I don’t know whether I have some form of foresight, but it’s an odd coincidence that I’ve chosen Steve Ditko’s Question stories this week. I’ve recently just been rewatching In Search of Steve Ditko, an intriguing documentary by Jonathan Ross that really shows why Ditko should be treated as one of the masters of comic books. Ditko was of course noted for co-creating Spiderman and Doctor Strange, two of Marvel’s most famous and financially lucrative heroes. However, his time after leaving Marvel in 1966 is when the real Ditko appears. The documentary rightly states that Ditko lost his young and idealistic following when he published Mr A in an underground and largely forgotten comic. The character, however, was the opposite. You see, Ditko was a firm believer in Ayn Rand’s theory of Objectivism. In the most basic terms, it was a very conservative set of beliefs, with individualism at its core. In short, it is I who matters most. It also contains a harsh view of “justice”. There’s no distinction between a man littering on the street and a psychopath violently killing a child. There is no grey. There is only black and white. Mr A was effectively the embodiment of that. To Ditko himself, Mr A was his biggest success. His young liberal followers thought otherwise and effectively abandoned him. It was then in 1967 at Charlton Comics where Ditko decided to emulate and revamp his favourite creation. As you will see, the Question is not a soft force. Like Mr A, the Question believes in “reason” and “justice”… even if his definitions of them are radically different from others…
The Question stories were published somewhat sporadically from July 1967 to November 1968 as backups in Blue Beetle (vol 5) 1-5 by Charlton Comics. Mysterious Suspense (also by Charlton) was published in October 1968. All stories were written and drawn by Steve Ditko himself (with Steve Skeates helping out with Blue Beetle
(vol 5) 4), despite D.C Glanzman being credited as writer. I’ve read the stories in the Action Heroes Archives Edition Volume Two hardcover.
Who is the Question? --- Written and drawn by Steve Ditko
At Charlton, Ditko had made a name for himself creating and writing characters like Captain Atom and Blue Beetle. Due to their success, a third in the Question was launched and it was arguably Ditko’s most famous and intriguing character at the company. Our story begins in the bustling metropolis known as Hub City, where controversial reporter Vic Sage works for W.W.B to root out crime and fight for justice. What Ditko does from the very beginning is to create an interesting cast of characters. Some notable ones are Nora Lace and Syd Starr, son of the company’s owner with a grudge against Vic. Anyway, gangster Lou Dicer commits another of his evil acts and Vic investigates as the Question. Using a faceless mask and mysterious yellow gas which keeps the mask on his face, the Question heads out onto the streets and finds Dicer’s men. He quickly beats them and learns that Dicer has got a secret connection. The Question follows Dicer into the night and finds that his connection is none other than Jim Lark, another character from W.W.B (one who wasn’t introduced to us earlier, but really should have been so this reveal would have been more shocking). Despite noise from Syd Starr and others at the company, Vic reports the story and sticks close to his fundamental beliefs in justice and freedom. Although this isn’t a prime example of the Question’s rather different way of crimefighting compared to other heroes, you can already see Ditko’s obsession with justice shine in the story. He does a good job of introducing the character to us, even if things get more extreme as time passes…
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 10/10
The Question VS The Banshee --- Written and drawn by Steve Ditko
Although we’ve only covered one issue, it already seems like the Question would be different in terms of the villains he’d fight. You would’ve thought that fighting a costumed supervillain would be a no-go area, but apparently not. After a professor creates a costume that allows him to fly with his hang glider-like cape, his restless helper decides to steal the costume, kill the professor, and use it for evil, calling himself the Banshee. Nice to see Ditko doing some autobiographical work about his relationship with Stan Lee (barring the killing of course). Anyway, Ditko’s design of the Banshee’s costume is very Ditko, somewhat reminiscent of Spiderman. Anyway, at a local jewel exhibit, the Banshee attacks and Vic Sage, there coincidentally, fails to stop him. Once Vic discovers that the Banshee is Max Bine, he visits Professor Aristotle Rodor. As in Dennis O’Neil’s run on the Question later, Rodor is Vic’s most trusted ally, and he is the one who helps create the Question’s mask. Although he doesn’t appear much in the run, Ditko certainly writes him as the closest Vic has to a friend. Anyway, Vic becomes the Question and catches the Banshee stealing some gems from a millionaire’s home. The Question tries to drag Banshee down but fails. Instead, it’s the wind which causes Banshee to lose control of his cape and send him out to sea which merits a victory for the Question. It’s a very inconclusive end, but it proves that, to the Question anyway, justice has been done. The chances are, Banshee is dead and that is all that matters. You can make a parallel between the Question and Banshee as they’re examples of using their inventions and augmented powers for (continued)
different purposes, one good, one evil. Again, there is no grey. Only black and white.
Story: 9/10
Art: 10/10
Murder at 4-Sqaure Construction --- Written and drawn by Steve Ditko
At a construction site, a night watchman mysteriously finds one of the company’s owners has drowned high above any water. Later, the three surviving owners worry that somebody “from the old days” may be after them and they hope that Vic Sage’s investigation won’t find anything wrong with their finances. Although once again deterred by Syd Starr and his men, Vic begins with his investigation and meets with Mr Crane, one of the owners. However, he finds Crane being drowned by a man in a deep-sea diving suit. The Question tries to chase after him, but to no avail. Although saved, Crane still believes that he must take out Vic for looking into his finances. When the Question later searches for the deep-sea diving killer, he is once again attacked by him after the villain attempted to hide more evidence by killing another businessman. The Question pulls off the deep-sea diver’s helmet to find that he is in fact Crane. Yes, he was the real killer all along and no, it doesn’t make any sense. We saw Crane earlier being attacked by the diver so, unless he can duplicate himself or someone else is involved, this doesn’t make any sense. Perhaps Crane was involved with someone else in his plan, but that is where the story ends. The Question punches him in the face and calls the police. End of story. The problem with this story is that while there’s a relatively interesting plot buried here somewhere, there are too many characters who are just the same. All the businesspeople just look like Richard Nixon but with different coloured hair, therefore destroying any possibility of a unique character. Sure, the story is more evidence of the Question’s harsh version of justice, but the story could at least make sense.
Story: 6/10
Art: 10/10
Kill Vic Sage --- Written by Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates with art by Steve Ditko
I wonder what this story could be about with a title like that. On the east side of… Crown City? Sometimes it’s Crown City, sometimes it’s Hub City. Either way, on the east side of a city that keeps changing its name, the Question is knocked unconscious by a group of criminals who thought he was Vic Sage. Their employer becomes angry as he knows the Question may bring an end to his criminal acts. Although they throw him into the sewer, the Question escapes and returns to work as Vic. There, marches take (continued)
place outside against Vic’s reporting and he is even nearly killed by a bomb. Ignoring Syd’s anti-Vic rant (as always), he heads back to work in order to find a lead. However, he soon receives a phone call from a crook who has kidnapped Nora. Blackmailed into it, Vic meets the kidnappers and learns that they were criminals who he had reported on before and they hold a strong grudge against him. Vic himself, however, has no memory of them. Instead, he opts for fighting them and he does so. Although two escape, Vic rescues Nora and waits until the police arrive for the time to strike. As the Question, he heads into the sewers and finds the two criminals. Without remorse, he kicks both of them further into the sewage to their deaths. He tells himself that the captain of the police will find them… dead or alive. This is the harshest we see the Question in Ditko’s stories as he explains himself ideologically. He sees criminals as sewage and believes that once they cross a line (one that, in my view, can be crossed too easily), there’s no coming back from it. Once a criminal, forever a criminal. As a story, it’s a somewhat dull affair as Vic must have countless enemies who hold a grudge against him. Yet, the story succeeds in showing that Vic has nothing but contempt for criminals…
Story: 8/10
Art: 10/10
What Makes a Hero? --- Written and drawn by Steve Ditko
Published in Mysterious Suspense, a one-off, this is the only full-length Question story by Ditko, and thank God. It begins with the Question spying on Max Kroe, one of the biggest racketeers in the state, meeting with respectable businessman Jason Ordi. Vic pledges to expose them both, but he faces more pressing matters at work. Syd manages to convince Mr Fry, Vic’s boss, to sever his links with the company. With that, Vic is no longer affiliated with W.W.B and he has to look for a sponsor replacement in order to not be fired. Jason Ordi attempts to act as a sponsor replacement, but Vic refuses to work with him. He therefore decides it’s his duty to reveal Ordi for what he
is and to get his job back. Meanwhile, Ordi begins a smear campaign against Vic in the papers in an attempt to get him to apologise to him and to take him up on his offer. Vic still resists, but Ordi fights back with another story to seemingly destroy Sage. I’ve just condensed eight pages there. Reading those pages would probably take as long the whole post up until now. Ditko’s problem really is his dialoguing. He tells stories brilliantly, but he really needs an editor to clean up the story. It’s just far too wordy and the problem with most of it is that it just isn’t interesting or relevant. Anyway, Vic finds himself in more trouble when Al, Vic’s assistant at W.W.B, is found to have killed someone. As ever, Vic is made to look bad and the public reaction to him grows even worse. Ordi thanks Kroe for his work in ruining Vic’s reputation further. Vic, knowing that Al has been framed, gets to work on proving his innocence, but is too late as the deadline for Ordi’s offer of sponsor approaches. Vic decides to continue to investigate as the Question and learns that the real killer was Bo Bene, another criminal. Meanwhile however, Bo is shot by one of Kroe’s men to tie up loose ends. Therefore, Vic must search elsewhere for evidence. He decides to follow Kroe to an abandoned warehouse. There, he meets Kroe and Ordi. They attempt to beat him, but Vic retreats and manages to phone the police while Kroe and Ordi are too busy searching for him. In order to escape from the mess, he created, Ordi attempts to kill Vic and Kroe with one bullet, but it only hits the latter. The police then suddenly arrive, and they search a nearby safe to find tapes of Kroe’s secret conversations with Ordi. With that, Sage and Al are found to be innocent, while Syd’s reputation comes under question for what happened, and he begins to become afraid and angry at Vic. After looking more at the story’s plot, I can really see why people like this story. I like the plot. I like how it’s complex and unpredictable, bur the main problem is that there is absolutely no energy in it. It never feels exciting, only clever. It’s far too overly verbose and Ditko never knows when to just be quiet. Perhaps if there was less dialogue, then the story would be more exciting and dynamic. But, as it’s pacing is appalling, the dialogue just buries the plot and therefore, it’s hard to take the story in. There is certainly something good here and it shows how, as a main protagonist, Vic Sage isn’t actually a very nice character. However, the story would be so much better if Ditko had an editor. In short, Ditko's Question stories are so much better when they’re shorter. This could really have fit into about ten pages, certainly not twenty-five…
Story: 5/10
Art: 10/10
The Critic --- Written and drawn by Steve Ditko
It’s worth mentioning that this final story is very loosely connected to the main story from Blue Beetle (vol 5) 5. Vic Sage disses off a large statue by Boris Ebar and makes fun of him. The statue grows to life and its down to Blue Beetle to take care of it, while Ebar pledges to ruin Vic. After that story, Ebar visits Syd Starr and presents him with a symbolic painting of a tiny homeless man surrounded by large city men on a street. Nora then presents Ebar with one of her own paintings of a strong man on a cliff. Ebar denounces her and her painting, describing it as childish. Vic then laughs and Ebar realises that he up Nora up to it to annoy him. Afterwards however, a mysterious group of men steal the painting and use it to haunt Ebar, while the Question finds them after they attack Nora. However, Ebar comes to Nora’s home to destroy the painting, which she still has. You see, the Question stopped the criminals from stealing the painting and it is in fact someone else trying to annoy Ebar. In the end, Ebar cannot come to terms with destroying the painting and he breaks down into tears, telling Nora that all art is subjective. What the hell did I just read? I don’t know if the point of this story was to show that art is a subjective topic, but I can safely say that this story is just plain trash. What is the point? You could hardly describe Ebar as a villain, rather just a miserable old man. I don’t think I really need to go on about why this story is bad. It’s just self-explanatory. Perhaps it’s humorous, but not in an enjoyable way at all…
Story: 2/10
Art: 10/10
In terms of the art, what did you expect? It’s Steve Ditko at his finest. Unlike Kirby for example, Ditko’s work cannot be segregated into eras as it remains consistent through the 1960s and 1970s. While I do like Kirby’s work, I’ve always been more of a fan of artists whose art is leaner and more subtle. Jim Aparo is a prime example, and Steve Ditko is another. His depiction of the Question remains famous to this day as he gives him an aura of mystery. Whether it be the faceless mask, or the yellow gas surrounding his figure, the Question is a mystery and one that makes the title intriguing. Even with the often overly verbose dialogue, Ditko tells the story masterfully with drama and action. It never looks boring, and you would never expect it to be. Ditko also must be one of the few artists of his time to regularly use hatching. He often gives scenes a noir look, even with colouring. It looks old fashioned, as if the stories take place in the 1930s. Overall, what Steve Ditko did here was what he did to every other title he worked on. He made it visually unforgettable. This is true of everything he worked on. Although I’m not a huge fan of Shade the Changing Man, its certainly something I’m never going to forget and the same can be said about The Question. Ditko used a very underrated tool in his comics, as did Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Alan Moore, and Frank Miller. He used his imagination.
VERDICT
Overall, the Question stories by Steve Ditko are classics and they, along with Spiderman, Doctor Strange, Hawk and Dove, and the Creeper, define Ditko’s work in comics. Although very similar to Mr A, Ditko created a new type of character in mainstream comics. I say mainstream as Charlton was later bought by DC, who obviously used the character. The stories themselves can vary in terms of quality, but the overarching theme about justice remains true throughout. The Question was a new breed of protagonist. Unlike many other heroes, he was unlikable and radically different. But, from reading these stories and the O’Neil run (who also radically changes the character), it’s more than understandable why the Question has got the cult following that he has…
Stories: 8/10
Art: 10/10
Next Week: Batman: The Black Casebook (Batman (vol 1) 65, 86, 112-113, 134, 156, 162, Detective Comics 215, 235, 247, 267, World’s Finest Comics 89). Written by Bill Finger, Ed Herron, Ed Hamilton, with art by Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff, Dick Sprang, Charles Paris, and Stan Kaye.
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