W: Dennis O’Neil
Pub: Warner Books
Price: $6.99 USD/ $9.9 CAN
I was really excited to read this novel. The third in the series of DC Universe novels, this book features one of my favorite superheroes The Question. Even better: It’s written by the legendary Dennis O’Neil. Not only is O’Neil one of the best Batman writers who ever lived, he also wrote the amazing ‘Question’ monthly series in the late 80’s. I have fond memories of those dark, hopeless, yet strangely uplifting stories about our faceless hero fighting for truth and justice in the decaying urban hell that was Hub City. The art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar was so gritty, dirt fell off the Baxter paper. It’s a great piece of graphic fiction that truly is for mature readers.
My disappointment in this novel is impossible to quantify.
My first sign things were going wrong was the introduction that all but said this was a rewriting of early issues of ‘The Question’ comic book. Now Alan Grant and Gail Simone found the time to write original stories for their DC Universe novels, and Simone is writing a monthly series! I thought O’Neil was taking the easy way out by recycling his old comic book scripts. Further reading proved me wrong. This novel has little to do with the Question comic book or the character we know.
Charles Victor Szasz has been wandering the country for years. Now he feels like it’s time to return to his childhood home of Hub City. Szasz was left at an orphanage in Hub City. He hopes to find out who his parents were. Instead, he finds the orphanage burned down and the city nearly dead. Charles gets a job at a radio station, calls himself “Vic Sage”, and begins a series of events that lead to him becoming a costumed vigilante.
Now, way back when Steve Ditko created the character, Sage became the Question to further his relentless pursuit of the truth. O’Neil reinvented Sage as a thrillseeker who finds Zen spirituality with karate master Richard Dragon. Recently, Rick Veitch wrote a mini-series where Sage became an “urban shaman”, able to communicate with cities on a mystical level. The Question we get here lacks any of that depth or emotional commitment. He becomes The Question for no reason other than plot convenience. No vows of vengeance, no personal offences to his sense of integrity, not even a thrill from punching guys in the face. It’s just, “Well, I guess I’ll learn some karate, meditation, and how to be a mysterious crimefighter. Not like I’ve got anything else to do.” Sage moves from scene to scene, fight to fight, because that’s what the story requires. He seems to have little importance to the why’s and wherefores of the plot. Batman appears in the book, providing Sage with the resources and training needed to lead a double life. Batman all but says, “There’s trouble in Hub City, But I’m too busy to investigate. You seem like a confused, troubled young man. How about putting on a mask and doing this for me?” Seriously, The Question becomes Batman’s intern.
And O’Neil goes into great detail about the training required to be a masked manhunter. There’s more to it than just fighting. Apparently, you have to see a faded screen actress to teach you how to walk like you’re weak and talk in a wimpy voice. Yes, two chapters are spent on Vic Sage getting acting lessons! Then there’s a subplot of Vic trying to get beat up in public as Vic Sage so no one will suspect he’s The Question. I’m serious. There’s a lot of page space spent on that plot. It’s resolved so abruptly and stupidly, I wonder why it was there in the first place. It’s not like anyone thought Sage and the “faceless man” were the same person anyway.
O’Neil is a good writer, and some of his talent shows here. Dialogue between characters is often sharp and snappy. His descriptions of decaying Hub City and the polluted forest around it paint a vivid picture. But this still reads like the script of a comic book. A good artist could take these words and create the dark, menacing world O’Neil describes. And a comic can get away with going from fight scene to fight scene. It would also cut out the tedious explanations.
It seems like O’Neil took away everything he added to the character of the Question and changed the details on everything else. (He even changed the Question’s famous blue suit and coat to a white suit and coat that turns black! Why?) The novel is a mildly entertaining distraction that does a disservice to the character. O’Neil is better than this; I’ve seen it. Hard-core Question fans may be curious to see this book for themselves. If so, I recommend buying it as cheaply as possible. It adds nothing to the cannon of one of comicdom’s most fascinating characters.
What did you think of this book?
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