This is probably also why I'm not much of a gambler: Even if I have money set aside to lose, if I win ten or twenty bucks, that's ten or twenty bucks for comics. And if I lose ten or twenty bucks, then I just blew ten or twenty bucks worth of comics. Plus, there's no cool holographic games or gladiatorial matches...yet.
Of course, unlike Han Solo, I'm far too polite to throw my change at a hapless droid. Plus, there's every probability that I'm gonna need it later. Pocket change came in handy the other day, when I finally managed to find a copy of the new Justice League Unlimited, starring the Question.
My local comic shop sold out, so I had to buy it at a chain store that puts price tags on the covers. Of course, I did have to peel it off in the store, since they didn't know their JLU from their JSA, and it was the wrong price; but easier just to peel it off rather than explain it. It was the last copy there, too; and they had a few left of last month's. Why the big rush for this issue?
Well, since he appeared on the cartoon and just because he's intrinsically cooler, the Question's issue had to have sold better than the previous month with Steel, Natasha Irons, and the Millennium Giants. But, I wonder if this one is selling more because a lot of fans may be wondering, how many more original Vic Sage Question stories are there left?
Replacing Vic as the Question probably seemed like a good idea, on paper: his last regular series was years ago, and I don't think his most recent limited had set sales records on fire. (I've bought it out of the quarter box, twice: once for my Oldest, then eventually for myself.) Like Captain Atom or even Blue Beetle, the Question was best remembered, if at all, as the inspiration for a character in Watchmen. In fact, often the Question was written as Rorschach after that.
But Jeffrey Combs nailed the voice of the Question in Justice League Unlimited, and brought the character into a limelight he might never see again. Just in time for Vic to be killed, by cancer, in 52. I'm still not convinced Renee Montoya needed to be given a costumed identity, but I'm really wishing she was the new Peacemaker.
No, I take it back: that helmet would look terrible on her...
From Star Wars #19, "The Ultimate Gamble!" Written and edited by Archie Goodwin, art by Carmine Infantino and Bob Wiacek. Hell, my copy is coverless, so check it out from the GCD.
Question panels from Justice League Unlimited #36, "Wild Geese" Written by Simon Spurrier, pencils by Min S. Ku, inks by Jeff Albrecht. This book may be phased out soon, with DC starts their new younger-reader initiative, so enjoy it now.
In other news, I got new end tables, which means I can use the old ones in my basement, to keep my books off the floor. Or, block up the room so I can't even get it. Guess which it is right now?
I think DC could get away with several more Question stories in this format.
ReplyDeleteEven though they'd never make any money on the thing, I'd love to see a mainstream DC Question -heavily influenced by the animated version- star in an X-Files like series, with less emphasis on beating up gangsters.
-Brandon Bragg