10 Best Single Issue Comics Ever

5. The Question #1 - The Bad News

There are plenty of things that make Denny O'Neil, Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar's Question series the best comic book run of all time, but the chief reason why is the way the trio transformed Vic Sage for the better.

Yes, it's possible (if not downright correct), that there are better issues in O'Neil's Question run. The conclusion to Fables, which occurred during the book's first annual, cannot be praised highly enough, and the issues collected throughout Epitaph for a Hero or all equally incredible in their own right. It's the run's first issue, however, that is perhaps its most important, as it marks the occasion where O'Neil destroyed The Question, so he could build him again from the ground up.

The original incarnation of Vic Sage created by Steve Ditko was an angry, Randian mess. He's also the character depicted in O'Neil's first issue, which immediately takes him to task in addressing Sage's arrogance head on.

The issue actually ends with the vigilante's 'death', setting the character on a path wherein he's forced to learn to be a better person, and a better crimefighter too. Because of this, The Bad News takes on a unique importance, displaying a watershed moment in a run that, while not exactly short of admirers, is yet to find the mainstream recognition it sorely deserves.