ComicsDc ComicsJustice LeagueWho is the Question? Explaining DC’s masked crimefighter and her ties to the Justice League and Blue BeetleWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ComicsDc ComicsJustice LeagueWho is the Question? Explaining DC’s masked crimefighter and her ties to the Justice League and Blue BeetleWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: DC)
Image1of1(Image credit: DC)
Image1of1(Image credit: DC)
Image1of1
(Image credit: DC)
(Image credit: DC)
(Image credit: DC)
(Image credit: DC)
(Image credit: DC)
(Image credit: DC)
(Image credit: DC)
In The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1, we learn that someone is trying to weaponize the Watchtower. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman have figured this out and they turn to Montoya/the Question to track down the culprit. She has a team on hand to help her too:Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, Animal Man, andBatwoman Kate Kane. The latter is a little tricky for Montoya: Kate and Renee used to be a couple…
The first issue of All Along The Watchtower is really strong, offering a useful catchup on what’s been going on with Montoya recently (briefly: she was Gotham’s Police Commissioner in her day job, but has been booted off the force to make way forVandal Savage), introducing the supporting cast, and ending on a pretty solid cliffhanger that we won’t spoil here. Bringing in the likes of Batwoman and Blue Beetle is a smart choice too: the Question is a beloved character, but not as well known as those other heroes.
Which brings us to the main point of this article: answering the question of the Question. Who is this masked crimefighter and what do they want? It all starts back in 1967…
(Image credit: Charlton Comics / DC)
The first Question
Renee Motoya is not the first character to inhabit the persona of the Question. That honor goes to investigative journalist Vic Sage, who debuted in a back-up strip in 1967’s Blue Beetle #1 from Charlton Comics. Similar to another Ditko character, Mr A, this first Question was a tough, even ruthless figure – a masked crimefighter and martial artist who was utterly merciless when faced with evil and corruption.Alan Moorewould later look to both Mr A and The Question for inspiration when creating the brutally uncompromising Rorschach for Watchmen.
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Denys Cowan draws Vic Sage, the original Question.(Image credit: DC)
That series ended in March 1990, but the character continued to appear in other comics over the next few years before his next solo book from Rick Veitch and Tommy Lee Edwards. This six-issue series made some tweaks to Sage’s character, casting him as a more spiritual figure (albeit one who was now willing to outright kill villains) and took him to Metropolis where he helped save Superman’s life and revealed a long-term crush on Lois Lane!
Renee Montoya is the Question
(Image credit: DC)
Since then the character has been a pretty regular fixture inDC comics. She studied the Crime Bible in Greg Rucka’s limited series of the same name in 2007, and, worried about her sanity, announced her retirement from superheroics in Final Crisis. That didn’t last long, however – in 2009’s Blackest Night she came face-to-face with Vic Sage once more, briefly reanimated as a Black Lantern.
(Image credit: DC)
Of course, DC’s continuity was officially reborn in 2016, and that lead to the latest wrinkle in the character’s long history: there are nowtwoQuestions currently in operation. Renee Montoya is the main Question, but a resurrected Vic Sage (who was briefly drafted into the Suicide Squad and later teamed up with the Dark Knight in Batman: Urban Legends #14) is alive, well, and still doing his paranoid thing.
The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1 is out now from DC.
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