Reviews 

“The Question” (1987) #37

By | August 25th, 2020
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Welcome to the weirdest “The Question” issue yet, and that’s saying something. Remember how we had a sad clown issue? Or the recurring character of Junior who wasn’t really recurring? Yeah, this beats all that. Probably because it’s contingent on both the excellent event “52” and the less excellent but still fantastic “Blackest Night.”

Spoilers ahead for “52” and “The Question” #37. . .and “Blackest Night” I guess kinda sorta

Cover by Cully Hamner
& Dave McCaig

Written by Denny O’Neil & Greg Rucka
Pencilled by Denys Cowan
Inked by Bill Sienkiewicz & John Stanisci
Colored by David Baron
Lettered by John J. Hill

BLACKEST NIGHT EVENT part 39 of 79!
Greg Rucka (DETECTIVE COMICS, CHECKMATE) joins original THE QUESTION series artists Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz for the return of Vic Sage! The Black Lantern rings have made their way to earth and disturbed the grave of the original Question. Now, the faceless man returns as Black Lantern Vic Sage targets his former protegee–and current replacement–Renee Montoya. It’s the Question vs. the Black Lantern Question vs. Lady Shiva in the ultimate throw-down!

I know what you’re thinking. Elias, why did you just diss “Blackest Night?” That is a seminal event that was ready to set-up the DCU for a brand new day before The New 52 came in, tried something radical, and fell flat on its face with utter chaos in editorial and more than 50% of the books dying on the vine and most of the others limping along for another year or so, creating a new status quo that is still reviled today, not least because it utterly fucked over the character of The Question by making him Cain or something as well as duplicating him as a secret agent or something?

Oh that Shiva. Pg. 4

*deep breath* Where was I? Oh, yes, why diss “Blackest Night.” No reason. I just needed a good segue. Also I wanted to plug our Not So New 52 coverage from the end of 2019. ANYWAY, barring whatever the hell happened in The New 52 (and what little we have from Bendis’ Superman,) “The Question” #37 is the most recent appearance of Charles Victor Szasz aka Charlie Sage aka Vic Sage after he died of cancer on the mountains of Tibet and passing on the mantle to one Renee Montoya in the pages of “52.” He’s also, kinda, sort, still dead.

Yeah. For those who don’t know, “Blackest Night” was a line-wide event spinning out of Geoff Jones’ run on “Green Lantern” that brought a whole host of then dead superhero and superhero-adjacent characters back from the dead to torment, kill, and generally fuck with live characters in order to expand the ever growing army of Black Lanterns. Long story short, there are actually a spectrum of lanterns powered by different emotions and Black Lanterns are powered by death and feed on the emotions of others and no I will not be going into the optics of having Black=Evil & Death and White=Good & Life because I get why we do that but also yeesh.

As part of that event, titles that had long been over and had no current equivalent were “resurrected” for one issue. “The Question” #37 was one of them and had (most) of the original team. It’s clear why the late Malcolm Jones III, may his memory be a blessing, was unable to come back but the rest I’m not sure. Both Rick Magyar and Tatjana Wood were not brought back, neither were letterers Willie Schubert or Steve Haynie. It is quite possible most of these creators had retired or did not want to work with DC anymore or were considered interchangeable, but it’s also possible new management at DC did not want to try. Who’s to say.

I’m off track, constantly bouncing back and forth, and part of that is because “The Question” #37 is, for all intents and purposes, superfluous. The actual continuation of Vic’s story from “The Question” #36 was in the five quarterlies and then in subsequent minis as a supporting character before “52” rocketed the character back to popularity. . .and killed him (for good) in the process. This is a comic meant to bolster an event that did not need the tie-in and while I am glad I read it — Cowan with Sienkiewicz inks on interiors rather than covers is always a treat — I don’t have much to say about the issue itself.

Continued below

Modern comics dropping page numbers makes me sad but also look at this gorgeous page. The Question #37 pg. 10

There isn’t really enough space to sit with the emotions of Renee and Tot and Vic’s resurrected corpse is more of a nuisance than a real threat. Tot feels like a shell of his former self, which might be the point, but I have no idea why. Was losing Vic that hard on him? Having missed whatever came between, if there was anything, I’m lost. For fans of the original series, which this is ostensibly for, based on it being called “The Question” #37 and not “Blackest Night: The Question #1,” that’s not good. Doesn’t make the issue poorly constructed or even a skippable tie-in, just that it doesn’t work as a 37th issue.

But I digress.

On the positive side, seeing Shiva again is awesome. I missed O’Neil on Shiva and while I can feel the Rucka influences in the script, Shiva’s competition with Renee and then Vic hit the nostalgia buttons, even though I didn’t wait over 20 years for another book titled “The Question.” Moreover, the emotional beats of the issue DO hit as intended, with Renee and Tot having to say goodbye to Vic by, in essence, “going inside,” the technique Vic used to calm and center himself that I never really touched on. It’s a nice echo of the original and it’s fitting that Shiva is the first to figure it out, as she has always been a guide for The Question.

I also appreciated how “The Question” #37 felt like a call-back to “The Question” #1. It’s a cycle, birth and death, and for Victor, this is not the first time he has died and come back a different person. It’s just that this time, his rebirth was a regression. He is an asshole, full of himself, thinking only of how to hurt the people he fights. He finds joy in making others suffer but like his previous self tired to find, it is an angerless hate. He has finally reached the point of letting go of his anger; it’s a shame that this letting go was a result of being possessed by a flesh seeking ring of death.

Such is the life of a superhero, though maybe not this superhero.

Oh Shiva, never change. The Question #37 pg. 5

And with that, I must bid you all adieu. Thank you for joining me these last 12 weeks. It’s been a blast getting to think about and dissect a series that I love, despite coming to it 30 years after publication. It’s messy, it’s hard, it tries a lot and doesn’t always succeed, but it’s a reminder of the kinds of great comics we can make if given the chance to take risks. Comics contain multitudes, as all stories do, asking us the question: Who are we?

I don’t have an answer to that but, often, there is none. There is only The Question.

The Question #37 pg. 20

//TAGS | 2020 Summer Comics Binge

Elias Rosner

Elias is a lover of stories who, when he isn't writing reviews for Mulitversity, is hiding in the stacks of his library. Co-host of Make Mine Multiversity, a Marvel podcast, after winning the no-prize from the former hosts, co-editor of The Webcomics Weekly, and writer of the Worthy column, he can be found on Twitter (for mostly comics stuff) here and has finally updated his profile photo again.

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