The Question: Riddles

The Question, Vol. 5: Riddles by Dennis O'Neil
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While Myra Fermin lies comatose in a hospital and Hub City descends into chaos, The Question tries to maintain order...

The penultimate volume of The Question sees Hub City sinking from hellhole to shithole and the Question is one of the few good men left. Cops aren't showing up for work, gangs roam the streets, and Izzy O'Toole is the acting mayor. The Question continues his descent into a lifestyle of violence, forsaking his former Zen ways, showing the depths of his feelings for Myra and Hub City.

Lady Shiva and the Riddler show up, reminding us that Hub City is in the DC Universe, albeit in the dirty, shadowy section. Speaking of shadows, I really like Malcolm Jones III's inks in this volume. I didn't realize how much of the feel of the early Sandman issues was due to him until I saw his inks on The Question. Denys Cowan's art gives the book the feel of a EC Comics crime book, especially with Jones on the inks.

While there's a boob and a curse here and there, the "Suggested for Mature Readers" label seems to be because of the realistic subject matter, corruption and greed. This book was way ahead of its time. In fact, most comics have yet to catch up.

As with his Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Dennis O'Neil shows the potential super hero comics have to tell more human stories, something a lot of comics still fail to do. 4 out of 5 stars.



View all my reviews