10 Best Comic Book Detectives (That Aren't Batman)

The original Question was created by the legendary Steve Ditko and first appeared in Charlton Comics’ Blue Beetle #1. During his Charlton run, the character followed Ditko’s philosophy of Objectivism while in his DC run he had developed a more Zen philosophy. No matter the writer, Charles Victor Szasz aka Victor Sage always had a healthy distrust of authority and a penchant for conspiratorial thinking.

Vic Sage was an investigative journalist in Hub City known for his outspoken and aggressive style. He was approached by his former professor Aristotle Roder to stop the sale of his invention, Pseudoderm, because of its toxic effects. Fashioning a featureless mask from the material and a special gas that adhered it to the skin and changed Sage’s hair colour and clothes, he became The Question.

In the series renewal at DC by Dennis O’Neil and Denys Cowan, Sage was beaten nearly to death by Lady Shiva and was then sent to Kung-Fu master Richard Dragon for training in martial arts and eastern philosophy. Unlike other “costumed’ vigilantes, O’Neil’s Question took on the corrupt politicians of Hub City and this version was less willing to kill than his Charlton counterpart. During a period when Sage had died of cancer, former Gotham detective Renee Montoya assumed the mantle of the Question. He has since returned to life during the DC Rebirth.