Once again, we return to Dennis O’Neil’s world of The Question! Up until this point, the overarching plot has mainly been one thing: the election. I mean, Myra has been a main character of the series ever since she first appeared in The Question (vol 1) 1 and with the fantastic ending to The Question (vol 1) 24, you genuinely wonder if you will ever see her alive again. I know I discussed it in the previous review, but that is arguably one of the greatest endings to a comic book I’ve read. It’s up there with the end of JLA 50 by Mark Waid. After a long three-parter, you finally think that the story is over, but no, O’Neil once again throws another curve ball. The main question in our heads now is where do we go from here? Especially after an ending like that, in which O’Neil already sets the stage for a seemingly fantastic follow-up, you wonder how O’Neil can deliver something even better after something great. Well, despite the great Election Day story, this set of stories unfortunately features what I believe to be, not one of the worst stories I’ve ever read, but it is certainly underwhelming and not particularly enjoyable. I won’t reveal what that story is yet, but many of the one-offs here are very strange and unique. The Riddler featuring in one issue was something I wasn’t expecting and even more so for the Captain Stars & Sergeant Stripes, a story which harkens back to a time in comics where all colours were vibrant and the dialogue coming out of everybody’s mouths seemed to be written by a nine-year-old. God, I miss those days…
In the fifth of multiple reviews covering Dennis O’Neil’s run on The Question, I will be reviewing:
Skells --- The Question (vol 1) 25
Riddles --- The Question (vol 1) 26
Captain Stars & Sergeant Stripes --- The Question (vol 1) 27
A Place For The Arts/The Slaying/Whodunit --- The Question (vol 1) 28-30
The Question (vol 1) 25-30 was published from February to September 1989. All the stories were written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan, Bill Wray, Malcolm
Jones III, Rick Stasi and Terry Beatty. I have read these stories in The Question: Riddles trade paperback.
Skells --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Malcolm Jones III
THE STORY
After shooting Myra, former Mayor of Hub City Wesley Fermin kills news reporter Jerry Thatcher before escaping in front of everybody. Once Vic learns that Myra is still alive, but in critical condition, he reports the news. Vic then meets Izzy O’Toole, who tells him that some skells (homeless people) have robbed a liquor store and shot a police officer, before hiding in a building and holding some old women hostage. O’Toole tells Vic that the whole city has gone crazy since Myra was shot. Afterwards, Vic heads home and tries to calm down, but Tot senses that he is distressed over the death of Jerry Thatcher. Vic then admits that he didn’t want Myra to become Mayor because then, they could spend more time together. Although Tot tells him to rest, Vic becomes the Question and begins his search for Fermin. As a priest prays over Myra’s unconscious body, the Question prints off a list of Wesley Fermin’s campaign contributors before sitting on a park bench, imagining Hub City as a monster that feeds on fear, mistrust and despair. Suddenly, the Question is attacked by a group of thugs who are chasing after some people, but he easily beats them. Meanwhile at KBEL TV, Finch is wondering where Sage is. At the same time, the Question is still fighting a gang, but he is injured. The Question heads to Willy Sundert’s house, where Fermin is hiding. There, the Question hides as he hears Willy congratulating Fermin on shooting his wife. As Fermin is driven away from Sundert, the Question attacks him before getting in his car and following Fermin. Sometime later, Fermin arrives at the crime scene involving the skells. As drunk as ever, Fermin decides to handle to the skells. He steals an officer’s gun and kills the skells, but he too is shot and killed. The next day, the Question believes that Fermin has ended life as a hero, but the Question refuses to take his mask off, afraid of what he might find underneath it…
MY THOUGHTS
This one here can be considered a follow-up to the Election Day three-parter, but perhaps not at the same time. Fermin continues to be the main villain of sorts here, but the focus of the story is dramatically different. O’Neil focuses here mainly on the city itself, something he has done multiple times before. However, this time he has personified it as a huge monster which lives on fear. Sure, it’s a very Vertigo idea, but I do like it as O’Neil writes it effectively and not in a too pretentious fashion. Fermin is an important aspect of Hub City as his actions at the end of the story cloud the judgement of the people. Throughout not just this story, but previous ones, Fermin is portrayed not just as a drunk, but also as power-hungry. He believes that anyone to the left is a communist, to the point where he even shoots his wife. Clearly, he is deranged, and the city can see that for themselves, both when he shoots Myra and kills a news reporter. Yet, when Fermin himself gets killed trying to take out some skells, he is treated like a hero by many, showing that Hub City really is beyond hope. It’s a neat conclusion to the Election Day story that simply ties up most loose ends. However, I would argue that the story can feel somewhat slow and rather dull, particularly in the middle. Plus, how does Fermin escape at the very start of the story? Surely there is security at the scene since Myra is now the Mayor. Plus, Fermin does shoot two people, and nobody decides to tackle or disarm him? It just doesn’t make any sense. That, or the people of Hub City really are idiots. In fact, I’m going with that.
The art is pretty average here, mainly due to Malcolm Jones III’s style of inking, which may suit Cowan’s sketchy pencils, but it doesn’t look particularly appealing. In some panels people look more like zombies and there are even times when it looks like Vic Sage has a beard. I’ve never liked art which is covered in small scratchy pointless lines and here, the rule still applies…
Story: 8.5/10
Art: 5/10
Riddles --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Bill Wray and Malcolm Jones III
THE STORY
In Arkham Asylum, Commissioner Gordon meets with Edward Nigma, the Riddler, who is shocked to find that Gordon has solved his riddle instead of Batman. Then, Gordon tells Nigma that he is letting him go since it’s not worth the effort trying to prosecute him. Before leaving, Gordon advises Nigma to go straight and settle down somewhere. He wishes him luck. Meanwhile in Hub City, the Question takes out a criminal dressed like Santa and phones O’Toole to tell his officers to pick up the crook. Afterwards, Vic begins to walk back to his car, but he is confronted by a robber, who is easily defeated. Vic then visits the hospital, finding that Myra is still in a coma and her condition isn’t improving. Meanwhile on a coach, Nigma meets Sphinx Scromulski, a former striper. At the same time, Vic arrives at home, still in pain from the last injury. Tot tells him that the reason it isn’t healing is because every night, Vic goes out looking for trouble. Suddenly, Vic stands up using a stick, but he collapses. Meanwhile on the coach, Nigma is shocked to find that Sphinx has a small machine gun in her handbag, something she stole from her last boyfriend. Elsewhere, Vic wakes up in his car, with Tot driving to a cabin in the woods to ensure that Vic relaxes and his leg recovers. Although Vic tries to convince Tot to turn the car around, he refuses. Suddenly, the car stops as it has run out of gas. Meanwhile on the coach, Sphinx tells Nigma that once the coach hits a disserted stretch, they will steal the valuables of the other passengers. Nigma expresses some doubt, telling Sphinx that maybe he could include his riddles in her plan. Then, the coach begins to stop as Vic (continued)
and Tot want to get on board. As they sit down, Tot tells Vic that they will send for a tow truck to get the car back. Suddenly, Sphinx gets her gun out and shoots a passenger, surprising Nigma. As Tot restrains Vic to ensure that he doesn’t get hurt, Sphinx tells Nigma that she can help him with his riddles. She tells the passengers that once they get to a bridge which leads to a small village, Nigma will ask a passenger a riddle. If they get it right, she will allow them to cross the bridge. Once the first passenger is asked a riddle, he gets it wrong and Sphinx kills him, with Nigma still shocked by what is happening. As another passenger is chosen, Vic becomes the Question and confronts Sphinx and Nigma, lecturing and confusing them with a speech about mythology. The Question then disarms Sphinx, and she tries to escape using the bridge, but it collapses, and she falls into the cold water and seemingly drowns. Later, as the police arrive, the Question decides to ask Nigma a riddle and if he gets it right, they let him go…
MY THOUGHTS
As opposed to the Joker, the Riddler is one of those villains who writers wouldn’t think about using unless it’s a Batman story. Villains like the Joker have appeared in Superman and Justice League stories from time to time, but the Riddler seems to be largely ignored. In fact, the Question (vol 1) 26 seems to be one of the only non-Batman stories he turns up in a major way. Particularly during this time, after Crisis On Infinite Earths and before Batman: Hush, the Riddler was something of a joke and many writers had no idea what to do with them. What O’Neil does, however, is write a story that sums up his character in a unique and compelling way. The Question is also the right character for the Riddler to face off against, since he seems to be much more open for discussion than Batman, who usually tells his villains to shut up. One of the strangest characters in this whole story is Sphinx, who, at first anyway, seems to be nothing special in terms of the story’s progression. However, by the end, her impact is huge, mainly on the Riddler. He realises that when he leaves Gotham, there is a whole other world out there, one which is far darker and grimmer than the one he is used to. He is constantly overwhelmed by Sphinx and her actions, making him almost realise at the end that he is small fry compared to more psychotic killers. At the start when Gordon speaks to him (a great scene), the Riddler doesn’t believe that he isn’t a master criminal and its only when he leaves Gotham that it begins to dawn on him. Yet, by the end, his ego remains mostly intact as he cannot resist asking another riddle. Like many other stories by O’Neil, this is more of a character study than anything else and that is why it works so well. A question that many could ask is why the Question? Why couldn’t this have been a Batman story? I actually think the story is better with the Question because he is integral to making the Riddler realise that the world is darker and that he is smaller. Apart from that, there is some great humour between Vic and Tot, particularly in the car which once again cements their strong friendship. Overall, it’s another story of O’Neil doing what he does best: character writing.
Bill Wray’s layouts and pages certainly look much more cartoony than Cowan’s, but to some extent, I think they work well. Although the inks don’t really mesh with the art and people’s face do look quite exaggerated, it works well in the context of the story. For example, the Riddler is often depicted as nerdy and sometimes like a cartoon. On the other hand, the Question appears very urban and grim. We see the two meet one another as the two similar, yet different worlds collide, adding to the Riddler’s realisation about himself and the world outside of Gotham. I do think that Cowan’s art probably suits the mood of the book more, but Wray’s art here works well with his single story.
Story: 10/10
Art: 7/10
Captain Stars & Sergeant Stripes --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Rick Stasi, Terry Beatty, Denys Cowan and Malcolm Jones III
THE STORY
As Vic reads one of Tot’s old comic book about Captain Stars and Sergeant Stripes saving their friend Betsy from a vampire named Baron Von Hunn, he questions if Tot (continued)
actually likes them. However, Tot reminds him to handle the comics with care since they are expensive (acting like most comic books fans there). Vic then calls them junk literature, angering Tot somewhat. However, Vic tells him that at the orphanage, he wasn’t allowed to read comics. Then, Tot tells Vic that the comics were drawn by his cousin, Alvin, who vanished off the face of the earth until Tot got a letter from him yesterday as he is coming to Hub City. Vic then becomes the Question and heads to the hospital to see Myra. Together (despite her being in a coma), Vic tells her that the city needs her to lead it. Meanwhile, Tot meets Alvin, who seems to believe that he won the Second World War. At the same time, the Question saves a man from getting beaten up before suddenly hearing a scream from the top of a building. Meanwhile, Alvin tells Tot that after the war ended, he ended up in the Congo and fell in with a tribe, learning that he won the war when he witnessed a hunting ritual in which an animal he sketched in a picture was shot in real life. This made him believe that as every cartoonist was drawing Americans fighting and killing German and Japanese soldiers, they were behind the magic that won the war. At the same time, the Question heads to the top of a building, finding some gangsters holding a man off the edge. When the gangsters drop the man and he falls to his death, the Question beats them up. He then breaks the last remaining gangster’s arm, and he falls off the building, holding on for dear life. However, the Question ignores him and just as the man lets go, the Question saves him before leaving him unconscious on the ground. The next morning, Vic meets Alvin. Vic asks him to recreate a page from the Captain Stars comic, but instead of drawing Betsy, he tells him to draw Myra. Vic thanks Alvin, telling him that although hundreds of comic books were needed to win a war, maybe just one will be needed for Hub City. Meanwhile at hospital, the doctor injects Myra with adrenaline, and she wakes up…
MY THOUGHTS
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Golden Age era, in which the plots were very simplistic, dialogue was incredibly plain, and the art was beautifully vibrant. In theory, seeing that art style return to something like the Question would seem ridiculous and non-sensical, So, why does it work? Well, mainly because it reflects two aspects of the real world. Firstly, Alvin, Tot’s cousin, believes he is part of what won the war and to some extent, he is right. Of course, it was those on the front line who led the true battle to fight and defeat Nazism, but comics played their meek and small part. During the 1940s, Superman was often shown punching Hitler or taking out a group of Japanese soldiers. This was mainly done for propaganda, showing that comics support the war effort and an allied victory against the Axis powers. The likes of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon themselves took part in the war in some form, but the comics they worked on aided the war effort through propaganda. Secondly, the featuring of the Captain Stars story is also to convey the change in comic books. In the fifty years between 1940 and 1990, comics changed to an almost-unrecognisable degree. O’Neil recognises this and definitely, he is one of those pioneers in the early Bronze Age that yearned for comics to focus on not exactly adult topics, but issues of social importance such as drugs. Throughout the story, we go from a page or two of the Captain Stars story, in which Betsy is captured by a comical vampire, to the Question, in which somebody falls off a building to their death. It reflects how comics have changed and more importantly, how the heroes have changed. In the 1940s, there was good and evil. Captain Stars is good and Baron Von Hunn is evil. In the 1990s, the difference between the Question and those he fights becomes vaguer and almost non-existent. During the scene in which the Question watches as a criminal may fall to his death, any new reader may think that the Question is the villain here. Comics have changed so much that the difference between the hero and villain may no longer exist in the way that it did. I may be wrong, but that is why I think O’Neil wrote the story. He wrote it as a tribute to a by-gone era and to those who worked in comics back in the golden age, while also depicting how half a century has changed the medium. The story also progresses the background plot, with Myra waking up and giving us a satisfying end to the story.
While the art by Cowan and Jones III may be nothing to write home about, I think the art for the Captain Stars story by Rick Stasi and Terry Beatty is amazing, replicating a fairly crude, yet retro Jack Kirby style of art. The storytelling is similar to that you’d see in the 1940s and the vibrant colouring takes you back to a simpler time in comics. They don’t make them like they used to…
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 8.5/10
A Place For The Arts/The Slaying/Whodunit --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan and Malcolm Jones III
THE STORY
On the streets of Hub City, a group of gangsters are confronted by Lady Shiva. Although they try to kill her since she is on their turf, she easily beats them before noticing that they are part of a group known as the Huns due to their jackets all being the same colour. Meanwhile, the Secretary of State is made aware of the complete anarchy in Hub City, but since the government didn’t get many votes from there, he decides to leave it despite high death rates. Meanwhile on the news, Benjy Floper of the Grinning Ghosts pirates the show and pledges to protect those taken off the streets by the Huns, staring a gang war. All of Hub City watch the broadcast with different emotions and Vic decides to visit the hospital before heading to the back streets. Tot then asks what happened to Vic Sage the news reporter, but Vic tells him that he is on hiatus as the butt-kicker has taken his place. Arriving at the hospital, Vic is happy to see Myra, but the hospital has run out of painkillers. Meanwhile, some Huns break into an apartment before being attacked by Shiva, wanting to know why their boss has ordered them to try and kill her. She decides to hunt for their boss. Meanwhile,
Vic drives with Myra, telling her that truckers are afraid to enter the city and there is only a dozen or so cops, all of whom are loyal to O’Toole. Myra then asks Vic to bring her the leaders of both the Huns and the Grinning Ghosts. Suddenly, Vic stops the car as the windshield is smashed by a group of gangsters, not wanting to kill Vic and Myra, but they want some food. Afterwards, disguised as a delivery boy, the Question gives a group of Huns some pizza, before taking them out and stealing one of their green jackets. He then confronts their boss, O’Fry, telling him that somebody wants to speak to him. Then, the Question is confronted by Shiva, who was on her way to meeting O’Fry. Shiva then wants to know if the Question has learnt anything since their last encounter as she gets ready to fight him…
O’Fry watches as Shiva fights the Question, who is overwhelmed by her speed. Shiva warns that if he doesn’t speed up, she might kill him. Suddenly, a group of Huns appear and together, Shiva and the Question take them out, before recapturing O’Fry who nearly escapes in the action. Afterwards, O’Fry and the Question arrive at the meeting place and leave him there, warning him not to do anything to Myra. Then, Shiva notices the Question’s arm is injured and she heals it, telling him that harming is not to be crude, but precise. The two then head to Clancy Street, where Benjy and his Grinning Ghosts are followed by them. Inside their hideout, Vic speaks to Benjy, who is watching a recording of himself on the TV. Vic tells Benjy that he could be a future performer and he could be on the big screen. Benjy believes him and eventually, Vic manages to convince him to follow him to Myra. When that happens, Benjy loses it as he notices O’Fry, who also becomes angry. Myra then intervenes, telling the Huns and the Ghosts to be the police of Hub City. Although Vic tells her to return to sanity, she ignores him. However, the Huns and the Ghosts don’t want to work with each other. As Myra and Vic leave the two gangs to discuss it, they are both followed by Shiva, who takes out any gangsters who try to kill either Myra or Vic on the way. In the end, Myra manages to convince Vic that the gangs are the only option they have left. Then, just as Myra thanks Shiva for her help, she finds O’Fry seemingly dead with a knife in his chest. Although Vic detects that he is still alive and they (Vic, Myra and Harry (one of O’Fry’s men)) place him in the back of a car, they are quickly surrounded by Huns…
As the Huns surround the car, Vic realises they can’t drive away since one of their tyres has been shot out. As the Huns find their boss dying in the back of the car, Vic, Myra and Harry escape into the sewer. Although Myra escapes to the surface, Vic waits for the Huns and takes them out, but he is outnumbered, resulting in he, Myra and Harry being captured. As they take O’Fry to a hospital, the Huns tell Vic that until he brings them Benjy, they will hold Myra as a hostage. As they leave the hospital, Vic tells Harry that O’Fry died in the car. Vic then becomes the Question and asks where Shiva is, believing her to be nearby, but she isn’t. The Question then heads to Clancy Street where he finds the Ghosts, who tell the Question to leave, but he responds by punching them in the face. A fight then ensues, and Shiva appears, helping the Question take out the Ghosts and find Benjy, who isn’t aware that O’Fry is even dead, making the Question think who the murderer really is. Remembering Myra, the Question decides to take Benjy to the hospital, where, at the same time, Myra knocks the Huns unconscious using an ether. As the Question arrives at the hospital, he is surprised to find Myra, who tells him to look for O’Fry’s motorbike. With that gone, the Huns are tricked into thinking that O’Fry stole some drugs and left. Like idiots, they believe it. Meanwhile, O’Fry’s body is buried while Vic and Harry watch. Afterwards, Vic tells Harry that he knew that he killed O’Fry due to the knife used, which was similar to those used in Vietnam, where Harry was a medic. Harry admits this and states that O’Fry did something to his sister. Vic walks away as he doesn’t know what to do with Harry, telling him that it is up to him to decide whether his crime merits punishment or not.
MY THOUGHTS
I’ve never liked gang wars, or stories in which boring gangsters are the main villains for that matter. In Batman, I’ve never been a huge fan of the Penguin and his war with Falcone in the first season of Gotham was partly while I would say it’s my least favourite of the five seasons. But with this Question three-parter, I would argue that it is the worst story of the run as a whole. It is tied with The Question Quarterly 3, also by O’Neil, but we’ll get to that one later. At this point in the run, we know Hub City and what it is like. You’d except the crime rates to be through the roof and a gang war to basically last an eternity. In that case, why aren’t the Huns or the Ghosts in the run beforehand. I think that if O’Neil wanted us to feel some involvement or interest in the story and its villains, he needed to introduce them earlier and in a more appealing way that makes us look forward to when they will appear next. That didn’t happen and what we have here is three issues of somewhat failed comedy and overall, pretty boring and nonsensical stuff. Now, I’m not saying that this is the worst comics I’ve ever read. God no. I would take this over most of Frank Miller’s work any day of the week as a bad O’Neil comic book is usually an average comic book in the grand scheme of things. Yet, compared to his other work, this is incredibly underwhelming. Plus, there are so many moments which don’t really make much sense, rather uncharacteristic for O’Neil. With Myra no longer in a coma, this story is her first as Mayor and after pledging not to have any links to illegal businessman or companies, she asks the gang to be police officers. What? Am I the only one that thinks that is stupid? The first two parts of the story do feature Vic going after the gang bosses, but it isn’t exactly tense or dramatic in the same way that other stories were. In previous cases, O’Neil introduced us to characters like Junior slowly and efficiently, ensuring that by the time they become a larger part of the story, we know their characters and create some feelings on whether we like or dislike them. Here, with the likes of Benjy and O’Fry, none of them have any unique characters and ultimately come across as boring, like most other gangsters in comic books. Like I said, Myra’s plan to make them into a police force just seems ridiculous, especially since that Vic says O’Toole is leading a group of about a dozen or so officers, but when we see the two gangs, there doesn’t appear to be many of them either. Myra seems to take a risk which has very obvious consequences, but she ignores them. The most obvious is that since the Huns hate the Ghosts and vice versa, someone will die. For an unknown reason, Myra decides it will be a great idea to leave the gangs together to talk. That’s just crazy since its obvious by the way it is written that somebody will die and when that does happen, everyone is shocked by it. Why? O’Fry is seemingly murdered by one of
Ghosts, which isn’t surprising. However, O’Neil does add some mystery to the story as it becomes clear that Benjy didn’t kill him. Still, it is a stupid idea to leave two gangsters who hate each other in the same room. It will never end well. The murder mystery in the third and final part is one of the only redeeming features to be honest, even if it is introduced as a concept far too late. By the end, Harry, a character who seemingly appears from nowhere during the second part, is revealed as O’Fry’s killer. Although Harry tells the Question that he killed O’Fry because of his sister, I think that reason needed to be expanded on, since it feels incredibly vague and simplistic. Also, Harry needed to be introduced far earlier, because he feels like a last-minute inclusion. There are so many moments in the story, particularly with Benjy, in which O’Neil attempts to add some strange comedy to the story. There’s a whole scene in which the Question distracts Benjy by constantly telling him how talented a performer he could be. The comedy doesn’t really work, and it feels out of place. In fact, speaking of the Question, his involvement in the story seems to be very little. Sure, he helps Myra with sending the two gang leaders to her, but in the grand scheme of things, he felt like a wasted character. Speaking of another character who is wasted here is Lady Shiva. Now, you have to remember that in the context of the run, she is very important. She hasn’t appeared since the first story, in which she murdered the Question. At first, you would naturally believe that she would be the main villain of the story, but her reasoning for even turning up in the story is unexplained. In suppose in one regard she makes the combat scenes more frequent and she does test the Question’s skills to see if he has improved, but there aren’t any consequences to it. By the end, you are left wondering why she appeared. Her appearance doesn’t exactly make the story any better, but just slightly ever so better. However, looking at the story as a whole, it is definitely one of the most underwhelming failures of the run. Partly the reason I say that is because I think gang wars are a lazy idea for a long ongoing story and the characters that appear don’t capture my interest. For a three-parter, there are so many moments where nothing really happens and that just bores me further. Sure, there may be some good moments in the story, particularly towards the end, but overall, it is a story that lacks any consequences and just isn’t an enjoyable read.
To some extent, Denys Cowan’s and Malcolm Jones III’s art make the story even duller, since they don’t energise the story in any way, even if the art looks half-reasonable on some occasions. It is still very scratchy, and Vic is still sporting his magic beard that he shouldn’t have. Its at times like this when I miss Rick Magyar…
Story: 3/10
Art: 5/10
VERDICT
Overall, mainly due to the last three-parter, The Question: Riddles is very mixed. Despite all three of the one-offs being great and enjoyable reads, particularly the second and third ones, the main story just isn’t very interesting, due to both the plot and the characters. It is definitely one of the worst stories of the run, but luckily there aren’t many others of those. Besides, we’re near the end of the core run and it will be interesting to see how O’Neil concludes it…
Stories: 6/10
Art: 6.5/10
Next Week: The Question: Peacemaker (The Question (vol 1) 31-36). Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Denys Cowan, Malcolm Jones III and Carlos Garzon. Expected by 22/11/2020.
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