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Scott Cresswell

POST 94 --- THE QUESTION: WELCOME TO OZ

Politics has always been an important part of The Question. That isn’t just when you judge the main character of the title, but also when you examine the stories and what happens in them. In O’Neil’s run, social issues are used often to convey the inner workings of a character. McCarthy from The Question (vol 1) 15 is a prime example, as his appearance as a cruel and racist man makes us and the Question believe that he is the real villain. However, in complete contrast to the work of Steve Ditko, O’Neil makes McCarthy into a form of hero by the end. In Ditko’s world, there is nothing in-between. You are either good or evil. Its black and white. With O’Neil, there isn’t really any black or white. Everything is multiple shades of grey, some darker and some lighter. A villain can have some good in them and a hero can have some evil in them. With these stories, O’Neil continues to convey that message while continuing to develop the characters of the title. The main three-parter here is Election Day, focusing on Myra and her low chances of winning the election to become Mayor of Hub City. For the plot of a comic book, that does sound a tad dull, but don’t worry, O’Neil is at hand to spice things up. And in the one-off stories, O’Neil focuses once again on character, with all three of the stories focusing on one particular character, one of whom we have seen before…


In the fourth review covering Dennis O’Neil’s run on The Question, I will be reviewing:


The Plastic Dilemma --- The Question (vol 1) 19

Send In The Clowns --- The Question (vol 1) 20

Rejects --- The Question (vol 1) 21

Election Day --- The Question (vol 1) 22-24


The Question (vol 1) 19-24 was published from August 1988 to January 1989. All stories were written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan, Rick Magyar, Dick Giordano and Malcolm Jones III. Lastly, I have read all of these stories in The

The Question: Welcome To Oz tpb, featuring a great idea for a cover, but horrible execution by Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Question: Welcome to Oz trade paperback.

The Plastic Dilemma --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar


THE STORY

Watching the news as another man is killed with a plastic gun, a fat man talks to his life-size blow-up doll about how he recognises the reporter as Vic Sage. Meanwhile, Myra meets with Alexander Polys, a plastics manufacturer who is rich and Cobb, Myra’s manager, believes that she must be endorsed by him. However, after her meeting with Polys, Myra believes he is crazy since he offered to build a plastics plant in Hub City in exchange for ensuring that Myra and the law doesn’t investigate his dodgy dealings. Myra is against the support of Polys and she decides he must be investigated, along with Mayor candidate Dinsmore, who may have connections to the Klan. Later, as the Question, Vic breaks into one of Dinsmore’s buildings and takes out some of his men, before phoning Myra and telling her that he is dangerous. However, he can’t prove it yet. At the same time, Myra’s husband, Mayor Fermin appears, drinking as usual. Myra then decides to phone Cobb, telling him that she must accept Polys’s deal. Although Vic is strongly against it, Myra tells him that she must accept because without Polys, there is no chance she can win. Even after Vic tells her that Polys is involved in creating plastic guns, Myra tells him to back down. Later, Vic learns from Tot that Polys can be linked to illegal arms shipments, but it would take a year to investigate it fully. Vic then heads out to report the news and “accidently” takes a photograph of Polys appear when he speaks about the plastic gun killings. Meanwhile, Polys meets with Cobb, who is aware of the businessman’s link with criminals such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but he asks for Polys’s support so he may become the kingmaker if Myra is elected Mayor. Meanwhile, Vic is given a lead on Augie Lumberg, who works for a limousine service. Meanwhile, the fat man from earlier, who is Lumberg, is attacked in his apartment by somebody wanting to know information about Polys. Then, as the man begins to flirt with his doll, Lumberg attacks the man, but he is knocked unconscious after the man shoots the doll in the head. Vic then arrives and he beats up the man. Afterwards, as the Question, Vic visits Cobb and attacks him, telling him that he hired Fred Dlobert to kill Lumberg (Dlobert was once Cobb’s cellmate). The Question tells Cobb to leave Hub City and to apologize to Myra for dirtying her campaign. Afterwards, Myra publicly denounces Polys and refuses his help in her campaign as she believes if he won with her support, it would be a poisoned victory. Watching the news, Lumberg learns that federal prosecutors have failed to indict Polys, but he is simply happy that he has taped up the hole in his doll’s head.


MY THOUGHTS

This story really continues a plot point from the previous story in the Question (vol 1) 16-18, in which the villains Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy use plastic weapons. It is briefly mentioned in the story, but it doesn’t become relevant until this one, where it is linked to Dinsmore’s election campaign. As time goes on, O’Neil is clearing making the election much more prominent, mainly to convey how crooked and twisted Dinsmore is. Yet, because this is Hub City after all, the chances are he will still win. Anyway, the main plot involving Polys not only adds to the crookedness of Hub City, but it also shows how corrupt the office of mayor is and can be. It shows a relationship between crime and politics, which if broken, can be dangerous for anybody wanting to run for Mayor in the city. Judging by his character, it would be no surprise to learn that Myra’s husband had the backing of Polys in exchange for something or if not Polys, some other corrupt businessman. The story itself may be fairly basic since it is the Question working as a detective once again to reveal to the city that Polys’s business dealings are illegal, but it is a good read and it feels very much like a Dennis O’Neil story. By this, I mean that the use of the plastics as a recurring and central theme in the story is clever because it is almost addressed like a social issue, an aspect of O’Neil’s best writings which make his content memorable and realistic in tone. Whether plastic guns are or were a serious issue in the real

The Question (vol 1) 19. Another truly dreadful cover by Cowan and Sienkiewicz. I don't know why anybody thinks that they work well together. I mean, just look...

world, I’m not sure, but as he turns them into one here, they make for an interesting idea of a story. At the same time, O’Neil focuses excellently on character, specifically Lumberg, who appears mysteriously at the very start before becoming a major part of the story. The inclusion of his plastic life-size doll that he talks to obviously shows that he is insane, or mentally disturbed to put it mildly. I suppose that there is a sense of irony there, with plastics being a huge aspect of the story and his involvement with Polys and then Cobb, Myra’s election agent, as it nearly gets him killed. Lumberg is a somewhat tragic character, but to me, his involvement in the story feels rather weak and there isn’t any real concreate reason why Cobb would want him dead. That being said, I believe that the main goal of this story was to develop the overarching plot, involving the election. This story makes Dinsmore into a more dangerous and shifty character, further changing our view of the election and who may win it…


This one here is the last issue in which Cowan and Magyar work together. While I will always have my criticism of the art, I do think that Magyar added something to Cowan’s pencils, both making it look like Cowan and cleaning it up at the same time. It is a shame that Magyar leaves here as it would have been great to see him continue. However, we can be happy that for half of the run, we could always make out when people were meant to be people, not just an assortment of pointless and scratchy lines…


Story: 9/10

Art: 7/10

Send In The Clowns --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Rick Magyar


THE STORY

On KBEL TV, an angry clown takes his clothes off live before being arrested. Meanwhile, Myra gets prepared for a debate hosted by Vic Sage. During the debate, Dinsmore tells Vic that he believes that all police officers should be god-fearing Christians that should violently enforce the law. Another of the candidates, Mr Jazlett, meekly asks why everybody can’t just get along. Myra then speaks about how Hub City has a crime problem but just before she can explain how she would solve it; Vic intervenes and ends the show. Meanwhile at a circus, a fat lady tells the other performers that the two-headed chicken has died. As they look outside, they realise that only a few kids are visiting the circus. Outside, one of the circus performers named Bobo is beaten up in an alley and he is killed. Later, Myra meets with Vic and tells him that Mike Rappaport, the clown who took his clothes off on TV, used to live at Manny’s Hotel and he noticed Vic and Myra meeting one another. Myra discovered from Rappaport’s psychiatrist that when he caught her and Vic, it made him believe that everything in the world was dirty. Later on, the news, Vic reports the death of Bobo, the clown killed in the alley. Watching the news is the killers of Bobo, who realise that they have killed the wrong clown. However, they don’t believe it’s their fault and once they watch a Mayoral broadcast by Dinsmore, they believe that Rappaport is to blame since they meant to kill him, not Bobo. Meanwhile, Rappaport is released by the police and Bobo’s killers are ready to strike. At the same time, Vic becomes the Question, searching for a connection between Bobo and Rappaport, who, at the same time, arrives at the circus where Bobo was killed. He is welcomed there. As he is introduced to the circus, the Question arrives. Then, the gangsters arrive, looking to kill Rappaport. As the gangsters spread out to search for Rappaport, the Question takes out one of them. At the same time, Rappaport begins to make out with the fat lady when he is caught by the gangsters. Then, the Question appears and easily takes them out. The Question then turns on the TV as another of Dinsmore’s messages play. The next day, Vic’s editor tells him that somebody has defaced all of Dinsmore’s campaign posters with clown faces. Vic hears this looking shattered.


MY THOUGHTS

When the people of Hub City go insane, they become clowns. That is really the main point of the story as the circus and clowns are the rejects of society and who have nowhere else to go. This is another story linked to Dinsmore candidacy for Mayor and how his patriotic, yet racist, views change the minds of the people who live in Hub City. This explains he villains in this story, who are effectively a bunch of nobodies. Yet, because of Dinsmore’s beliefs, they believe that they are acting in the interests of Americanism… just by killing a few clowns. Like many of O’Neil’s stories, this one begins with something rather trivial. A clown taking his clothes off live on TV may be strange, but it becomes the centre of the story because of the overarching plot. Like I said, Dinsmore is one of the real villains here, mainly because his evil way of thinking makes villains believe that their ideals of murder are right. Of course, the main villains themselves are guilty for being blind that killing the wrong man is okay, since it’s the fault of the man they are looking for. Yet, there is a deeper message in the story, one once again about Hub City and the people who live in it. We have seen in previous stories, like the old woman in The Question (vol 1) 5, who froze to death, the people of the city have no energy. Their lives have been sucked away by the criminals (continued)

Vic speaking to Myra after the Mayoral debates. Not a key moment from the story, but O'Neil is continually developing the background story, making us more aware of it. From The Question (vol 1) 20, featuring decent art by Rick Magyar.

in Hub City and (as opposed to Gotham where people can just leave), it seems as if most of the people living there have no choice. Yet, when they go insane just like Mike Rappaport does, the city doesn’t care. Nobody does. He joins the clowns of the city and risks suffering the same fate as many others in the city do, which is death. Really, O’Neil has written this story to convey the cruelty of not just the likes of Dinsmore and the criminals, but the very building blocks of the city itself. The Question is only really present in the story to convey its message and the great irony at the end is that he himself defaces all of Dinsmore’s campaign posters, just to make him look like the clowns he has played a part in creating…


Strangely, Rick Magyar does the complete art duties here, both pencilling and inking. His layouts are certainly different to Cowan’s, yet for the most part, I do like the art. It continues the urban style of the book while also adding something new and fresh. Sure, it may still be quite scratchy and sometimes messy, but the main reason I like it is because it feels different…


Story: 8.5/10

Art: 7.5/10

Rejects --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Dick Giordano


THE STORY

(It is worth noting that this story is a continuation of The Question (vol 1) 6 as it continues from where that issue left off)

One year ago, after shooting his father and taking his facial bandages off, Junior Musto is confronted by the Question, who tells him that his father isn’t dead. The Question asks Junior why he shot his father, but he doesn’t really know. Then, Angus McVey appears and tells the Question that Junior saved his life. Once Junior states that he burnt his own face with acid so his father would love him, the Question realises that this is what love can do to somebody. As the police arrive, the Question leaves. Today, Junior heads into a hospital and murders a surgeon and steals a human heart. This leaks to the press and Vic’s editor, Finch, instead decides that Vic should attend his school reunion and report on it. Meanwhile, Junior kills two police officers and finds his father in hospital, needing a heart transplant. Junior then orders a group of doctors and surgeons to join him. At the same time, Vic gets ready for his school reunion and although Tot asks him if there is anybody in particular that he wants to see, Vic reveals he didn’t really like anyone in school. Back with Junior, he orders the doctors to give his father the heart transplant. Junior’s father then tells his son that if he messes this up, he will beat him. Outside, Izzy O’Toole attempts to get into the hospital, but he isn’t allowed in. Meanwhile, Vic arrives at the school reunion and after he has to listen to everyone talk, he leaves and overhears that nobody liked him. Some time later, the heart transplant is complete, but Junior is told that it will take some time to see if it was a success. Junior then demands to speak to the Question. At the same time, Finch tells Vic to head to the hospital, which he does as the Question. There, he meets with Junior, who is worried that his father will die, in which case he will have to murder everyone in the room. Suddenly, Junior’s father does die as the surgery is a failure as his body rejected the transplant. The Question then warns Junior, telling him that if he does kill everybody in the room, his father would have won. However, Junior doesn’t listen and as he prepares to kill everyone, the Question attacks him and knocks him unconscious. Afterwards, the Question tells O’Toole to go easy on Junior, telling him that there is nothing sorrier or sadder than a monster.


The Question handing Junior over to the police. A powerful moment from The Question (vol 1) 21, in which you realise that the Question and Junior are very similar characters. Art by Denys Cowan and Dick Giordano.

MY THOUGHTS

Leaving a year’s gap between The Question (vol 1) 5 and this story I think was a stroke of genius. I think that if this story was simply published in the following issue, its impact would be nowhere near as strong as it is here. Plus, as O’Neil ended the fifth issue with a cliff-hanger (the revelation of Junior’s face), it stays in our head and we look forward to when the story will return. Any later the story may have been over-shadowed by larger stories, such as the one that follows this one. I really liked the story featuring Junior earlier in the run due to O’Neil’s writing of his character and in this story, it basically expands on that. It is worth noting also that this story is named “Rejects”. One of those rejects is obviously Junior, but who is the other one? At first, the reasoning for why Vic decides to report on his school reunion seems confused and unclear. Yet, by the end, it occurs to both him and us that he is the other reject. Before getting onto the main story involving Junior, I have to say that the school reunion scenes were incredibly funny in the way they are told. Vic basically just goes around the hall listening to everybody speak and as O’Neil only shows us snippets of the conversations, it makes for quite entertaining reading and you realise that all of those that Vic went to school with have different lives than him, explaining why he is the reject. The main story itself is fairly basic, but its main fuel is character. O’Neil always writes character incredibly well and here; it is no different. Junior is shown to be a rank amateur criminal, constantly trying to impress his father who clearly hates him. Yet, his ignorance is what makes him into a memorable and interesting character and when his father dies at the end, it is almost as if he is lost. Although he does try to kill those in the hospital at the end, the Question is the only one who manages to come close to convincing him to give up and primarily, that is because the two characters are very similar. In the end, you do wonder if Junior could have turned out like the Question or vice versa. Really, Junior is the only character in the run who seems to be similar to the Question and ultimately, that makes for a fantastic story…


Let’s face it. Dick Giordano is one of the best DC inkers that the company ever had. His linework appears to be incredibly fluent and he always manages to make a penciller look better and more dynamic. Even here, well past his prime, Giordano does well at making Cowan’s art look better. However, like I said, this is a great inker unfortunately past his prime and it does look quite messy in some areas. His style over Cowan is similar to that of Magyar’s. They both manage to clean him up while keeping some of Cowan’s distinctive features in the finished art. If this was the Giordano of the 1970s or 1980s, I have to confess that the art would have looked better than it does. However, I would take the Dick Giordano of the 1990s over most of the inkers at the time to be honest…


Story: 10/10

Art: 7.5/10

Election Day --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Malcolm Jones III


THE STORY

On Monday, Mayor Fermin is caught with a gun to his head by Myra. She grabs the gun off of him, before asking him if he remembers what happens tomorrow. She tells him that it is election day and that she is running for Mayor, surprising him. After Mayor Fermin wanders away drunk, Myra is told that she is twenty points behind Dinsmore in the polls and it would take a miracle for her to win. She is reminded that she probably will be the first Mayor to lose the election by modern technology due to new voting machines. Myra is then advised to disassociate herself with her husband. In the morning, a biker murders a man near a bus station. Although Vic attacks and chases after him, the biker is suddenly hit by a bus and dies. Afterwards, Vic heads home and wonders who sent the biker, since he knew that the man killed by the biker was going to give him information. In the autopsy, the Question discovered that the man was covered in tattoos, making Tot believe that he could have been linked to the Yakuza. An hour later, Vic attends one of Myra’s press briefings, asking her that if some of the improvements in the city under her husband has been down to her. Watching the briefing, Mayor Fermin stares at his gun. Later, Myra tells Maurice, her advisor, that she is going to lose and that Dinsmore will win. A few hours later, Vic heads out, knowing the biker was a member of a club of rape and pillage. As the Question, he is determined to find the link between the murdered man and the election tomorrow. As the Question, he breaks into the club and once he overhears that Dinsmore is financially linked to them, he attacks them and takes them out. Later, Myra finds her husband watching her on the TV. He calls her a communist and believes that she is against everything he stands for. Later in the night, Vic has a revelation and with Tot, they discover that the company involved in making the new voting machines are linked to the Yakuza, who Dinsmore is also linked to. On Tuesday, Vic phones one of Hub City’s judges, telling him to draw up a court order stopping the use of the new voting machines. The judge then phones Rockland, somebody involved in the corrupt voting machines and he decides that it is time for Vic to be taken care of. Waiting for the judge’s men to meet him to discuss the voting machines, Vic hears motorbikes nearby and he tells Tot to hide. Becoming the Question, Vic takes out the bikers breaking into his house and when Rockland is told that his men have failed, he summons an army to Hub City…


In 1886, after the first Hub City Mayoral Election, candidate Harold Sternglow won with three votes next to his name. Harold was then killed by Rance Dinsmore and in the rules of the election, the candidate who comes second becomes Mayor if the first candidate dies. Due to this, Rance Dinsmore became the first Mayor of Hub City. In the present on Tuesday morning, Dinsmore tells his men to get the baseball caps ready. Meanwhile, an army of bikers arrive at Hub City. Later, Vic reports on the news that the voting machines have been tampered with and that the old machines will now be used. At the same time, the weather reports that a huge storm is coming. Later, police officers are killed by the bikers as they begin to give out green baseball caps, giving them to those who will vote for Dinsmore. Vic and Tot watch as it happens as they realise that the baseball caps are important to Dinsmore’s plans. Later, Tot is confronted by bikers, who beat him up when he refuses to tell them if he is voting for Dinsmore. The bikers then notice another man, but he is wearing a green cap, so they leave him alone. After learning that Tot has been injured, Vic visits him in hospital and explains how he feels guilty for what has happened. Vic then questions if he should continue to report the violence if less people will vote, meaning that Dinsmore will win. Tot, in pain, then asks if Dinsmore and his men are the survivors if the civilization of Hub City collapses. Vic agrees. Later, Myra speaks to Maurice about how she doesn’t want to lose, but she also doesn’t want to win because of the reputation of the city. Once again, her husband calls her a communist and Myra rages at him. He then leaves and prepares his gun. Meanwhile, Vic becomes the Question

The Question (vol 1) 24, featuring probably the worst cover of the series I've ever seen. Cowan and Sienkiewicz for you.

and confronts the bikers, easily managing to take them out before reporting to Finch that the bikers have been taken to hospital due to drug problems (a convincing lie). This makes the bikers believe that Dinsmore gave them bad drugs and they decide to turn on him. At the same time, Vic is told that only a few hundred people have voted, mainly due to the weather and the violence. Vic later visits the club which Dinsmore is linked to and he phones Finch that the bikers may be visiting Dinsmore. Suddenly, Vic becomes the Question as he is confronted by the bikers, who manage to beat him up before pouring gasoline on him…


As one of the bikers light a match and prepare to drop it on the Question, a motorbike crashes though the window and knocks him out. The storm has begun. As the bikers’ retreat, the Question manages to get up and watch them all fall off their motorbikes and crash. While Myra, her husband and Maurice hide themselves in the basement, the Question is once again attacked by a biker, who is defeated. However, the Question is taken away by the strong wind. Meanwhile, Finch and the other reporters are in their building and the weatherman decides to head outside and shout about the tornado. However, he too is taken away by the wind and he is caught in electricity lines, killing him. After a few hours pass, the Question wakes up and finds the storm has ended. He becomes Vic Sage and visits Tot, who is recovering from his own injuries. Later, Vic goes to work, learning from Finch that Dinsmore won the election by one vote, angering Vic as he himself didn’t vote and he failed Myra. Afterwards, Vic finds Maurice and the ex-Mayor Fermin, who is rooting through the rubbish. Then, Vic is told to head to the riverfront. When he arrives, he finds the police pulling out Dinsmore’s car from the water, before learning that Dinsmore is dead. Due to the rules, Myra becomes the Mayor of Hub City. Meeting with Myra, Vic is told that she wanted Dinsmore to win because of the state the city is in. However, Vic reassures her and after they kiss, he leaves her. Some time later, Myra makes her acceptance speech for Mayor, but as she does so, her husband pulls his gun out and shoots her...

MY THOUGHTS

This is what it’s all been building up to. The election of Hub City is a storyline which seems to have been going on for quite a while and to be honest, judging by how one of the previous stories stated that the election would be in six months-time, this story has come much earlier in the run than expected. However, that is most probably a good move, mainly since if it was left any longer then the story may have ended up being a disappointment. That being said, there is no way that anybody could have predicted some of the events that occur in this story. As Hub City is… well, Hub City, democracy isn’t really present. In fact, O’Neil writes this story with Dinsmore creating a fake democracy, similar to what Adolf Hitler would have done in the 1930s. Sure, people did actually vote in Hub City’s election, but only for Dinsmore, otherwise they’d get their legs broken. That part of the story really begins in the second part, as before that the main focus is the rigged voting machines, a clever idea by O’Neil which makes for an interesting first part. To me at least, I always thought that when it would come to the election, Dinsmore would be doing something dodgy. The Question’s involvement in the story arguably makes Hub City worse, at least at first. That is mainly because of the biker army that arrives in the city just to ensure that everybody votes Dinsmore. The first two parts are mainly focused on Dinsmore’s control of the election, which may sound too empty to be expanded for two issues of the story. Yet, O’Neil writes it in a compelling way, conveying in the first and second parts the calm before the storm. O’Neil also includes a flashback, something which he advises against in his book, The DC Comics Guide to Writing. He believes that flashbacks can be dangerous, but they are used, they need to tell a crucial piece of information. O’Neil does this excellently here, conveying the first election in Hub City and showing how far back the Dinsmores have ruled Hub City and how undemocratically they have done so. Speaking of Dinsmore, he barely appears in the story. Understandably for some, that may be a criticism since he basically the main opponent of the Question. However, I think his rare appearances are very good as it makes him into a larger figure behind the scenes, while also allowing his biker men to do all of his dirty work. For most, if not, all of the story and even in some moments before the story begins, Myra, her team and pretty much everybody believe that she is going to lose. That must be kept in mind when reading this story as O’Neil repeats it numerous times, obviously hinting at a change that will occur later in the story. However, what will that change be? That is the question? On the weather, the storm was mentioned a few times and while you think it will have some weight to the story (because O’Neil doesn’t write scenes with pointless dialogue), it has much more than you ever think it will. Effectively, it decides who wins the race. As opposed to the first two parts, the final part doesn’t have much plot, but it is incredibly important. It allows for some tense action, something lacking I think in the first two parts. Yet, it also features some incredibly interesting scenes, particularly the morning after the election. Before I get to that, why the hell did that weatherman decide to go out into the storm to report the obvious news that there is a storm? Either he is an idiot, or he’s just plain nuts. I do admit that it makes for a funny moment in a story which lacks them. Actually, one of the most intriguing characters of not just this story, but the entire run is Myra’s husband, who, as usual, is always drunk and keeps on quoting Theodore Roosevelt. For the most part, he has kept out of the limelight, with the possibly exception of the first story involving Hatch, who he does mention in this story, forgetting that he died. Anyway, Fermin has been a background character mainly, but here, he has become quite antagonistic towards his wife, calling her a communist. However, I don’t think anybody expected the ending. The story doesn’t end here. What happens to Myra? Does she live? What happens to Fermin? Will the Question capture him? These are the questions which O’Neil will answer in the next issue, but as an ending to this part of the story, it is incredibly effective and takes you by surprise. After everything that has happened, the shock adds so much more weight to the storm and its effects. The death of Dinsmore is also quite a surprise and thanks to that flashback which O’Neil supplied at the start of the second part, the reason why Myra becomes Mayor makes sense. This story does leave a lot of aspects unclear which O’Neil ties up much later on, but the main reason I like this story so much is the different tones and approaches to telling the story in the three individual parts, as I discussed earlier. Each part feels different and there is something unique about them all. I do think the third part is the best part, primarily because of how it is told and how effective it is. The first two parts can drag on in some instances, but the problems were minor when comparing them to the positives and great moments in the story. Definitely, another highpoint of O’Neil’s run on the Question…


As Cowan returns to pencilling and Dick Giordano puts his ink away, Rick Magyar wasn’t to return to the book. So, a new inker was needed and at the time, Malcolm Jones III was a rising star of sorts, mainly due to his inks on the Sandman by Neil Gaiman. On the likes of Kelley Jones, Jones III is a great inker who embellishes the art of stylised artists very well. With Cowan, on the other hand, he tends to make Cowan look too much like Cowan. Magyar somehow had the great strength of smoothing Cowan while making his art look like the pencils. Unfortunately, Jones III keeps Cowan’s messy approach to the art, a style which I’m not too fond of. I’ve seen much worse art in comic books, particularly in the 1990s, but I’ve seen better…


Story: 9/10

Art: 6/10

VERDICT

Overall, the Question: Welcome to Oz continues O’Neil great run on the title and gives us a great set of stories. All three one-off stories are great and incredibly enjoyable, particularly Rejects, which features the return of Junior from The Question (vol 1) 5. The main three-parter focusing on the election is a fantastic story which has been working away in the background for so long. IF it had been written badly, it could have been very disappointing. However, this is Dennis O’Neil, and he knows how to write!

Stories: 9/10

Art: 7/10

Next Week: Batman: Kings of Fear (Batman: Kings of Fear 1-6). Written by Scott Peterson with art by Kelley Jones. Expected by 08/11/2020.

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