Ever since the character was first created in 1967, the Question has had a strange history and one which writers all have fundamentally different visions of. Throughout the character’s lifespan, ignoring separate miniseries (which unfortunately excludes the fantastic The Deaths of Vic Sage), the character has been written by three writers in ongoing formats. First, and most obviously of all, is Steve Ditko. He created the Question as a character that exuded Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism and his harsh view of justice was far closer to vengeance. Ditko’s Question believed in the law and the truth; these two aspects of his character were fundamental. Then, twenty years later, Dennis O’Neil scripts what is the lengthiest and most detailed run on The Question ever. You see, Ditko and O’Neil were politically planets apart. O’Neil, to most likely the distress of Ditko, revolutionised the Question by killing him… sort of. He survives, but the Question is transformed into a far more zen character whose beliefs are far more communitarian and, for lack of a better phrase left wing. Ditko and O’Neil are the two titanic writers of the Question and they both script him radically differently. So, where does Greg Rucka fit in? On the outside, the Question is certainly unique. The faceless mask that once belonged to the now-deceased Vic Sage (died in the 52 weekly series) has founds itself on the face of a woman, specifically Renee Montoya. On the inside however, are things different this time?
Crime Bible: Five Lessons of Blood 1-5 was published from December 2007 to April 2008. It was written by Greg Rucka with art by Tom Mandrake, Jesus Saiz, Matthew
Clark, Diego Almos, Manuel Garcia, Jimmy Palmiotti, Steve Lieber, and Eric Trautmann. I’ve read the story in its trade paperback.
If you’re a fan of Batman: The Animated Series, then the name Montoya will probably ring a bell. Introduced in the mainstream comics in the early 1990s, Montoya was a GCPD officer that worked with Commissioner Gordon and occasionally had run ins with Batman. During the 52 mega series, she allied herself with Vic Sage’s Question and upon his death, he passed on the Question mantle to her. Yes, I’m condensing things down because quite frankly, I’ve never read it and the lack of writing consistency turns me off. Regardless, Renee Montoya becomes the Question and her first story resolves around the Five Books of Blood. If it wasn’t obvious enough, these five books are essentially the Ten Commandments for evil people. The five lessons are Deceit, Lust, Greed, Murder, and something else which is revealed later. All five parts are different from one another and essentially, they are all one-off stories that all connect to each other. It’s also worth mentioning that at the start of each issue, there’s a piece of prose that depicts the origin of the five lessons and includes biblical characters such as Lilith. The prose features may be a nice touch, but to me it just comes across as embellishing nonsense that, quite frankly, the story doesn’t deserve. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?
The first book of Deceit begins with the villain. Brother Flay leaves his cult to complete his destiny, while in London, Oxford Street, Renee Montoya learns of the Crime Bible from Professor Carlyle. Interested in its power, Montoya attempts to learn the secrets of the book itself from Carlyle, but he becomes paranoid and professes that the Crime Religion that worship the book is mere fiction. Montoya isn’t so convinced. She becomes suspicious of Carlyle once she discovers that he has recently bought a dangerous weapon. Meanwhile, Carlyle arrives home, unaware that Flay is waiting nearby. Carlyle, as if possessed, prepares to stab his wife to death, but The Question arrives just in time to catch him. You see, Carlyle has published a book that debunks the existence of the Crime Religion, but he is actually using the book to release the secrets into the public to convert them. He planned to kill his wife and child to save them from being massacred by the religion. Regardless, this doesn’t matter as Flay crashes through the room and distracts the Question, giving his accomplice (Carlyle’s wife) time to stab her husband to death. Yes, she was involved also, somewhat unbelievably. In the end, the Question stops her from killing her son and Flay easily escapes. It certainly isn’t a subtle beginning, but to me that is its biggest problem. Rucka gives us too much information at once and it becomes hard to digest at once. Perhaps the first issue should have been used to give more background to the religion, as it feels rushed and unpolished.
The Lesson of Lust is a definitely my least favourite part of this story. With Flay and his religion somehow involved in an upper-class brothel, Montoya breaks into Mother Superior’s home and, instead of involving herself with other woman, she becomes the Question and investigates Mother Superior’s blackmailing of a Pentagon employee. Montoya visits eight times over eight weeks and obtains the trust of a prostitute, using her to learn of what is really happening. As you’d except, Montoya arrives in the nick of time to stop Mother Superior’s mad scheme and to prevent the praising of the Crime Bible, she burns the mansion down. As ever though, Flay is nowhere to be seen. The problem with this issue as actually the complete opposite of the previous part. It’s too slow. Nothing much happens and throughout all of it, I struggle to see the point of it. Why would Flay and his religion take interest in a brothel when the crimes of murder and torture are far more apparent in other areas of the DC Universe. It’s not terrible as Rucka gives a character to Montoya’s insider, who is essentially a slave to Mother Superior’s wishes (she herself is a rather dreary foe). Like I said, the main problem is that this has nothing to do with the main story. The link is only really a coincidence and really, for a miniseries, that is a huge error.
The Lesson of Greed is where things begin to improve. Flay arranges a meeting with the Penguin and orders him to put a rare copy of the Black Book on auction. Why? Because I don’t know. The aims of Flay and his religion are never clear. They obviously want to spread evil and convert many to their cause, but their tactics don’t exactly reflect that. Regardless, the Penguin agrees, and he is ordered not to open it. Only one can understand the book's meaning. Back in Gotham, Montoya visits the old gang in the GCPD building. This is a nice feature as although I don’t know much about what happened to her in stories before this, it shows that the link she once had to great characters like Gordon and Harvey Bullock isn’t forgotten. Her past is brought up once again by Batwoman, another character here who has clearly had a relationship with Montoya before. However, the drama between them as civilian identities isn’t what I find interesting. In a surprisingly simple scene, Batwoman works with The Question to obtain the Black Book, but the two argue and fight over who should get it. Batwoman recognises that the Black Book exudes evil, but The Question has got the same gene that Vic Sage had. She cannot be without that knowledge. Both Montoya and Sage have huge messiah complexes and the only reason to what they do is to reveal the truth. This is the first time in the story, apart from her physical transformation of course, that I can see why Montoya has been chosen as the Question. Anyway, with the Penguin pointlessly shoehorned into the story, Montoya gets the book, only to find its pages blank apart from the words: “The word is not for you. Yet”…
Murder is by far the most terrible act a human being that commit. Writing a bad comic book comes second. Ironically however, The Lesson of Murder is the best issue of the lot, especially if you’re a huge fan of the Question’s mythos. It begins with Flay actually doing something evil: killing people. Finally. Meanwhile in a lighthouse, now home to Aristotle Rodor (once a friend of Sage), Montoya wonders about the blank pages of the Black Book, before their attention is quickly turned to the fact that Mayor of Hub City, Myra Fermin, has been critically injured. Montoya heads to Hub City after learning that sixteen police officers have recently been murdered. Elsewhere, a seventeenth falls prey to a police badge-collecting knife wielder. The return to Hub City is very welcome, as the new Question meets some of the old faces from O’Neil’s classic run. Not only is there Myra, but also Chief Izzy O’Toole, once a corrupt police officer and now a hard-working law upholder. Regardless, Myra reveals that reports (continued)
of her injuries were false and that she created them to attract the Question to her. However, she’s shocked to find that her once no-face lover is not only a woman, but a new person entirely. Anyway, The Question follows O’Toole and witnesses as he is knocked unconscious by Officer Munroe, the killer of the police officers who fails to explain his twisted acts. The Question obviously bests him but Flay magically appears and drops Munroe to his death. Before vanishing, Flay blames Montoya for his death and tells her that she has completed the fourth lesson. They will meet again in four weeks…
What is the fifth lesson of the Black Book? From what I gather, it is a person on a journey. Lilith explored Deceit, Lust, Greed, and Murder, before The Catiff, a character from the verses of Blood, named her the Faithless. It’s a very fancy way of reflecting the journey that Montoya goes on. This therefore leaves the final part rather empty. Following the coordinates given to her by Flay, Montoya finds herself on the Shores of the Abandoned. The cultists and followers of the Religion of Crime surround her, only then to do praise and worship her when she becomes the Question. She is the Faceless and they present her to their leader. Flay confirms that the Question has succumbed to the four lessons, and that what she does next will determine her future. As you’d expect in any directionless story towards the end, a fight-fist between the Question and Flay occurs. It concludes with a bloody Flay impaling himself and with that, the cultists bow down to the Faceless. She is the new leader, and they beg for commands. What happens next? Nothing, as the Crime Religion is never mentioned again in any of Rucka’s Question stories. I assume that she would disband it, but I don’t really care. As a concept, the Crime Religion may have been fine, but it’s never established what their goal is. I don’t know what they want to do. They rarely do anything evil and or threatening. The biggest problem with this story is the villains. They never add any excitement or emotion into the story. Because of their rather lax cult, it makes the story boring and actually, rather insignificant. As for Flay, he’s just all-talk and no-show. Sure, he may kill some people occasionally, but he spends most of the time speaking about dreary prophecies and things that really don’t matter. As for Montoya, I think she works well as the Question, and she gets better as the story goes on. She is similar to Vic Sage, but Rucka’s writing of her is far more subtle. Out of the three main Question writers, Rucka probably writes the most timid compared to O’Neil and especially Ditko. However, she remains one of the more interesting aspects of a somewhat empty tale.
With each issue drawn by different artists, the quality naturally varies. None of it is ever terrible, but some of it is far more memorable. Tom Mandrake’s work on the first issue is very good as he uses his great lighting and storytelling dramatically (despite the sloppy inks). Most of the other art by Jesus Siaz, Diego Almos, and others is inoffensive and rather unnoteworthy. Mandrake is the only one that really shines here. But, as I said, there’s nothing dreadful so it could have been much worse…
VERDICT
Overall, did The Question: The Five Books of Blood need to exist as a miniseries? Perhaps if it told a story that was connected and had a good/threatening villainous team with a bit of drama then it’s existence would be merited. However, it doesn’t. The link between each issue is minute and there is various huge plot holes. How does the Question become interested in the Black Book in the first place? Why doesn’t Flay do more to stop her? Does he want her to kill him at the end? Hadn’t she already passed that test? Rucka embellishes the story far more than it frankly deserves. This could have been a great story because I quite like the concept. However, the delivery was mediocre. Certainly, the best aspect of it is Montoya as the Question, along with many of the other side characters (mainly in issue 4). It doesn’t change the fact that the story is full of missed opportunities and because of it, Rucka delivers something as mediocre and drama-less as eating a bag of flour for dinner…
Story: 4.5/10
Art: 6/10
Next Week: The Question: Pipeline (stories from Detective Comics 854-865, The Question (vol 1) 37). Written by Greg Rucka, and Dennis O’Neil, with art by Cully Hammer, Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz, and John Stanisci.
Comments