by Scott Tipton
August 24, 2005
A QUESTION OF RIGHT AND WRONG
I can usually tell when something has really struck a nerve with people by the e-mail. Usually it’s for something they dislike, something that’s been done to one of their favorite characters that they want to vent their spleen about. It’s a much more pleasant experience when something new (or at least, new to them) comes along and really catches their eye. Accordingly, this explains the countless e-mails I’ve received over the last year or so, all from viewers of the superlative JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED series, and all with the same interrogative in mind:
“What’s up with this Question guy?”
Without a doubt, the inclusion of the Question has been one of the most popular decisions made by the producers of JLU, and he’s been handled exceedingly well. Before we take a look at his function on the series, let’s take a step back to the character’s inception in 1967, in the pages of a series that should be somewhat familiar to any of you who read last week’s column: BLUE BEETLE.
As we discussed last week, in ’67 artist Steve Ditko had only recently left Marvel Comics and his extremely popular creations Dr. Strange and the Amazing Spider-Man, for reasons that to this day only Mr. Ditko himself knows for sure. Whatever the reason, one thing was soon evident in examining Ditko’s new work: Clearly, the Charlton Comics Group, Ditko’s new employer, was giving Ditko the freedom to express himself more fully, a freedom he’d never enjoyed at Marvel. While the main feature in BLUE BEETLE was more straightforward adventure starring Ditko’s updated version of the Beetle, the 7-page backup feature allowed some of Ditko’s politics and personal beliefs to come into play, as was immediately apparent in the opening pages of “The Question,” from BLUE BEETLE #1 ( June 1967), uncredited but undoubtedly the work of Steve Ditko in both writing and art.
 |
Origin? No, there’s no origin here, folks, no time for it. Instead, we’re quickly given an introduction to the cast of players: Vic Sage, “hard-hitting TV newscaster” for Crown City’s World Wide Broadcasting, a.k.a., the Question…
Professor Rodor, inventor of the Question’s crime-fighting gear…
Vic’s loyal news staff, including his love interest Nora, whom the series will show to be one of the toughest broads around, as it seems like she takes a punch better than The Question…
And Vic’s boss, network owner Sam Starr, and Starr’s two children, the vapid socialite Celia and weaselly ambitious son Syd, who will be Vic’s primary foil throughout the run:
As the first story opens, the Crown City police attempt to close down an illegal gambling ring, but the crooks manage to get away, murdering a cop in the process. In the first example of Ditko’s objectivist philosophy showing up in his comics work, Vic Sage immediately turns the responsibility for the cop’s murder on the viewers at home, who by supporting any sort of illegal gambling are in Sage’s eyes complicit in the gamblers’ crimes.
Naturally, Syd Starr wants to fire Vic for riling up the viewers, but Sam Starr won’t hear of it:
Meanwhile, Vic Sage decides to go after the fugitive gambling ringleader Lou Dicer himself – as the Question. It’s here we see for the first time Vic Sage’s amazing transformation, thanks to the genius of Dr. Rodor. From a compartment in his belt buckle, Sage removes a pliable, porous mask that completely covers Sage’s features, yet still allows him to see, speak and breathe comfortably, giving him the appearance of being completely faceless. The mask is adhered to Sage’s face thanks to the release of a chemical gas also invented by Rodor, which cements the mask to Sage’s face so firmly, it cannot be removed.
That same gas reacts to chemical previously sprayed on Sage’s hair and clothing, causing them to change color, with Sage’s hair changing from his natural red to jet-black, while his clothes shift to the pale-blue and orange color scheme of the Question. Spraying with another chemical gas changes his hair and clothing colors back to normal, and allows the mask to slip from his face.
Another of the Question’s calling cards was just that: a business card on which a question mark would appear with a puff of smoke, to rattle and unnerve his enemies before his arrival, as seen here.
The Question is much less of an acrobatic here than Ditko’s Blue Beetle, instead more of a brawler somewhat reminiscent of Will Eisner’s Spirit.
Unlike the Spirit, however, the Question is more apt to use intimidation to get answers, as here, when he releases the harmless gases used to change his clothing from his hands, in a successful attempt to scare a thug into revealing Dicer’s hideout:
In casing out Dicer’s place, the Question learns of another accomplice and where they’ll meet, allowing him to tip off the police.
The cops then pick up both Dicer and his accomplice, WWB executive Jim Lark, who was about to whack Dicer himself to keep him quiet. And of course WWB’s star newsman Vic Sage was there to get the whole thing on tape. Naturally, the other WWB executives, particularly Syd Starr, want to forbid Sage from showing a WWB exec pulling a gun on an accomplice and getting hauled off by the cops, but Sam Starr stands behind Sage, and the tape goes on the air, as Sage once again gets the last word:
 |
The Question’s second appearance came in the next issue, BLUE BEETLE #2 (August 1967), in the untitled backup story this time credited to Ditko and scripter D. Glanzman, which most assume to be merely a sobriquet for Ditko, who reportedly felt that comic-book artists weren’t accepted as writers, and so another name needed to appear in the credit box to lend the work credibility. This time, we’re introduced to circus perfomer “the Flying Dundo,” who’s invented a brilliant new helium-powered gliding rig that allows him to soar through the air. Dundo’s exhilaration is short-lived, however, as he’s quickly murdered by his apprentice, Max Bine, who plans to use the gliding rig to commit robberies, and soon enough the newspapers have dubbed the flying thief “the Banshee.”
 |
Travelling from town to town, the Banshee’s crime spree leads him to Crown City, where he tries stealing a precious jewel from a museum exhibit. Unfortunately for him, Vic Sage is in attendance and the two tussle, just before the Banshee makes his escape.
This, by the way, was another unique thing about the Question: there was none of the usual “acting like a weakling in my civilian identity so no one suspects I’m a superhero” business. Vic Sage was a decisive ornery bastard who would just as soon tackle a crook as the Question, and he didn’t care who knew it. Again, I think, a reflection of Ditko’s philosophical side coming to the forefront; there’s right and there’s wrong, and it would be morally wrong for Sage not to act against what he believed to be evil just to protect his own secret.
Another sign of Ditko’s increasingly vocal philosophy can be found in Sage’s motivations for bringing in the Banshee – not merely because he’s a criminal, but because he “murdered a man better than he was, destroyed a rare inventive mind and stole and corrupted a work of art.” Vic Sage is fired up, let me tell you.
As the Question (shown here in his snappy business-casual ensemble), Sage cases out the likely targets in Crown City for the Banshee to try and steal.
Catching him in the act of a highrise jewel robbery, the Question leaps on the Banshee’s back, forcing him to drop to a nearby rooftop.
The two struggle, and it looks like the Banshee has the upper hand before a gust of wind unexpectedly blows him out to sea.
But let’s take a closer look at the art.
Although the speech balloon helpfully notes that “the wind has caught [his] cape,” from the art it looks more like the Question has punched the Banshee into the wind, purposefully casting the villain out to sea. Is this a bit of editorially enforced softening of what Ditko was intending to be a rougher-edged vigilante, less concerned with the rights of lawbreakers? It’s a question that will come up again in a future issue.
In the third Question appearance in BLUE BEETLE #3 (October 1967), again credited to Ditko and “Glanzman,” the Question contends with a mysterious deep sea diver who’s killing off the partners of a construction company, supposedly the ghost of a man the partners had murdered years before. Back at the WWB studio, Sage is still defying the powers that be that would try to silence his voice.
When Sage tries to question Mr. Crane, one of the construction owners, he spots the mysterious diver, who’s just attempted to kill Crane. Sage quickly changes to the Question, and gets into a dust-up with the diver, who tries to drown the Question with a water supply hidden in his suit.
Guess this would be one of those times where not having a mouth comes in handy…
The Question releases some of his color-change gas, which unnerves the diver, and he slips away. Later, when the Question is searching the docks looking for clues, the diver sneaks up from below and tries to drown the Question, but the Question manages to survive the underwater struggle and escapes, discovering the diver’s hideout, an old salvage operations shack.
There the Question finds a man he learns is the inventor of the diver’s “drowning suit,” drugged into catatonia. In addition, he learns the diver’s true identity by tracing a phone number he discovered there. When the diver returns to the office, he finds the Question waiting for him. Unnerved, he offers the Question a bribe and in a creepy Ditko moment meant to display the Question’s moral incorruptibility, the Question merely laughs:
And keeps laughing:
The Question unmasks the diver, revealing none other than Crane himself, who had faked the attack on himself and was planning on killing his partners to gain full control of the company. The Question puts Crane down for the count, making sure to let him know of his ultimate destination:
Things get personal for Vic Sage in his fourth adventure in BLUE BEETLE #4 (December 1967), as he’s the target of an assassination plot, ostensibly in response to his increasingly controversial television broadcasts:
While the rights of the individual doesn’t necessarily seem like a hot-button issue, it’s apparently got the folks in Crown City riled up enough to picket the station. Then there’s the matter of the mail-bomb sent to Sage at the station:
Station owner Sam Starr offers Sage a chance to step down, but Sage won’t have it:
Unfortunately, Sage’s secretary Nora is the next target, and soon she’s getting roughed up by the thugs who are after Sage.
As it turns out, the murder attempts have nothing to do with Sage’s current broadcasts; rather, it’s a bureaucrat (the unfortunately named Nat Kat) who went to prison as a result of one of Sage’s exposes, and is out for revenge, and willing to kill to get it. Of course, there’s still time for a little debate on morals between Nat and Nora before Sage arrives:
With a little unexpected help from a swift kick from Nora, Sage gets the drop on Kat and his hired goon Arbo, and frees Nora with the help of the police.
Kat and Arbo escape into the sewers, and Sage pursues as the Question. When the two pull pistols on him, the Question kicks both men into the onrushing sewer current. Clinging to a pipe for their lives, the men beg the Question for mercy. A quality they won’t find in the Question:
Although the script here is credited to Warren Savin (a sobriquet for writer Steve Skeates), the nature of the content is pure Ditko, with the Objectivist Question electing to let the men drown rather than save them, since it was their choice to commit immoral acts that put them on the path to their eventual demise. Once again, it seems that an editorial “out” was mandated, as in the dialogue the Question makes a remark that the men might have survived, and he should probably alert the police to save them. But in simply looking at the art, the purest indication of Ditko’s intentions, it’s clear: the Question chooses to let the criminals drown.
 |
The Question’s final appearance in BLUE BEETLE #5 (November 1968) dovetails with Vic Sage’s guest-appearance in the main Blue Beetle feature, as discussed last week . In the Question story, the pesky art critic Boris Ebar from the main feature again shows up, this time giving Syd Starr a gift in the hopes of getting him to remove Vic Sage from the airwaves. The gift? A painting that conveys inhumanity and worthlessness of man. Naturally, Syd loves it, and shows it to Vic Sage’s secretary Nora, who in turn shows Syd and Boris a painting Sage has given her, one which exemplifies man’s creative potential and achievement.
Boris is furious at the sight of the painting, and accuses Sage of buying it to humiliate him, a notion Sage scoffs at:
Boris is so obsessed, he hires thugs to steal the painting from Nora and destroy it, which unfortunately gets Nora knocked in the chops once again.
Their theft is foiled by the Question, who interrogates them and learns that Boris is behind the plot. Inspired to catch Boris redhanded (and apparently mess with his head just for fun) Sage and Dr. Rodor use the unique color-changing properties of Dr. Rodor’s gas to make the painting seem to appear and disappear at will around Boris, slowly driving him insane.
Eventually, Boris is driven over the edge and attacks Nora and the painting with a knife as he struggles with his own failures, psychologically represented by the painting. Finally, just before he can destroy the painting, Sage steps in and disarms him.
There’s also a great little sequence here in which the Question confuses and terrifies Boris’ thugs by repeatedly switching back and forth from Sage to the Question.
 |
With the exception of a single-issue appearance in Charlton’s MYSTERIOUS SUSPENSE #1 (October 1968), that was it for the Question. In only a handful of appearances, Steve Ditko had created an unforgettable character in both visual design and philosophical concept. And what was Ditko saying in making his hero faceless? A comment on the nature of heroism, that the individual must sacrifice himself to the greater good in order to stand against evil? Like all really intriguing ideas, there are no easy answers, and lord knows we’ll never get any out of Ditko. Ditko would take his Question concept even further in his later creation “Mr. A,” a very similar character who wore a steel facemask with his suit and fedora, and also makes use of a calling card, this time showing a field of half black and half white, symbolizing the character’s belief that there is pure good and pure evil, and no moral grey areas.
 |
Good is good, and evil is evil. As Mr. A would say, quoting Objectivist thinker Ayn Rand, “A is A.”
Like the rest of Charlton’s heroes, the Question was absent from the scene for about 17 years or so, with the exception of a few reprint appearances, until all the Charlton characters, newly purchased by DC Comics, made their debut in the 1985 maxiseries CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. The Question didn’t exactly have a breakthrough role in the CRISIS, appearing in only one scene alongside the Blue Beetle on board Beetle’s airship.
The Question next showed up in a two-part guest appearance in the new DC BLUE BEETLE series, teaming up with the Beetle to bring down the mysterious gang boss known as The Muse in issues #5 and 6 (October, November 1986.)
The Question as portrayed here was very similar to the original Charlton version, although that was about to change…
The Question got the full DC Comics post-Crisis revamp treatment in February 1987 with the first issue of his new monthly series THE QUESTION, written by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by Denys Cowan.
 |
Unable or uninterested in keeping the Question’s Objectivist viewpoint as established by Ditko, O’Neil instead had the character shot in the head in the first issue of the series and figuratively reborn, rescued from death by the martial artist and assassin Lady Shiva, and taken to martial-arts and spiritual guru Richard Dragon (formerly of the ‘70s DC series RICHARD DRAGON, KUNG-FU FIGHTER) for re-education and enlightenment of the body and soul. While replacing the Question’s highly moral Objectivism with Zen Buddhism seems like an odd fit, and certainly doesn’t go along with Ditko’s intentions for the character, O’Neil and Cowan crafted some excellent, tense and thought-provoking thrillers with the new series, one I was sad to see cancelled after only three years and 36 issues. And it wasn’t as if the newly enlightened Question had entirely lost his edge; I remember a truly creepy sequence in which the Question slowly approaches the man who had shot him in the head in the first issue, engulfed in his trademark smoke, all the while singing “Danny Boy,” the last thing he had heard before being gunned down months before. It was great stuff, and certainly worthy of being collected into a trade paperback or hardcover.
The Question has popped up sporadically over the last decade, most notably in the miniseries BATMAN/HUNTRESS: CRY FOR BLOOD, by writer Greg Rucka and artist Rick Burchett, in which the Question tries to put Helena “the Huntress” Bertinelli on the same path of enlightenment that was provided for him.
The series also introduced the notion of a romantic relationship between the Question and the Huntress, an idea that will be explored with great success in the character’s most recent appearances, which happen to be outside comics. But we’ll get back to that. The Question’s most recent comics appearance came in a 6-issue miniseries last year, in which writer Rick Veitch introduced the idea of the Question having the ability “talk to the city” through the use of psychotropic drugs, an idea that veers much too far from the character’s original concept to be of any interest to me.
However, the character has been handled marvelously by the producers of the Cartoon Network animated series JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, who find the perfect role for the Question in their pantheon of superheroes and near-gods: the League’s resident data collector, investigator and all-around conspiracy fanatic. It’s a near-genius way of looking at the character: after all, why else would a guy call himself the Question? Because he’s looking for all the answers…
 |
The Question first appeared on JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED in the episode “Fearful Symmetry,” in which Supergirl and Green Arrow enlist the Question to help unlock the mystery of Supergirl’s nightmares and suppressed memories. The Question’s paranoia and conspiracy obsession is revealed right away with a look at his quarters, the walls covered with evidence and news clippings linked together by thousands of seemingly tenuous and nonexistent connections, everything from fluoride to Starbucks to the rise of boy bands. The Question is given the perfect dry, detached and slightly creepy vocal performance by Jeffrey Combs, who also manages to keep the character slightly human and approachable by adding just a touch of humor to the role. For example, when Green Arrow suggests that Supergirl’s nightmares could be coming from eating nachos before bed, the Question coolly corrects him: “peanut butter sandwiches.”
 |
When an enraged Supergirl accuses him of going through her garbage, the Question darkly laughs it off: “Don’t be silly. I go through everyone’s garbage.”
The Question’s next appearance on the show was in the episode “Double Date,” in which he teams up with the Huntress to help her track down the murderer of her parents, all while staying one step ahead of Green Arrow and Black Canary, who have been assigned to protect the criminal.
This tense and witty episode (written by BIRDS OF PREY writer Gail Simone) does a great job of humanizing the Question, especially when he admits why he was willing to help the Huntress: “Because,” he mumbles, “…I like you.” The Huntress seems to reciprocate, as seen here:
“Double Date” did a great job of setting up the character’s next appearances, in “Question Authority" and “Flashpoint.” I won’t go into too much detail for the benefit of our overseas readers who haven’t yet seen these episodes, but the Question is handled marvelously here as he investigates the mystery of Project Cadmus, and is pushed over the brink by what he discovers.
There’s even a great little tip of the hat to Ditko’s Objectivist beliefs and Mr. A, as the Question confronts Lex Luthor:
“Everything that exists has a specific nature. Each entity exists as something in particular and has characteristics that are part of what it is. A is A. And no matter what reality he calls home, Luthor is Luthor.”
Let’s hope for a few more Question appearances next season, as Bruce Timm, Dwayne McDuffie and company really understand how to use the character. In fact, let’s hope DC takes the hint and reintroduces the Question in the comics more in line with this model. As with so many of DC’s characters these days, it sometimes seems like the place to look for the truest, most satisfying versions of the characters is on JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED…
As with the Blue Beetle, Question merchandise is nearly non-existent, save for the sweet DC Direct action figure shown above. Scott Tipton is looking forward to picking up the upcoming Captain Atom figure, for what will probably be the only action figures ever of Charlton’s “Big Three.” If you have questions about, well, about the Question, just send them here.
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR |
ARCHIVES
