
• The Question v.1 #17 - "A Dream of Rorschach" - June 1988
• The Question v.1 #18 - "Desperate Ground" - July 1988
• The Question v.1 #19 - "The Plastic Dilemma" - Aug. 1988
• Detective Comics Annual #1 - "The Monkey Trap" - Sept. 1988
• Green Arrow Annual #1 - "Lesson for a Crab" - Sept. 1988 +++
• The Question Annual #1 - "The Silent Parable" - Sept. 1988
• The Question v.1 #20 - "Send in the Clowns" - Oct. 1988
• The Question v.1 #21 - "Rejects" - Nov. 1988
• The Question v.1 #22 - "Election Day: The Fix" - Dec. 1988
• The Question v.1 #23 - "Election Day: Welcome To Oz" - Winter 1988
• The Question v.1 #24 - "Election Day: The Dark" - Jan. 1989
• The Question v.1 #25 - "Skells" - Feb. 1989
• The Question v.1 #26 - "Riddles" - Mar. 1989
• The Question v.1 #27 - "Captain Star & Sergeant Stripes" - June 1989
• The Question Annual #2 - "Losing Face" - July 1989
• Green Arrow Annual #2 - "Saving Face" - July 1989
• The Question v.1 #28 - "A Place For the Arts " - July 1989
• The Question v.1 #29 - "The Slaying " - Aug. 1989
• The Question v.1 #30 - "Whodunit " - Sept. 1989
• The Question v.1 #31 - "Boom. The End. " - Oct. 1989
• The Question v.1 #32 - "The Peacemaker" - Nov. 1989
• The Question v.1 #33 - "Harold" - Dec. 1989
• The Question v.1 #34 - "...were it not that I have bad dreams..." - Jan. 1990
• The Question v.1 #35 - "Let Nothing You Dismay" - Mar. 1990
• The Question v.1 #36 - "Or maybe Gomorrah" - Apr. 1990
• Green Arrow Annual #3 - "A Walk in the Wind" - May 1990
• The Question Quarterly #1 - "Any Man's Death" - Autumn 1990
• The Question Quarterly #2 - "Gomorrah Homecoming" - Summer 1991
• The Question Quarterly #3 - "Hell in Hub City" - Autumn 1991
• The Question Quarterly #4 - "Waiting For Phil" - Winter 1991
• The Question Quarterly #5 - "Outrage" - Spring 1992

Brave and the Bold

• Brave and the Bold #1 - Dec. 1991 +++
• Brave and the Bold #2 - Jan. 1992
• Brave and the Bold #3 - Feb. 1992
• Brave and the Bold #4 - Mar. 1992
• Brave and the Bold #5 - May 1992
• Brave and the Bold #6 - June 1992

Post-O'Neil One-Shots

• Showcase '95 #3 - "Homecoming" - Mar. 1995
• Azrael #10 - "Arena" - Nov. 1995
• Azrael Plus The Question - "The Anger, The Terror and the Question" - Dec. 1996
• The Question Returns - "...Because Some Remain Unanswered" - Feb. 1997
• Steel #38 - "The Gambler" - May 1997

The L.A.W.

• The L.A.W. #1 - "Avatar Rising" - Sept. 1999
• The L.A.W. #2 - "The Way of the Warrior" - Oct. 1999
• The L.A.W. #3 - "The Past is Always Present" - Nov. 1999
• The L.A.W. #4 - "Martial L.A.W." - Dec. 1999
• The L.A.W. #5 - "To Serve and Protect" - Jan. 2000
• The L.A.W. #6 - "The L.A.W. ...and Order"- Feb. 2000

Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood

• Batman Chronicles #15 - "An Answer in the Rubble" - Dec. 1998
• Batman-Huntress: Cry For Blood #1 - June 2000 +++
• Batman-Huntress: Cry For Blood #2 - July 2000
• Batman-Huntress: Cry For Blood #3 - Aug. 2000
• Batman-Huntress: Cry For Blood #4 - Sept. 2000
• Batman-Huntress: Cry For Blood #5 - Oct. 2000
• Batman-Huntress: Cry For Blood #6 - Nov. 2000
• Batman: Gotham Knights #38 - Apr. 2003
• Batman: Gotham Knights #39 - May 2003

The Question v.2 - Devil's in the Details

• The Question v.2 #1 - "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" - Jan. 2005
• The Question v.2 #2 - "...So Below" - Feb. 2005
• The Question v.2 #3 - "The World, The Flesh, and The Devil" - Mar. 2005
• The Question v.2 #4 - "Inside Out" - Apr. 2005
• The Question v.2 #5 - "Stillpoint" - May 2005
• The Question v.2 #6 - "Falling In Place" - June 2005

52

52 pages coming soon!

• 52 #1 - "Golden Lads & Lasses Must..."- May 10, 2006
• 52 #2 - "Looking Back at Tomorrow" - May 17, 2006
• 52 #4 - "Dances with Monsters" - May 31, 2006
• 52 #9 - "Dream of America" - July 6, 2006
• 52 #11 - "Batwoman Begins!" - July 19, 2006
• 52 #12 - "Mighty" - July 26, 2006
• 52 #14 - "Sand and Rust" - Aug. 9, 2006
• 52 #15 - "Outshined" - Aug. 16, 2006
• 52 #16 - "Uhebbuki" - Aug. 23, 2006
• 52 #18 - "Dismantled" - Sept. 6, 2006
• 52 #23 - "The Island of Professor Morrow" - Oct. 11, 2006

Background Cameos

• Last Days of the Justice Society - 1986
• Invasion #2 - "Book Two: Battleground Earth" - 1988
• Checkmate #25 - "Knight After Knight" - Feb. 1990
• Ambush Bug Nothing Special - Sept. 1992
• Guy Gardner: Warrior #29 - "It's My Party And I'll Fight If I Want To" - Mar. 1995
• Kingdom Come #1 - "Strange Visitor" - May 1996
• Kingdom Come #2 - "Truth and Justice" - June 1996
• Resurrection Man #8 - "Tricks or Treats" - Dec. 1997
• Detective Comics #723 - "Brotherhood of the Fist, Part Two: Fight Back to Gotham" - July 1998
• Superman and Batman: World's Funnest - Nov. 2000
• Green Arrow #16 - "Photograph" - Oct. 2002
• Richard Dragon #7 - "Out of the Past" - Jan. 2005
• Justice League Unlimited #20 - "Just Us Girls" - June 2006
• Justice League of America #1 - "Life" - Oct. 2006
• Justice League Unlimited #25 - "The Devil May Care" - Nov. 2006

DCU Animated

• Adventures in the DCU #8 - "Face Off" - Nov. 1997
• Justice League Unlimited #8 - "The Island" - June 2005

Elseworlds / Non-Canon / Unpublished Stories

• Blockbuster Weekly/Comics Cavalcade Weekly #1 - 1984
• Twilight of the Superheroes - 1987
• Tangent JLA #1 - "...And Justice For All" - Sept. 1998
• The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1 - Dec. 2001
• The Dark Knight Strikes Again #2 - Jan. 2002
• The Dark Knight Strikes Again #3 - Feb. 2002
• Solo #5 - "Al Kufr'- The Infidel" - Aug. 2006

Who's Who / Reference

See also the entry for non-comic reference guides on the miscellaneous page.

• History of the DC Universe #2 - 1986
• Who's Who in the DC Universe #19 - Sept. 1986
• Who's Who Update '87 #4 - Nov. 1987
• Question Annual #2 - July 1989
• Who's Who in the DCU #12 - Sept. 1991
• DCU Heroes Secret Files #1 - Feb. 1999
• 52 #18 - Sept. 6, 2006