Like nearly all of the “Suggested for Mature Readers” titles, The Question by Dennis O’Neil very much felt separate from the mainstream DC titles such as Batman and Superman. Why? I guess to try and hammer home the feeling that these comics were for adults (that’s a very pretentious way of putting it). However, when reading titles such as The Question and Green Arrow by Mike Grell, sometimes I did miss the old faces. I’m not saying that the whole DC Universe should have appeared in an issue, but it would have been great to see the likes of Batman turn up once or maybe even twice. While Batman did turn up in The Question (vol 1) 2 (sort of), it didn’t seem particularly likely that O’Neil would introduce or even reintroduce characters from other titles. Well, that all changed in The Question (vol 1) 17 and 18. In many ways, Green Arrow and The Question are very similar. They both fight criminals in towns that are the breeding ground of crime and they are both urban vigilantes instead of hopeful heroes. It isn’t much of a surprise that after Green Arrow’s first appearance in The Question that O’Neil wrote multiple annuals afterwards featuring the two teaming up. Clearly, they are both characters which O’Neil is very fond of and the duo certainly spiced the title up and added more to it, something much needed after the title had been going for 18 months. That’s not to say that The Question was becoming stale (far from it as you’ll see in these stories), but O’Neil was keen to add new or older characters into the mix, making the title continually fresh. However, Green Arrow isn’t the only character of interest in these stories. We haven’t even gotten to Rorschach yet…
In the third of multiple posts reviewing Dennis O’Neil’s run on The Question, I will be reviewing:
Be All That You Can Be…/Saving Face --- The Question (vol 1) 13-14
Epitaph for A Hero --- The Question (vol 1) 15
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid/A Dream of Rorschach/Desperate Ground --- The Question (vol 1) 16-18
The Question (vol 1) 13-18 was published monthly from February to July 1988. All stories were written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar. I
have read these stories in The Question: Epitaph for A Hero trade paperback.
Be All That You Can Be…/Saving Face --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar
THE STORY
At an army recruiting office, Sergeant Ben Loomis is stabbed to death by a strange man. Meanwhile, Vic Sage is training at home when he is phoned by his editor, Finch, who tells him that the Newton Avenue Bridge has collapsed. Vic heads to the scene and learns that six have been confirmed dead and that a kid in car fell into the river. Vic quickly jumps into the water and finds the kid unconscious. Back on the surface, Vic is given a coat by a man with a limp to warm up. As Mayor Fermin’s wife, Myra, arrives at the scene, Vic discovers that the child he saved has died and he rages at the police officers for not doing anything to save him beforehand. After a fourth career military man is killed in the past month, Vic reports the news that the police and the FBI have no leads on the case and that Mayor Fermin believes it is a communist plot. Once again, Finch shouts at Vic for giving his opinions on the news. Afterwards, Vic heads to City Hall, where one of the bridge workers admits to not processing a report about the bridge. However, he can’t be fired as he has a union backing him. Myra then asks Vic if he is attending a Brave Squad military demonstration the next day. Although he isn’t happy about it, Vic attends, but during the demonstration, a group of men in black attack the Bravo Squad and violently kill them all. After one of the men in black warns America to watch out, Vic attempts to hold onto to their helicopter as they take off, but he fails. After, Vic speaks with Tot and realises that the man who gave him the coat earlier might be behind the attack since he also had a limp. Vic finds the name “DeBeck” on the coat. At work, Vic learns that the Pentagon fired DeBeck and his men and afterwards, Vic finds DeBeck and the killer of the military men. As the Question, Vic confronts DeBeck, telling him that he knows he got the limp from getting shot in Cambodia. Although he fights DeBeck, the Question is beaten by DeBeck’s men in black. When the Question awakens, he finds himself buried neck-deep in a forest…
Buried neck deep, DeBeck tells the Question that he wants to see how long he can last before screaming, before killing him. DeBeck then admits that if the Question lasts longer than he did buried neck-deep, then he will let him go. DeBeck then tells the Question that he killed the Bravo Squad soldiers to prove their weakness. Back in Hub City, Myra is being made up and prepared to announce her candidacy for Mayor, with her agent, Cobb, telling her that it will be difficult for her since she’s a woman and has too-much sex appeal. After Myra tells Cobb that the only reason he is running her campaign is because he was in prison and he needs the work, he tells her that he was framed and without him, she doesn’t have any chance of winning. Meanwhile, the Question manages to annoy DeBeck’s men by poking fun at them. With the temperature falling, one of DeBeck’s men places a cap on the Question’s head. Back in Hub City, Myra is attacked by the press for her daughter’s father leaving her when Myra was 18. Back in the woods, the Question sleeps and dreams about his childhood, when a nun locked him in a wardrobe for being naughty. The next day, the temperature reaches the hottest it has been in November, but one of DeBeck’s men tells the Question that it might be raining later. He also tells him that he murdered those military men not on the orders of DeBeck. For the next few hours, it rains, and the Question’s mask falls off, but he manages to sleep. At the same time, Myra awakens from a nightmare that she is being presented as a prostitute. The next day, a huge insect crawls along Vic’s face and one of DeBeck’s men recognises Vic from somewhere. After it stops raining again, DeBeck shoots the ground which Vic is trapped under, not evoking a reaction. It has been 74 hours since Vic was first placed underground and DeBeck tells him by then, he was screaming. DeBeck explains that the CIA captured him and believed he was selling supplies to the black market. He lied by admitting to it in fear. As DeBeck’s men believe it is time for them to release Vic, one of them realises that he is Vic Sage, and he can’t be released because of that. Vic watches as the group fights one another and they kill each other over whether they should release him or not. In his last moments one of DeBeck’s men begins to dig Vic out of the hole and once he dies, Vic manages to get out and he is free.
MY THOUGHTS
For this story, both parts of it feel very different and strange. While the first part can be viewed as a somewhat run-of-the-mill detective story, its conclusion in the second part is different in its tone and it is rather difficult to compare it to other stories. For the first part, there isn’t really much that sets the main plot out of the crowd of other stories at the time. Particularly in the likes of titles such as Green Arrow by Mike Grell, the story featuring a corrupt military figure became very unoriginal incredibly quickly and while at the time it may not have seemed it, when reading this story now,
you do wish that the first part was more unique. That being said, O’Neil makes up for it in an incredibly interesting second part. Like I said, the plot may be fairly regular and uninspired, but it is the way that it is told which makes the overall story a good and interesting read. In fact, some of my favourite moments from the story aren’t really about the main plot, but about the other events that occur and the other characters who appear. In the first part, the collapse of the bridge isn’t really a huge feature of the story. However, not only does it introduce the main villain in DeBeck, but it also presents us with a moment where the Question fails. Moments like this shouldn’t be too common, otherwise they lose their intended effect. However, when he fails to save the drowning child essentially because he gets there late and the police officers basically can’t be bothered, O’Neil builds onto the character of Hub City, displaying the police as a huge part of the problem. This links heavily to another background feature of the story, which is the beginning of Myra’s long journey to becoming Mayor. This is mainly of interest because its building up on the characters who have appeared since the start of the run and as O’Neil always does well, he is developing it in the background so you know that soon, it will take centre stage. This adds more to the second part of the story, which is effectively the Question stuck in a hole. Sounds boring, doesn’t it. In theory, it would be, but the reason it is so powerful is because he fights against DeBeck by proving himself and not going insane. Because of this, DeBeck is constructed into a much better character because by the end, you realise that he has failed. Years ago, he failed the same torture which the Question finds himself in and in some way, despite his hatred of the Question, there is a feeling of respect for him. In complete contrast to the first part, the way the story is told in the second part is feels very unique and partially, that is why I think the story works fantastically. Information about the plot and characters is released in two different ways, both of which are effective at the end of the day. Speaking of the end, this did rather catch me off guard. To some extent, I still do question why DeBeck and his men decide to kill each other on whether they should release the Question or not. However, as we know something about DeBeck and his team, we know that they are clearly not right in the head and to them, because of their military experience, everything is a war. I would imagine that even making tea or coffee would result in one or two them being brutally murdered. Not only does this make for an intriguing and great ending, but it seems to be the only logical way that the story of DeBeck can end. What would have happened if the Question got out? How could be have arrested and taken out a group of trained military men. In the end, it is themselves who destroy one another. The Question doesn’t really mean much to them. He is just another part of the game they are playing. Overall, despite a rather unoriginal, yet compelling plot, O’Neil manages to make this is into an incredibly unique story by the end, especially with the Question buried neck-deep, which in theory would make the story boring, but if anything, it makes it more entertaining, particularly with his dialogue.
Story: 9/10
Art: 7/10
Epitaph for A Hero --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar
THE STORY
Investigating the death of a black man, Private investigator Loomis McCarthy meets with Vic Sage, admiring his work. McCarthy talks about how this is the fourth black person to be hanged in the city, using racist language as he does so. Although McCarthy won’t tell Vic who hired him, he offers to meet Vic for dinner later, before saying a racist joke. Later, after Vic reports the news of the four other victims, a mysterious woman praises Vic for his reporting, but he doesn’t know who she is. Later, Vic meets McCarthy, who believes that the murders could be a result of Hub City’s political situation. McCarthy then accidentally drops the keys to his apartment. Although Vic gives them back to him, Vic cuts the meeting short and leaves. He becomes the Question and breaks into McCarthy’s apartment, finding some racist magazines and porn, along with a suitcase and an address book, finding the name “Caleb Phillips”. Suddenly, a man breaks into the apartment and attacks the Question, who easily manages to beat him. However, the man escapes when the Question is attacked by a group of drunk partygoers from the next apartment. After escaping and heading back home, Vic wonders how McCarthy knew that he would search his home, but he wonders why the man who attacked was black, since McCarthy hates black people. From the number in the address book, Vic phones Caleb Phillips, pretending to be McCarthy. This works and from this, Vic believes that McCarthy is working for the Klan since there must be a connection. Then, by using the weapon he took from his attacker, Vic searches the gun registration files and discovers that a permit was issued to John Figlia, who reported that his gun was stolen earlier. Tot then appears, telling Vic that another murder has happened. At the scene, Vic meets McCarthy again, discovering that he has a belief in God, despite his sins. As McCarthy makes another racist joke, a black police officer punches him in the face and beats him. McCarthy asks Vic why he didn’t do anything, but Vic tells him that he was saving him the trouble. Believing it has to be McCarthy, Vic follows McCarthy to a house, where he speaks to Figlia, telling him that Phillips hired him to investigate the killings. McCarthy also tells Figlia that his former partner and candidate for Mayor, Dinsmore, is related to the crimes. Figlia then orders one of his men to kill McCarthy. However, the Question enters and finds that McCarthy has shot the man. Reporting the news that Figlia is linked to the killings thanks to McCarthy’s leads, Vic is congratulated for his work when McCarthy appears. Once again Vic tells him that he doesn’t like him because he’s racist scum, Figlia appears and fires a gun at Vic, but McCarthy throws himself in the way and dies. After Vic punches Figlia in the face, somebody names McCarthy a hero, but Vic tells them that he wasn’t because maybe in the world, there are no heroes or villains.
MY THOUGHTS
Ever since his time on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Dennis O’Neil has never been afraid to tackle social issues or fight against injustice through storytelling. This is another one of those stories, but instead of everything in terms of morality being in black and white, everything is simply grey. Right from the start, McCarthy clearly isn’t a nice guy. O’Neil makes that incredibly clear, but by the end, we are forced to question even that. In terms of the story, it really takes a backseat in everything that plays out. Obviously, without the story we wouldn’t be aware of the characters and their significance. Yet, despite it seemly being another murder mystery to solve, it really is more of a character study. We as readers and the Question believe that McCarthy is the true villain because he is an unapologetic racist. However, as the story begins to draw to a close, is McCarthy really the main villain here and more importantly at the end, is he a villain? The real villain is revealed near the end to be Figlia, who is himself linked to Dinsmore, a candidate for Mayor, O’Neil is once again planting the seeds for future stories and overarching plots. I really don’t think that there is much else to say, apart from the surprising ending of course. The ending pretty much changes our view of the stories and character, but that is clearly the way that O’Neil has written it to be. I repeat the last words spoken by the Question that the very end: “there are no heroes and there are no villains”. This is another huge change between O’Neil’s version of the Question and that of Steve Ditko’s, who himself saw the word as black and white, or good and evil. You are either good or you are bad. There’s nothing in-between. O’Neil changes that completely, with that the final effectively saying that there can be good in villains and evil in heroes. We know from our experience of the story that McCarthy is a horrible racist man. Yet why does he save the Question? Why? The world isn’t black and white. Its much more than that. McCarthy’s friendship with Vic is incredibly one-way. Although McCarthy says that he likes him, Vic delivers a hard-hitting speech that he effectively hates everything about McCarthy. Does that change by the end? Why does McCarthy sacrifice himself at the end after everything that Vic said? I guess we’ll never know. But one aspect seems to be clear: Vic is disgusted and ashamed that somebody like McCarthy sacrificed himself to save him and knowing O’Neil that grief will follow the Question for the foreseeable future…
Story: 10/10
Art: 7/10
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid/A Dream of Rorschach/Desperate Ground --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar
THE STORY
After beating up a group of thugs who see him as a traitor, Izzy O’Toole is nearly killed when two firemen nearly set fire to a building, but the Question appeared and defeated them. Reporting on it, Vic believes that the corruption in the city is spreading. After Myra makes a speech about making Hub City a good city to live in, she tells Vic that her party’s national committee may refuse to endorse her for Mayor due to her links with her husband. Vic advises her to get a good word from somebody who the voters’ respect. Later, Vic becomes the Question and meets O’Toole, paranoid that somebody is out there to kill him. Vic asks him about Myra, to which he tells him that he’d vote for her. Vic tells him that he is the most important man in the city right now and before he leaves, Vic tells him to try not to die. Meanwhile, two gangsters named Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid plan to dispose of O’Toole, believing him to be the only good cop in the city and because of that, he must die. Sundance agrees to take the mission. He destroys the apartment that O’Toole lives in, but he manages to survive. After being patched up in hospital, O’Toole leaves injured and his fellow officers (despite being corrupt) decide to help him since he is one of them. With Vic reporting the news that O’Toole is the most devoted and effective lawman in the city, O’Toole doesn’t like being seen as a hero. He then records a video endorsing Myra for Mayor. As the Question, Vic interrogates Harry Skevatz, the janitor of O’Toole’s building. The Question gets him to admit that he tipped off Sundance to which apartment O’Toole lived in. Although O’Toole wasn’t killed, four people were, two of which were children. Harry then admits to the Question that he told Sundance that O’Toole would be at the Savoy Hotel later. At the hotel, O’Toole enters alone and finds Sundance waiting for him. After managing to get through the police, the Question watches as Sundance shoots O’Toole, but the Question attacks Sundance and knocks him out…
While an old man named Mr Hilkey stands on the roof of the Hub City Home for Senior Citizens, Sundance is in jail, where he is visited by Cassidy, who gives him a briefcase. Inside is a gun, which Sundance quickly fires at the police officers nearby. Vic (also nearby) hears the shots and chases after the duo. As a chopper arrives on the roof, Sundance and Cassidy get on it, but Vic manages to hold onto the bottom of it. However, he is injured, and he falls, landing on Mr Hilkey and killing him. Later at home, Tot reassures Vic, telling him that Hilkey was old and ill. Vic feels guilty that he killed the old man and that he has gotten away with it. As Vic hits his punching bag, Tot notices how Vic is changing back into how he used to be before he was killed (The Question (vol 1) 1). After discovering that the helicopter which Sundance and Cassidy escaped on was from Seattle, Vic flies there on a plane. On board, he reads a comic book he brought, Watchmen. After reading it, Vic sleeps and dreams that he is Rorschach. He also dreams about McCarthy, before awakening and arriving in Seattle.
There, Vic is distracted by a man who recognises him from Hub City Television. Afterwards, Vic is attacked by the man, who says that he will be rewarded for what he is doing. After defeating him, Vic finds a card for a hotel on him and becomes the Question and breaks into the hotel, searching for Parker. However, the Question is knocked out and Sundance is contacted about it. Although Sundance wants to know who he is, Cassidy advises that they take him to the mountains and leave him there. Once they do this, the Question manages to escape from them, but once they find him unconscious in the snow, they are attacked and confronted by Green Arrow…
As the Question is rescued by Green Arrow, he refuses to untie him, believing that he might also be a villain. The Question tells him that he is searching for Sundance because he tried to kill O’Toole and the two thugs that Green Arrow captured work for Sundance. Green Arrow tells him that he has been following him ever since he came to Seattle. Suddenly, the two thugs fight back, but Green Arrow and the Question take them out. As the two of them head closer to Sundance, Green Arrow states that Sundance and his men sell plastic guns to terrorists. In Rome, one of the buyers killed an old man and some babies, explaining that he is interested because innocents are dying. As they near closer to the Ski Lodge, Green Arrow and the Question receive the strange password (from the thugs they beat) to enter the lodge. Meanwhile, Sundance and Cassidy prepare in their lodge, relying on their rocket launcher to help them beat the vigilantes. Nearby, Green Arrow and the Question hear a helicopter nearby and the two calmly argue, with the Question trying to convince him to untie him. In the end, Green Arrow agrees to untie to the Question. Suddenly, Sundance fires his rocket launcher at Green Arrow’s and the Question’s car, destroying it and seemingly killing them. However, they managed to escape before the explosion and once Green Arrow destroys the lodge’s flood lights, they enter the base and defeat Sundance’s men. Although Sundance and Cassidy try to escape in the helicopter, Green Arrow and the Question drive their snow buggies directly into the helicopter, destroying it. Once again, Sundance and Cassidy try to run away, but the vigilante duo take them out.
MY THOUGHTS
Although the second and third parts of this story is directly linked together, the first isn’t so much. Yet, the overall story has the same villains, and every issue does pretty much continue from the previous one. Therefore, I would consider this one story. In fact, let’s start straight away with probably the largest aspect of this story which I dislike, that being the main two villains. Clearly based on Butch Cassidy and those
type of outlaws in the wild west, the two villains of Cassidy and Sundance just don’t fit in with the setting of Hub City, let alone a snowy place like Seattle either. I’ve never been a fan of villains like this, mostly because I find them to be ridiculous and entirely outdated. Seriously, in stories like these I don’t really find them to be threatening at all. I guess that they are unique compared to the likes of two huge thuggish gangsters who bite the heads off whippets, but I’m still not impressed. That being said, the first part of this story focuses on a character who has appeared several times before, mainly as a background character who is extremely ugly. That is one Izzy O’Toole, a character who O’Neil has been changing since the run became, transforming him from a lazy corrupt cop to becoming the only honest officer in the city. As a character, I really like O’Toole not just because of his change in character, but also because of his attitude and he appears to be a very reluctant ally of the Question, something which will feature more prominently at the very end of the run. This part of the story is pretty simple, consisting of the Question watching out for O’Toole and ensuring that he doesn’t die. It does sound simple, but when reading it, it is a very enjoyable story that, at times anyway, can feel rather hollow, but it’s a good read. O’Neil also develops Myra’s story further here as she wins the endorsement of O’Toole, making her popular enough to win party backing for her candidacy for Mayor. One of my favourite aspects of the story is that as O’Toole has featured a number of times beforehand, you do genuinely worry that he might die here. That is one of O’Neil’s true creative strengths. Whether you like or dislike the characters he uses, he certainly makes you feel an emotion for them and in this case, you don’t want O’Toole to die as he has learnt his lesson of being corrupt. Therefore, there really is a lot of tension here and it makes the story so much more enjoyable and fun to get through, despite the pretty naff villains. Now, the second part of the story takes a very different direction both in terms of the story and location. With O’Toole’s part in the story done, the rest is taken up with the Question searching for them. Their escape was expected from the minute you knew the story was continuing into another issue, but what is unexpected is when the Question strangely falls onto an old man and crushes him to death. This really does come out of the blue, yet there is certainly a lot of weight to it. Tot mentions that he is noticing that Vic is turning back into how he used to be before his death (another aspect which is brought back later) and the death of the old man makes the Question incredibly guilty. This is a good move. However, I would have liked this to have gone further, since he seemingly gets over it pretty quickly. And then, we get the moment which probably surprised many readers both at the time and now in fact. Its not much of a secret that the characters Alan Moore created in Watchmen were originally going to be the Charlton Comics heroes and Rorschach is clearly based on the Question, both in terms of morals and appearance. His featuring in the story is a nice touch and while it doesn’t really add anything, I just think it’s a good addition to the story that was most likely put in because I assume that O’Neil probably enjoyed Watchmen. For the remainder of the story, Seattle is the setting and because of that, we are introduced to another character which O’Neil clearly loves Green Arrow. He has certainly been a character that O’Neil knows how to write, and he’s done well ever since the 1960s and 1970s. That being said, his character is slightly different here to how he once was, mainly due to the changes of his character by Mike Grell through stories like The Longbow Hunters. Despite the tension between the two of them, O’Neil writes the partnership between Green Arrow and the Question excellently, especially their humour which seems to work very well. In fact, that’s something that O’Neil has written excellently in these stories. Despite having a very urban character, the Question is written very casually and often cracks jokes, making the stories feel less serious, yet even more believable. The scenes with Green Arrow and the Question pretty much carry the rest of the story, which is primarily taken up with the two vigilantes hunting after Sundance and Cassidy. It might get a bit stale towards the end, but overall, the story is excellent not just because of its good plot, but because of the characters that facilitate it. It is a shame about the villains however, who could have been so much better…
Story: 8.5/10
Art: 7/10
THE ART BY DENYS COWAN AND RICK MAGYAR
Once again, it’s the same team doing the art duties. I do like the consistency here, as loads of other titles at the time couldn’t maintain the same penciller and inker for even a few months, let alone years. That being said, I’m still very mixed with the art. Despite the dramatic page layouts which are often very interesting and unique, its just the finishes which give everything this unattractive look. Once again, I think much credit must be given to Rick Magyar, who somewhat cleans up Cowan’s messy style of art and does tend to make it presentable. However, the art is still Denys Cowan and because of that, I can’t say that I am a huge fan of it, even if it does reflect the urban grim tone of O’Neil’s writing…
VERDICT
Overall, The Question: Epitaph For A Hero is excellent as it features some of my favourite stories from the run. I’m a huge fan of the Saving Face two-parter, particularly the second part and the one-off about McCarthy is incredibly impactful and even relevant to the world today. Lastly, the three-parter featuring Cassidy and Sundance may lack great villains, but it features a story with fantastic characters, all of whom O’Neil writes realistically. While I don’t like the appearance of the art, it still matches the tone of the story. While this may be one of the best parts of the run (if not the best), that’s not to say that things are going to get terrible. Let’s hope that O’Neil continues to be consistent in writing great stories in the issues that lie ahead…
Stories: 9/10
Art: 7/10
Next Week: The Question: Welcome to Oz (The Question (vol 1) 19-24). Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan, Rick Magyar, Dick Giordano and Malcolm Jones III. Expected by 1/11/2020.
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