The Question | Vic Sage | Renee Montoya

By Eric Newsom, proprietor of this here website.

Part of the Montoya’s Journal experience involved a band called Darkseid’s Bitch whose leader, Walter “Serration” Mintassa, turned up mysteriously dead in the middle of a tour. When I visited Greg Rucka last October, one of the things we discussed was the possibility of making Darkseid’s Bitch an actual band, or at least producing actual music.

Having played in punk bands since high school, I volunteered to put some guitar chords together to lyrics that Rucka and his co-conspirator Eric Trautmann had already put together. The result was the song, “Ashes” that found its way to a Darkseid’s Bitch MySpace page. The inspiration for the music and the iconography of the band came from every teen-age goth-punk’s favorite stand-by: The Misfits. Guitar and bass were played by me, drums were created by Fruity Loops, and lyrics were screamed into a microphone in my bathroom, while hoping that my wall-sharing neighbor, an elderly AME Zion lady minister, wouldn’t be able to discern what I was singing about. The introductory line came from The Day the Earth Stood Still. The song progressed in stages, as heard below:

• First instrumental recording
• Instrumental w/ record scratches + reverb + intro
• Final version

In addition to the song, I also worked up some images, including a picture of myself as Serration. My wife applied various kinds of black make-up to my eyelids while I freaked out about having my eyes poked. The result was not quite Glenn Danzig, even with a half-assed attempt at a devillock. It wasn’t even really Matt Skiba.

• Serration pic, pre-doctoring
• Serration pic, post-doctoring
• Darkseid’s Bitch MySpace background
• Bootleg album cover

Thanks go to Greg and Eric for letting me participate in the fun!

One autumn afternoon, shortly before the publication of Crime Bible #2, I heard a sharp knock. I got up, slipped my shoes on, and walked to the door. By the time I got there, I could see the delivery truck driving off down the road. At my feet, stowed between my screen door and storm door, was a package containing the journal of Renee Montoya.

Douglas Wolk, who also found a Montoya journal, wrote of the journal as an artifact from a fictional dimension that shouldn’t exist in our world. I’m not sure what to think, but I know it’s a mystery — and as my old pal Encyclopedia Brown will vouch, I love a good mystery.

I’ve set up this page as a place to chronicle my dissections of the journal(s) so that you can take part in the process too.

PAGE CONTENTS:

• Photos of journal + artifacts
• Artifacts scans pt. I - The Question in Barcelona
• Artifacts scans pt. II - Darkseid’s Bitch
• Artifacts scans pt. III - The investigation continues
• Transcript of journal entries

OTHER COPIES:

• Matt Brady at Newsarama
• Joe Field at Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff
• Matt Olsen at ComicBloc
• Douglas Wolk at Savage Critic

Inside Cover:

Property of R. Montoya

Page 1:

High Madame’s Binding (unlikely)

Prophet’s Codex

Sana’a Edition

Bastard’s Folio (unlikely)
Miser’s Edition (Check British Museum)

Fitzgerald’s “Modern” Interpretation (Tot says talk to O’Neill at Metropolis U.)

Køller Commentary (unconfirmed)

Page 2:

Mannheim=prophet

A’Daire=High Madame (“pope” or high priest)

Where is the High Madame?

Is she gone for good?

A church can survive without a Pope; can it survive without a leader?

?

Read the rest of this entry »

Boarding pass on Ferris Global Airways back to Barcelona.

Gotham Gazette International Edition about Barcelona hotel fire. Montoya’s notes speculate that she was the target.

Telegram from Tot (in Nanda Parbat) to Montoya (in Leipzig).

IM conversation between (I’m assuming) Renee and Tot, using the LexChat interface.

Lyrics sheet for the Darkseid’s Bitch song, “Ashes All Fall Down.” Notes by Montoya.

Flyer for Darkseid’s Bitch show — “The Weeping Mothers, Crying Daughters Tour.”

Darkseid’s Bitch set list from final show (including a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds cover!).

Ticket from final Darkseid’s Bitch show at the Dirrrty Club in Coast City.

Coroner’s Report for Walter “Serration” Mintassa. Ruling: Drug overdose.

Toe tag from brown-covered journal. Cause of death: “Multiple gunshot wounds.” Comments: “Do not release; open investigation.”

Toe tag from black-covered journal. Cause of death: “Overdose.” Comments: “Release to next-of-kin; Investigation closed.”

The front side of the page from the Fitzgerald translation of the Crime Bible.

The back side of the same page.

Photograph of the Daughters of Lilith “convent” in Barcelona.

Surveillance photograph of the Question from brown-covered journal.

Surveillance photo of the Question from the black-covered journal (appear to be part of the same sequence–note the location).

The cover of the black journal.

The cover of the brown journal (apologies for the blur).

Flyer for Darkseid’s Bitch concert — pristine, uncreased version accompanying black journal. Brown journal’s flyer was folded inside.

A yellowed page from the Crime Bible, with Montoya’s notes on some sort of code.

A photo of the Daughters’ “convent” in Barcelona, Spain.

A surveillance photo of the Question, from the “convent” maybe?

A lyrics sheet for the Darkseid’s Bitch song, “Ashes All Fall Down.” Notes by both “Serration” and Montoya.

Darkseid’s Bitch setlist. Again, notes by both “Serration” and Montoya.

Ticket to Darkseid’s Bitch show at Dirrrty Club in Coast City. $14.00.

Coroner’s report for Walter “Serration” Mintassa.

Toe tag from Walter “Serration” Mintassa, open investigation version.

Bullets and pills. But which one killed Serration?

Boarding pass from Ridge-Ferrick airlines for Renee M. Montoya — departing from Leipzig-Halle for El-Prat.

“14 Killed in Barcelona Hotel Blaze” — The cover of the Gotham Gazette!

Telegram from Tot, still in Nanda Parbat.

IM conversation (via LexChat, no less) between Tot and Montoya as Renee tries to track down the multiple editions of the Crime Bible.