I've been a huge fan of The Question for such a long time. I watched him in Justice League Unlimited and read through his recent Black Label series and was always on the fence about the O'Neil run until I remembered that it's by one of my favorite artists Denys Cowan. Amazing video dude, well put together and informative.
Thanks, AJ! I was a pretty big fan of Vic's JLU appearances myself. It's a shame that he only gets mainstream attention through massive overhauls like the '86 run and 52, but hopefully the Black Label series is a sign that we're gonna see more of him in the future. Fingers crossed!
I heard that James Gunn was actually making one. Not sure how credible it is, I'm pretty sure it was just a leak. Could be fake. Fingers crossed it isn't.
Dennis O'neils "Question" run is one of my favorite comic book runs of all time. Years ago my grandmother got me a book for Christmas called "DC universe: a year by year visual chronicle" that was basically a time line of all of the comics published by DC up to around the time the new 52 started. Flipping through it I stummbled across the cover for issue 1 illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz and the moment I saw it I knew that I had to read it. Thankfully the trade paper back collections were still relatively cheap at the time and I was able to track down the complete run. It's one of the few times that I'm glad that I judged a book by its cover art.
Can't go wrong with Sienkiewicz' art! I had kinda a similar experience coming across the run, and since then I keep coming back every now and then. There's always something more to discover, and I can't help but think The Question was some of O'Neil's greatest work because of that.
I love The Question. Ever since I watched him in JL Unlimited, I wanted to see more of the character. It has been years, and yet DC still have not collected the O Neil run in a new trade collection. I wish they would. The series is fantastic, and breathed new life Into Vic Sage.
The Question was part of my regular buys in the late 80s, with 2000AD, Blue Beetle and Lone Wolf and Cub. As a teen I remember being really enamoured by him, I don't clearly remember why, certainly the anonymity of his disguise contributed to it. I do intend to return to many of those comics I loved as a teen in my renewed interest in comics. Though I have already gone back to the 2000AD of this period and so much of it stands up. Judge Dredd - Block Mania/Apocalypse War, Chopper - Song of the surfer, Slaine - The Horned God, Bad Company, Moore's The Ballad of Halo Jones and Morrison's Zenith. Oh and Massimo Belardinelli's art. The Dead is so trippy. Highly Recommended. There is just so much great stuff that has been produced since then to catch up on. Vertigo it seems was kicking arse. I just fnished Marvels and Punisher Max has replaced Dark Knight Returns as my favourite storylines from the American big 2. In the 80s I would never have believed that anything published by Marvel would transcend pulp stories for me.
I read this whole run about a week ago and loved it. However, I also really loved Renee Montoya's tenure as The Question. I feel Greg Rucka kind of being the heir to O'Neil when it came to these more spiritual and introspective type stories. Rucka even put callbacks to O'Neil in both 52 and his subsequent books with Renee. Great video!
Excellent overview. I became a fan of "The Question" via his first DC series. It was an unusual series that was different from the other series at that time.
The talent on display in this video is honestly ridiculous, man. I’m so glad you turned me on to O’Neil’s run-I’m currently 10 issues in and loving it so far. Very excited to see where the rest of the run takes me
I wouldn't call him an unknown. He's nowhere near someone like Batman but he's had a pretty healthy cult following since 52 and his appearances in JLU. Just wish that translated into a few more books
I so thankful for finding your channel. I paid tribute to Denny years ago but I was too choked up to do it justice. Glad you did him better justice than I, sir.
I have the first 20 issues or so of the 80’s Question series. It’s a shame it was never reprinted. Because of this, it’s outrageously expensive to find the Trade paperbacks. I think I saw the 3 or 4 volumes once being sold for like $800
As I recall, back while it was running, Denny hinted that Hub City was actually inspired by East St. Louis 😬 Loved that series. Sage and Shiva at their best.
I'm thrilled to find a genuine critique on RU-vid instead of the far more numerous ( and profitable ?) smears and I Hate This And You Should Too type of reviews . Well done !
Gotta check this series out sometime. Slight correction though Miracleman (aka Marvelman) predates Watchmen. It was written by Alan Moore back when he was at Warrior (he was also doing V for Vendetta).
Ah The Question a character WB refuses to use. They won't put him in the movies because they might want a show and won't make a show because they might want to make a movie.
This was a great overview of the series that i read around 12 years ago in trade paperback volumes, that i borrowed from local library. They are out of print. I was engrossed in Vic Sage's personal journey of self improvement. This series effectively the pervasive effects of institutionalised corruption in Hub City. It would make for a great limited series for tv or streaming service. DC Comics has republished most of the run in an Omnibus coming out in July 2022, which includes reprints of the letter columns. Hopefully a second volume will be published to complete the run, which includes The Question Quarterly.
Heard that Moore started to give flack to superheroes as a whole. I do understand why he dislikes more vapid characters like Deadpool and characters that are incorruptible, but he did change superheroes for the better, and it’s a shame that he fails to appreciate his influence.
True, although I think his complaints are more leveled at the companies than the characters. Moore's expressed plenty of love for more "optimistic" fare, but I'd imagine writing that only to get hamstrung by publishers has probably soured his opinions a bit.
It's kinda weird that the Question is my favorite superhero, but I have less books about him, than others I can only tolerate most of the times. It's sad, that most books of him is OOP.
It’s a real shame, the medium’s chock-full of characters who have great potential but rarely get the exposure they deserve. Question even got a new limited series that was pretty good, but DC hasn’t pushed for the character and others like him the same way they’d push for Batman. Hope that changes soon.
First off, Hub City is based off STL. And yeah, it's like that. It's actually horrible. I believe O'Neil was from this area. The Ditko Question was interesting, based on moral absolutes. A is A. That's it. I don't see the re‐ imagined Vic Sage so much as deconstructing as the character grows. Shiva offers him one path, Dragon another. But he has to find his own way. He becomes a better person. JLU had a good take on him, and Jeff Combs was perfectly cast. The comparison with Rorshach is hard to dodge. But here's the difference. Kovacs couldn't evolve as a person. Which is actually more like the Ditko version. It's almost a parody in a tragic way. O'Neil wrote Vic as a student and later a teacher. Renee Montoya as Question was garbage.
After watching Justice League Unlimited and listening to the 52 audio drama, I love the Question. I really like the exploration of unwavering morality, someone who has a code in a city of corrupt and dangerous people.
Objectivism has almost 0 influence on comic books apart from 2 characters created by ditko. Alan Moore has an extremely unjustified hatred of Steve ditko, and even insulted him in the documentary “in search of ditko”. He did this knowing full well ditko was an extremely private person that would never respond.
The only authentic version of the Question was Steve Ditko's. There's no separating the character from Objectivist philosophy. Alan Moore thinks Objectivism is "fascist," which demonstrates he doesn't understand Objectivism at all. That said, I think Denny O'Neil is very talented, although the character he came up with was the Question in name only.
