The Question is a character with a long, strange history. Originally thought up by Steve Ditko - the man responsible for co-creating Spider-Man, and most of his most famous enemies, alongside Stan Lee - this faceless private detective was supposed to represent the artist's own objectivist worldview. Invented by didactic novelist and crackpot Ayn Rand, objectivism is a weird form of morality that puts "justice "above all else. Therefore The Question was one of the earliest comic book anti-heroes, a vigilante who tracked down the bad guys and, more often than not, sent them off to an early grave. The character was a big influence of Rorschach, the similarly masked and unstable character from Watchmen. After Ditko wandered off from the character Vic Sage went from being an objectivist to a Zen-like master of calm, who still found the time to beat criminals to a fine paste with his bare hands. He also unfortunately took up smoking, which eventually lead to his own death from lung cancer. Not before he passed on the Question mantle, however, figuratively and literally. In the run up to his death, Sage trained up former Gotham police detective Renee Montoya - recognised as one of the first openly queer characters in DC Comics - as his replacement. Which she was, for a pretty long time, making key appearances in big crossover story arcs like 52 and Final Crisis. It was a natural evolution for Montoya, a character with inarguably strong detective skills but less aptitude when it came to following the strict guidelines of the GCPD. Renee carried on The Question's good work, providing a foil to fellow gay superhero Batwoman...at least up until the New 52 when, again, she was wiped out of existence. Which was objectively terrible. Ha, ha.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
