Comic Book / The Question

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The Question is the name of a series of superheroes originally owned by Charlton Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. The Question first appeared in Blue Beetle Vol 5 #1 (June, 1967) and was created by Steve Ditko.

Vic Sage was a television reporter for Hub City ^note  the considerably less corrupt "Crown City" in the original Charlton comics when he was visited by his friend and former professor Aristotle "Tot" Rodor, who had invented an artificial skin he called "pseudoderm." Unfortunately, Tot had discovered that pseudoderm occasionally became toxic when exposed to open wounds and he decided not to produce or distribute the material. His partner decided to continue to manufacture pseudoderm anyway and, to stop him, Tot provided a "mask" of pseudoderm to Vic to use in his investigations. Thus the Question was born.

Most early stories tended to show the Question mainly as a mouthpiece for Ditko's Objectivist philosophy, similar to his Mr. A stories, but blunted a bit for more commercial appeal. For instance, The Question once knocked some crooks into a fast moving sewer flow and refused to pull them out as they were clinging for dear life, but left to call the police to go and get them out.^note  This was considered highly controversial at the time, during The Silver Age of Comic Books. Like most Charlton comics, it folded when the company went under and was bought by DC. When DC decided to reboot some of the characters it had acquired from Charlton it was decided that the Question was to get a whole new image for his next series, which debuted in 1987.

In the beginning of Dennis O'Neil's series the Question is viciously beaten by Lady Shiva, then shot in the head with a pellet gun and Left for Dead. Shiva, however, deeply respects him enough to rescue him, taking him to train with Richard Dragon, who also provides him with a new Eastern philosophical outlook that gives him a more nuanced morality. When he returns to Hub City he finds his old flame Myra is now married to the drunken mayor and the crime is worse than ever. O'Neil's series has mostly been collected into six trade paperbacks.^note Only the quarterly issues and the annuals remain uncollected.

Eventually, after a few years he decides to leave Hub City. He reappeared in 52 as the mentor to Renee Montoya before revealing that he was dying of lung cancer. He died in issue #38 (March, 2007). Renee assumed the mantle of the Question in issue #48 (June, 2007), with the help of Tot and Richard Dragon. She continued the mission he had been working on before his death: Investigating the Religion of Crime and Intergang. She appeared in two limited series, The Question: Five Books of Blood and Final Crisis: Revelations, and eventually became the second feature in Greg Rucka's Detective Comics. While combating Vandal Savage in the Detective Comics feature Renee was forced to take from him the "Mark of Cain," supposedly the mark placed by God on Cain to forever label him as a murderer and an eternal subject of ridicule and scorn. The 2010 Detective Comics annual edition revealed that she had indeed been marked. She now bears a scarred cross on her face and is viewed with shock and distrust by all she meets, but she has refused the offered means of removing the Mark, either giving it to another or committing suicide, as her tenure as the Question has given her maturity, outlook and philosophy to handle the Mark.

In the New 52, the Question was completely reinvented, appearing in the Free Comic Book Day one-shot as one of the beings on the Rock of Eternity, punished along with The Phantom Stranger and Pandora for undisclosed sins. His punishment is that his name and face will forever be forgotten; that's not a mask any more. Funnily enough, being supernaturally driven to uncover conspiracies and questions surrounding his own identity and various other nefarious goings-on actually puts his character in practice closer to the JLU version. Renee also appeared in the New 52, but her tenure as The Question was retconned and she had transferred to the Blüdhaven Police Department. Vic Sage was also introduced as a character apparently unrelated to the unnamed Question, as Amanda Waller's boss in Suicide Squad.

The Vic Sage incarnation of the Question made his post-Rebirth debut in Action Comics #1005, and has appeared several times since. And, as of Lois Lane #1, so has the Renee Montoya incarnation of the Question (though she made earlier appearances during this era).

The Vic Sage Question also appeared in Justice League Unlimited voiced by Jeffrey Combs in which he was a fan favorite. Indeed, while Question had been around for decades before JLU, it was his appearances there that skyrocketed his popularity amongst comics fans. He also appeared as minor character in Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by Nicholas Guest but had a larger role in the spinoff film, Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, where he was again voiced by Combs.

Renee has appeared in the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic, and was the main character in a Convergence mini series. She also had brief appearances during a few issues of Detective Comics during the New 52 and DC Rebirth eras. During the DC All In era, she was given her own miniseries, The Question: All Along the Watchtower, in which she officially joins the Justice League as the "Sheriff" of their new Watchtower.

Also, the character of Rorschach in Watchmen started out simply being The Question, until DC vetoed the use of existing characters and Alan Moore was forced to create an original Objectivist conspiracy theorist instead. As a Shout-Out, one issue of the Denny O'Neil run has the Question reading Watchmen and commenting on Rorschach's methods—then trying them and getting his ass kicked, ultimately concluding, "Rorschach sucks."

Renee Montoya made her film debut as a major character in Birds of Prey, played by Rosie Perez, though she doesn't assume the identity of the Question during it.

Which series does the Question appear in? That's a good question:

• The Question Vol 1 (1987—2010)
• The Question Quarterly (1990—1992)
• The Question Vol 2 (2005) 6 issues
• The Question: All Along the Watchtower (2025)

Which tropes do the Question include? That's a good question:

• Always Someone Better: Zig-zagged between Vic and Batman. Batman has the title of the "World's Greatest Detective", but on several occasions, Vic has been argued as having better deductive and investigative skills than the Caped Crusader. It can be argued that Batman qualifies for having far greater resources at his disposal, thus enabling him to achieve much more, but Vic can hold his own in the sleuthing department without any of that stuff. So, this comes down to Depending on the Writer.
• Awesomeness by Analysis
• Badass Longcoat: With his trenchcoat and fedora, he is pretty awesome.
• Badass Normal: Vic Sage during his original appearance in Charlton Comics (and also in his appearance in the Blue Beetle miniseries by Len Wein) did not have any superhuman powers or even gadgets, his sole technological gimmick being his mask.
  • Averted in later stories by Dennis O'Neil, Rick Veitch, and the New 52, who gave Vic some supernatural powers from Zen Buddhism, Urban Shamanism and being Cursed with Awesome like the Phantom Stranger. Question Quarterly by O'Neil even had Vic being able to communicate with a forest👁 Image
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• The Blank: Practically the Trope Codifier.
• Bookworm: Vic Sage is an avid reader. In one of Dennis O'Neal's stories entitled "Helltown'', Vic ends up buying and reading give to six paperback novels during the course of an ivnestigation.
• Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Not a real butterfly, but rather Vic's last words are telling Montoya how she has to change "... like butterflies."
• Cain and Abel: In Final Crisis: Revelations, a limited series written by Greg Rucka that takes place within the larger Final Crisis story, the Question and Huntress combat, amongst others, Vandal Savage. Here it is revealed that Savage is the Biblical Cain, who committed the first murder and is worshiped by the Religion of Crime as a messianic figure and the bringer of all crime, and he is now using The Spear of Destiny to enslave The Spectre and conquer the world.
• Coat, Hat, Mask: Montoya usually does not even have the coat; she just wears the mask and hat over whatever she was wearing that day. Covers and such usually depict her in the blue suit, though. In the Denny O'Neil series Vic Sage had a tendency to do that, too; in one particular issue he sported a leather jacket and a cap. In another issue he wore a wife-beater, jeans, and a baseball cap.
• Cool Old Guy: Aristotle "Tot" Rodor.
• Deadpan Snarker: To varying degrees in most incarnations.
• Delusions of Eloquence: "Uncle" Phil speaks this way when he's running his scams or doing business. He speaks much more simply otherwise
• Despair Event Horizon: This is what prompted Charlie to leave Hub City in the finale of his solo series and to wander until he became a regular in 52. In the latter series, Vic Sage dies of cancer in a truly godawful manner, groaning in a haunting fashion, and leaves Renee alone just outside the gates of Nanda Parbat. She seems okay, but without Charlie she is so lost and alone that she does not even know who she is.
  • An indeterminate amount of time in the torture chambers of an Eldritch Abomination was one for the New 52 Question, leading him to temporarily join her.
• Dying to Be Replaced: Renee Montoya and Vic Sage were added to the cast of 52 with the specific intention of killing Vic and replacing him with Renee. The series was a smash critical and financial success, as were subsequent stories to star Renee as the Question, but the decision did generate some controversy for the seemingly unnecessary killing of a well-established character just to give his replacement motivation and a title to bear.
• Fedora of Asskicking: As part of his Coat, Hat, Mask. Starting as a brawler, he later became an expert martial artist under the tutelage of Richard Dragon.
• Hardboiled Detective: The Question, boiled down to his essence, is one of these—just add a mask and minimal gadgets.
• Ice-Cream Koan: Averted, especially during the O'Neil run, as he was quite well schooled in philosophy and would often include a recommended reading list at the end of issues.
• Insult Backfire:
  Renee Montoya: "You really are a bastard."
  The Question (Vic Sage): "Well, I was raised in an orphanage, so you're probably right."
• Legacy Character: Why he started is a mystery known only to him, but Vic Sage helped bring Renee Montoya back from alcoholism and despair and trained her in his ways of combat and thought. When he succumbed to lung cancer, she assumed the mantle of the Question and has returned to Hub City to continue his fight.
• "Mystery Man" Superhero: The Question is a notable example of this. They make a point of keeping their identity a secret, they are clearly based off of pulp detectives, and they're Badass Normal superheroes.
• Palette Swap: Rare non videogame example. Both versions are able to slip into their disguise at a moment's notice by simply activating the gas, which changes the color of their clothing and hair, as well as bonding the mask to their face.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Both Renee and Vic, and later on Renee and Huntress have this dynamic.
• Series Continuity Error: The series Huntress: Cry for Blood state that Jackie, Myra's daughter, returned to Hub City after some time living with Vic. However, an earlier issue in the Question: Quarterly reveal that Jackie died before she can return to Hub City.
• The Professor: Professor Aristotle Rodor, although he is noticeably bad at inventing things. A tranquillizer he sold to a drug company upon completion of his PhD put the company out of business with its Thalidomide-like side-effects and his invention Pseudo-derm is entirely useless for its intended purpose as it becomes toxic when applied to open wounds. The only practical application it has is as Question's mask.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Zig-zagged at times, and mostly averted for both Questions despite their disgust of murderous criminals. Vic was originally highly against killing, often feeling very conflicted on how far to go in enforcing justice due to his own repeated temptation to kill criminals. His mentor Professor Rodor kept him from crossing that line, until he ended up killing to save the daughter of his love interest. At some point it got easier, as Vic kills again in the 1991 Brave and the Bold mini-series and the 2005 Question mini-series, but was implied to have a change of heart when he strongly advocates against murder in Huntress' Cry For Blood mini-series. Montoya is agonized over the issue of killing criminals, even refusing to kill the murderer of her partner in the GCPD, but ends up killing a child suicide bomber later on and has a Despair Event Horizon after the fact.
• World of Bad Cops: Hub City is a Wretched Hive unmatched in the DC Universe, and that includes the ever-hated Gotham City. The FBI yearly analysis lists Hub City's police department as the most corrupt department in the country, and even the honest cops currently trying to improve the department have bad history; the current straight-arrow chief only became a crusader for integrity because of what he encountered when he was out shaking down local criminals and businesses for the bribes they owed him.
• Wretched Hive: Hub City; it is worse than Gotham.