InsaneJournal

It's his backup feature, plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko, with script by D.C. Glanzman.

Debuting in June of '67, though a seven-page story in the back of Blue Beetle v5 #1 (approx. 2 1/3 scans here), Vic Sage was an investigative reporter with a passion for justice.



Vic was best known for the moralistic diatribes he'd deliver on television. Aside from being the character trait most likely to carry over in later versions, it also did very little to endear him to his audience. But more than just preach to the camera, Vic liked to get hands-on with a cause he believed in, and there was no cause dearer to his heart than the cause of justice, to actualize and enforce his moral beliefs.
But a man so publicly known needs to divert attention from a face as recognizable as his.


And this is where The Question comes into the picture.


I'd like to say the punning started early on, but this one was really just a one-off. Vic doesn't talk much as he fights, he's direct, focused on his goals. The words his fists can't say for him are pure intimidation.

Taking advantage of his own aura of mystery, Vic strikes fear into the hearts of criminals. The gas may be a simple bonding agent for Vic's mask, but the crooks don't know that. The way Vic tells it, they're likely to think the gas'll strip their faces just like his.


And thus Vic Sage's one-man crusade on crime begins, with his fists falling on glass jaws and his words on deaf ears. He's got his work cut out for him.


BB #2, August '67 (approx. 2 1/3 pages)

Now you might recognize this guy from Alex Toth's story in Charlton Bullseye #5, The Banshee. He's just some crook with a flying cape, nothing too special. There are more important things going on here to discuss. Vic, for being such a public figure, is apparently pretty anti-social. This isn't really that surprising when you consider how many people would be alienated by his broadcasts. The real wonder is what he's doing at the jewel exhibit in the first place, unless perhaps he expected a burglary.
Second, notice how, where most superheroes would slink away to change into their costumes and take down the bad guy, Vic jumps right on in there without bothering about his mask. He never put much attention into separating his two identities because they are separate at all. There is no double life for Vic Sage, The Question simply allows him anonymity when he needs it.
Third, Crown City? Yes. To those not familiar, Hub City was originally home to Ted Kord, but he was moved to Chicago when they crossed over to DC, and Vic's own Crown City was dumped for Hub City. The reasoning I couldn't tell you, those are just the facts as I know them.

Ditko's disdain for high society mixed in perhaps with a little bit of male power fantasy? I can't decide, but it's a safe bet. Where early Spider-Man was a reflection of the troubles in Ditko's reality, The Question is more about the challenges faced by and created from his ideals, and ideals always fair better than reality. All that said, Vic is kind of a jerk.

I don't think I had any commentary for this part, it's just here for narrative's sake or Vic-showing-moral-resolve? The guy Dundo was at the beginning of the story, the soon-to-be Banshee Max was his apprentice, watching him test his flying cape and coveting it. He'd killed him just before the scene with the jewel heist.


Professor Rodor had been name-dropped in BB #1, but this is the first we see of him. Is it perhaps his friendship with Rodor that leads Vic to feel so personal about Banshee killing Dundo and his "rare inventive mind" for the flying cape? Does Vic perhaps see a misshapen reflection of his own relationship with Tot?


Not one to be left behind in the world of fashion, Vic also has been known to rock a leisure suit. In all seriousness though, it's better for roof-jumping than a bulky overcoat, especially when you've so far failed to keep up with a flying guy.

Okay. Yeah. Alright.
It's clever and it saved their lives, but it will never stop looking wrong.

They fight, this happens.

If issue one introduced us to Vic, issue two told us who he is. And he's kind of a bastard.
Sure, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, but Vic is kind of ruthless, and he'll only get more so.


BB #3, October '67 (2 1/3 out of 7 pages, including the one at the bottom of this post)
On a building site in the middle of the city, six stories up, one of the owners of 4 Square Construction was found drowned. The others suspect foul play.


Syd always has it in for Vic's job. There's really nothing to his character beyond that, he's simply one of a number of strawmen after Vic because of his methods and volatility. Also, again, Vic is really kind of a jerk.

Vic goes to do his thing at 4 Square, only to find hostility. When sounds of a struggle are heard, our hero springs into action, and justifies his use of an alternate identity while he's at it. It's kind of funny that his pre-gassed suit is about the same blue as the one he wears in-costume after moving to DC.



The next night, Vic has a lead to check an old salvage yard.

The really funny thing about The Question is the only thing it really guards Vic from is certainty. It's certainly doesn't alleviate suspicion, and once you suspect it the answer's pretty obvious.

Vic cracks wide the guy's plot and confronts him.

He laughs like this for two more panels while the guys pleads with him. Stone. Cold

"The fool only thought of what he could gain--Not what it would cost him if he failed!"
More of Vic's thoughts on crime and how it should be dealt with.


BB #4, December '67 increased Vic's share by another page, bringing it to eight (2 2/3 posted)
Someone's got it in for Vic Sage, and revenge is the reason! Sending out a baited lead, they find someone else biting.

The funny thing about this issue is that it illustrates what little the Question identity does for Vic. It keeps the cops off him I guess, though that angle's never explored by Ditko, which is funny considering the kind of rants he could've gotten out of it.

Rope-belt! Never seen before, and we'll just have to wait to see if it's ever really used again. Interesting idea, nonetheless.

The next day, on Vic's other battlefront,

He's not making any friends. Some of his not-friends aren't as nice as the picketers, though.

In the face of classic only-sane-man moralization, of course it's the old man who stands behind him.

The assassin kidnaps Vic's secretary/girlfriend, who reveals his boss, some guy named Nat Kat who went to prison because of Vic's investigations. What does Vic think of Nat's sob story?

Brrrrrrr.
Vic and Nora fight 'em off and escape under cover of a smoke bomb. While Nora gets the news team ready for the story, The Question goes in to catch Nat Kat and the hired killer. He knocks 'em both in a drainage pipe.

Where justice is more important than life, you'll find Vic Sage.


BB #5, November '68 (2 2/3 of 8 pages)
Technically the last Question story during the Action Heroes period, Mysterious Suspense having been released the month prior. We won't let it bother us.
A famous art critic comes to visit the WWB team.

If an image like that has never been printed on the cover of The Fountainhead, then consider me shocked. Boris reacts exactly how you'd expect, and goes just slightly nutty.

Going a little far, aren't you there, buddy? What could this painting possibly remind you of to warrant this response?
Whatever it was, it's bad enough to inspire the guy to send two goons to Nora's apartment to destroy the paintings and possibly beat her up. Vic was on his way out when he saw them, so he beats them up and interrogates them, his way.


After having Professor Rodor's cook up a dissolving spray, Vic runs Boris through the psychological gauntlet by posting copies of the painting all over his apartment and making them dissolve while Boris isn't looking.

His gambit pays off, as Boris is now such a wreck he's soliloquizing his motives to the painting! So what was it bugging the guy this whole time, anyway?

Oh come on! If this guy were stuffed with any more straw he'd be trotting down the yellow brick road looking for a brain. It's pretty insulting that the only motive he can have for not sharing Ditko's Vic's view of things is sinister, and due to weakness. No one else can actually believe in what they stand for, eh?

Either that or it's just a dig on art critics not doing art themselves, since the painting is depicting the work of one's hands? Maybe both?

He snaps, pulls out a cane-sword, and decides to go after Nora and the painting himself, with Vic in hot pursuit. He runs into the goons again on the way.

I thought this was kind of funny for seeing the lingering effects of having The Question beat you up and scare you senseless.

Vic catches Boris just in time to tell him something self-righteous as he holds his knife to the painting. Nora'd already given him the perfect segue when Boris offered to pay her to destroy the painting, telling him he'd have to do it himself (while holding it in front of her, so the knife would easily take her out too!)
In the end, the conflict had nothing to do with Vic or Nora, it was all Boris and the painting.

Vic Sage: Not a therapist.

The story ends with Syd being paranoid that Vic will take him down with Boris even though he'd done nothing wrong or illegal. Hell, about the only thing he had done was agree with Boris about the paintings.


I'll have to cut this off here and split Ditko into two parts, since I've got a 30-hour bus ride to catch in a couple hours.
Later this week, we'll continue with Mysterious Suspense #1.