I wish DC made more series like these. Less sprawling, taking risks, allowed to have arcs of varying lengths and page counts at 28 without charging $5. A true dream.
Spoilers ahead
Cover by Denys Cowan
and Michael DavisWritten by Denny O’Neil
Pencilled by Denys Cowan, Bill Wray & Rick Stassi
Inked by Malcolm Jones III & Terry Beatty
Colored by Tatjana Wood
Lettered by Willie Schubert & Milt Snapinn“SKELLS.” Myra hovers between life and death…and the Question also finds himself in a life-and-death situation!
One of the hard parts of revisiting “The Question” is how entrenched in the late 80s it is. This isn’t a Goonies stuck in the 80s style problem, which is endlessly replicated in 80s nostalgia flicks, but instead an issue of ideology.
What does it mean for a city to be dying? What makes an effective city and can it be planned or must it be organic? Can a “failed” city recover without external aid or is it doomed to fail? What is the root of crime? Is it a mindset born of a rejection of the law, a manifestation of human’s unchallenged id? These questions are wrapped up in a conception of urban blight and the causes of crime that have come to be challenged in the decades since, and perhaps were challenged in certain academic and sociological circles, but it remained visible in the media of the era.
‘Skells’ is chiefly concerned with the “criminal element,” for once not a euphemistic dog-whistle for people of color in cities/white communities but instead a conception of what drives people to crime. For Izzy O’Toole and, to some extent, The Question, there is literally a criminal element with people, manifesting as a creature called “The Skell.” Because “The Question” is a fairly grounded series, no one literally becomes the hulking monster seen on the cover or on page 14. However, this Hobesian idea that humans are nasty and brutish and, without the proper social constraints, remain that way, is not one I agree with, though the “skells” the series chooses to focus on do nothing to disabuse the notion.
The Question #25 pg. 25
The tricky nature of discussing Hub City in this context is that, well, the city is fundamentally broken. The mayor who won the elections was bigoted, amoral, and authoritarian, suppressing voters, buying votes, and sponsoring hate groups. He’s also dead.
The mayor who wins on a technicality, Myra Fermin, originally only lost by one vote and is the most competent and least corrupt of the city’s leadership, actively choosing to reject that which would reshape the system for the worse. Before she is able to do anything, she’s shot by her husband-in-name-only on live TV.
The former mayor, who shoots Myra, who may become mayor again should Myra die, is drunk all the time and, as a leader, utterly incompetent. He, too, is full of hate, fanned by others who want to use his state to grab power and win favors. He’s now dead as well.
The governor writes the city off because they tend not to vote for him and refuses to send in help. In light of current events, I’m inclined to see him choosing not to send in the National Guard a positive but in the context of the story, it is certainly a negative.
There is no one at the top making decisions, good or bad, and those tasked with making sure the citizens are safe never cared. They were corrupt to begin with, be it due to the formal system that bred them or the informal system that sprung up to rig an already rigged system against the few bits that still worked. Every institution and all levels of power are corrupt, self-interested and ruling over a city of people hardened and broken by these systems. The people O’Neil chooses to highlight are the opportunists, the organized crime groups that seek to increase their personal wealth and power, and the everyday ills “regular” people partake in.
Our hero is The Question and he is flawed. He almost fails to help a woman who’s running for her life because he was too angry and focused on solving the “big problem.” He is distracted by the societal and the need to make a big change to act in the moment, to help someone now. It’s a fair critique of the superhero and of our tendency to think we cannot make change happen because we are not in a position of power or because we’re not tackling the big issues, that this paralysis is harmful to the body politic.
It’s not that it is a simplistic construction of crime, corruption and human nature, and I am by no means an expert on this subject, but it is one that paints with a broad brush on the reasons people are motivated to commit crimes without confronting what is considered a crime. There is an undercurrent of that, with regards to the Mayoral rule of who can win, but corruption is portrayed as a perversion of the system rather than, potentially, being built into it from the start. Again, the Election Day arc challenges this assumption subtextually but it reads more like a “corruption has always gone hand in hand with Hub City” rather than a broader critique.
I’m also willing to admit I may be reading this all wrong. O’Neil criticizes those at the top, those safe and sound with hiding behind their money and influence, actively feeding that which rots the city’s body politic, far more than the people Vic beats up. But he also says people don’t learn and that we will make heroes out of those who have no business being seen in that positive light, like with the racist PI or now the late Mayor Wesley Fermin. We are also seeing things from Vic’s point of view and that colors his perception of the city.
Drawing parallels to today is a dangerous game and fraught with match-ups that simply do not work so I think I’ll close out on some technical thoughts.
These four issues, ending on a cliffhanger that makes it a 5-parter, do a lot to make Hub City and “The Question” as a whole feel contiguous through space and time. Random characters reappear and minor events are referenced. Time moves forward and it’s rewarding to have that sense of continuity from within this small corner of the DC Universe from issue 5 to now. It’s also a great example of how the creators have grown, with Tatjana Wood being a noticeably better colorist than in those earlier issues, and Cowan’s pencils being tighter and more moody, helped by the always amazing Malcolm Jones III’s inks. It’s a series that is at once self-contained but never feeling small. It touches other aspects of DC but remains true to itself and its tone.
This is why I liked Bill Wray’s guest issue, which looks a lot better than he did in the annual, a Nygma’s focused one and done that continues the plot without feeling like a complete diversion. Additionally, the fake Golden Age flashback in “The Question” #27 was a load of fun, even if it was purposefully full of racist stereotypes, as well as overwrought and repetitive dialog. There are a lot of little moments and ideas that O’Neil plays with, keeping things fresh without diverging from the core of the character or his arc of development, which looks more like a line running back and forth. Vic is a hero who fails and is forced to learn from that failure in a world that is crumbling around him. It’s a position that we don’t see as often now and under different hands, would have turned out far, far worse.
Also, apparently the Riddler’s name is Nigma in this era. Lettering flub or secret spelling? YOU DECIDE.
Next week, we’ve got the penultimate chunk of issues in this run and Vic vs Shiva take 2. I’m excited.
