Who Is The Question?

When it comes to Ditko heroes there is no question that the epitome is The Question. By this time Ditko had created or co-created Captain Atom, Spider-Man, Dr.Strange as well as this zippy new Blue Beetle. But it's clear to my eye that The Question is the hero Ditko always wanted to create, and actually he did it twice. More on that anon. But to answer the query Ditko poses on his very appearance "Who is the Question?"

Created in the back pages of "The All-New" Blue Beetle, The Question was in fact hard-hitting reporter and ginger Vic Sage. Sage worked in the rough and tumble streets of Crown City, investigating corruption and crime regardless of where it led and who in positions of influence and power might be embarrassed or implicated. Vic Sage spoke his own mind, a mind guided by strict adherence to reason and evidence. He works for Worldwide Broadcasting and is assisted by his tough as nails team of Fred Pine, Al Kert, Bob Hasel, and the lovely Nora Lace. His boss is Sam Starr who stands by Vic in thick and thin. He is harassed by Star's son Syd and daughter Celia. The latter two are looking to find ways to get rid of Sage since his journalism often agitates advertisers and high muckamucks alike and so potential earnings. 

Vic espouses the philosophy of Objectivism and demands that he be treated by its tenets as well. He doesn't expect his employer to keep him out of loyalty but because it's in his ultimate best interests to get the truth out. Likewise his staff are not there because of him, but because they too like all "good" citizens need a world in which the rules are applied fairly. It's a bit much really to swallow and offers up a slender view of mankind. Emotions are seen as needless in the running a just society and in fact compassion and charity are deemed actual detriments as it undermines the clarity with which all folks should shoulder their burden and produce for themselves. 

Aside from philosophy what sets The Question apart from other heroes is his face, or specially the lack of one. Vic Sage gets his Question identity thanks to the work of Professor Rodor who designed a mask which covers the face but doesn't appear to offer up any openings and a handy gas that when released will changed the colors of suits so as to make The Question a hero who can leap into action on a moment's notice. (Much easier than the endless costume woes confronted by Spider-Man.) The Question punches out villains with a fighting style reminiscent of Will Eisner's The Spirit though he doesn't seem to get beat up and pummeled as much. 

After his appearances in Blue Beetle, The Question was featured in a single comic titled Mysterious Suspense #1. This issue was offered up after Dick Giordano had led a migration of Charlton talent, including Steve Ditko over to DC. (Correction: The real story is that Giordano was tipped off about the changes happening at DC by Steve Ditko who had already jumped over to the DCU.)

Some years later DC bought the "Action Heroes" after the collapse of Charlton and tried a number of ways to fit them into the DCU. There was success with Blue Beetle, failure with Captain Atom, and The Question as revised by Denny O'Neil was Ditko's character much at all, save they looked sort of the same. 

Over twenty-five years ago (yikes) DC celebrated The Question and Ditko by making Mysterious Suspense part of their Millennium reprint series. No other Charlton hero was afforded this honor, and likely The Question got it not only for the work of Ditko, but also because the hero inspired Rorschach of Alan Moore's Watchmen series. Sadly, today when The Question is mentioned that's the first thing anyone brings up. I mention it last on purpose to try and bring balance to the universe. To read the one and only issue of Mysterious Suspense go here. 

To get all of the Dikto Charlton Question stories seek out the second volume of Action Heroes from DC's 

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Mr. A - Good Or Evil!

Steve Ditko was born on this date in 1927. Ditko was one of the great original artists in the history of comics, a man dedicated to his philosophy and worldview. He created some of the most iconic images in the history of the form in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man and Strange Tales starring Dr. Strange. He created The Creeper for DC. As the Dojo has explored all year, he was long associated with Charlton Comics, a place where he was left alone to create his comic pages as he chose. He created many characters, but none speak more directly to his Objectivist philosophy than the enigmatic Mr. A. 

(D.1 - 1973 Comic Art Publishers)

One would be hard-pressed to find a more obnoxious hero than Steve Ditko's Mr. A. Created at just about the same time as Charlton's The Question, most folks see Mr. A as Ditko's Comics Code-approved Question unleashed into the wild of Indy publishing where he can really cut loose and express his opinions about justice and merit and who should live and who should die. Let me just say, that if you're a criminal and you're hanging by your fingertips over a deadly precipice don't think the "heroic" Mr. A. is going to give you a hand. That's not his style. If your misdeeds brought you to this dangerous point, then you will just have to solve it on your own...or die. 

How do I know this? Well, that's exactly the dilemma Mr. A. was confronted with in his debut adventure in the pages of Wally Wood's Witzend first issue. A juvenile delinquent named "Angel" is tearing it up with all sorts of ill-mannered and criminal behavior resulting ultimately in kidnapping and attempted murder. Mr. A. stops that attempt, but when Angel needs a hand to save his life after their fight, Mr. A. specifically says he would not be doing that. Through his inaction he allows the criminal to fall to his death. Is that justice? Is that heroism? It's sure cold blooded, that's for certain and sounds more like warfare. 

You see the thing is that in Mr. A.'s universe there is no gray...literally and figuratively. In these stark black and white comic book yarns we are presented with crimes and actions which some, in a charitable nature, might deem mistakes rather than crimes. They might consider the perpetrators to be confused by upbringing or environment which send mixed messages about what is right and what is wrong and the limits of civilized behavior in regard to these concepts. Mr. A. is not having any of that. There is "Good" represented by the white half of his business card and there is "Evil" represented by the black portion. There's gray, no blending or smudging, there are only absolutes determined by rigorous adherence to reason. Emotions and the charity they elicit are for weaklings and milksops. 

At first glance this hard-edged support of the good and condemnation of the evil seems worthy and even heroic. But for all the conversation, the question never even much asked in Mr. A.'s adventures is what is "Good" and what is "Evil". It's sort of assumed we all know that. A lot of it has to do with property rights as far as I can tell, with the stuff owned by those who produce being held sacrosanct and protected from the evil moochers and takers. Little suggestion of a deeper understanding of why those have what they have and those who haven't don't. Like the mythological "American Dream" it's suggested that work will inevitably lead to good outcomes and doing otherwise is just inviting disaster. Suggestion that society might stack the deck is not really confronted or is just dismissed. Like the amateur social engineers who have taken a tiny bit if Any Rand's philosophy to justify unlimited avarice, in Mr. A. the distinctions are just assumed to be obvious, detectible with only a little bit of "common sense" as is all too often evoked. 

Mr. A. lives in an Old Testament universe in which an eye for an eye is the bedrock premise of justice. I suspect that Mr. A would find Jesus Christ's attitudes about poverty and charity and mercy just mewling nonsense having little to do with the rockem' sockem' real world we all live in. Mr. A never smiles, in fact he's incapable of smiling as his face is literally a solid mask evoking classical Caucasian handsomeness. He looks through the eyeholes of his perfect mug onto a landscape less perfected and in sore need of transformation. He's all too ready to pitch in. 

Mr. A. is actually hard-hitting investigative reporter Rex Graine, but unlike his Charlton counterpart Vic Sage, there's no suggestive of fancy gimmicks to change identities. Graine goes to his closet and puts on the stark white gear that announces Mr. A is back in town. His face actually a helmet of sorts to hide his human identity during these times when mere humanity will not do the job. He doesn't have superpowers, merely a dominating will and a creator who sees to it that his unblinking philosophy will win the day each and every time. There's no gray in Mr. A.'s universe and there's no doubt nor growth. He is not a realistic human, but rather he is a concept given human form. Reading Mr. A.'s adventures becomes increasingly difficult over the years as the prose dominates the story, slowing any hint of suspense or narrative momentum. It's rather like forcing everyone t read all the plaques as they journey through the museum. It's enlightening perhaps, but it takes a long time and can wear you out. 

(D. 2 - 1973 Bruce Hershenson)

(D. 3 - 1975 Bruce Hershenson)

(D. 4 - 1975 Bruce Hershenson)

These four independent / underground comics have been in my collection for decades. It was fun to dig them out and give them another go, despite Ditko's relentless philosophy. 

This volume from SD Publications gathers many of the Mr. A comic stories as well as the Avenging World material. Sadly, not all the Mr. A material is in one place. 

Tomorrow, we take up The Question.

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Reading The Watchmen!

There is no question that Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is among the finest comic series of all time. The story was a blockbuster when it was first published forty years ago and has remained in print ever since. Moore and Gibbons created an alternate dark universe in which it was always 1985 and Richard Nixon was still president of the United States, victorious in Vietnam, but still in a grisly world over which loomed the threat of nuclear war. It was almost as if time had stopped. 

(Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, Rorschach and The Comedian)

In this alternate universe there were superheroes. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were not to be seen, but instead this world had heroes such as Nite Owl, Rorschach, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, The Comedian and the supremely powerful Dr. Manattan. There had been another generation of heroes in years past, but these five are the ones who we focus on in this story and it is these five who will decide the fate of the planet. But who are these heroes? 

It seems that at first Moore and Gibbons had been given the Charlton Action-Heroes which had been recently acquired by DC as a present for Dick Giordano who had once edited the heroes in the late 60's. But then DC smartly decided to keep the Charlton heroes aside for future exploitation and so Moore and Gibbons had to create new heroes using the Charlton heroes as templates. The first among these, and in many ways the most crucial was The Comedian, a hero based on The Peacemaker. People have long thought Peacemaker by Jim Boyette and Joe Gill to be an absurd hero, a hero who fights for peace. I don't share this opinion but nonetheless The Comedian is presented as a somewhat foul fighter for justice, a man who sees the joke behind the way the world works. He is closely allied with the U.S. government and one of only two superheroes who are allowed to work in the country since the passing of a law forbidding masked vigilantes. It is the Comedian's murder which triggers the story. 

The threat of nuclear destruction loomed large in the 1980's. I felt it myself as a young man as we fretted who might push the almighty button first, us or the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union finally collapsed the threat seemed lifted though the weapons still exist. 

A symbol of nuclear power was Dr Manhattan, the other legal superhero. Manhattan was based on Captain Atom created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko. Atom was caught in a nuclear explosion and reconstituted his demolished body which was infused with radioactive might. Dr. Manhattan was also victim of a nuclear accident and the was "gifted" with a wide range of atomic powers, not the least of which was a strange ability to live in all moments of his life simultaneously. Part of a deadly scheme which started with the murder of Comedian demanded that Dr. Manhattan be driven from Earth, thus setting in motion events which would result in nuclear holocaust. 

The hero who is looking into the murder of The Comedian is the enigmatic Rorschach. When everyone else is content that it was a simple crime, he searches for the story beneath the obvious. His mission is what drives the story and gives it a sense of coherence. 

Rorschach is based on Steve Ditko's The Question. (Mr. A is another more extreme version of the Ditko character and seems also a clear influence on Rorschach.) The Question was Ditko's mainstream creation which most vividly evoked his Objectivist attitudes. In Rorschach there are conspiracies everywhere and even in his unmasked identity the search for the dark secrets is evident. 

The hero most closely linked to Rorschach is Nite Owl, the second hero who bears that name. Both Nite Owl and Rorschach have been banned by law from being vigilantes. Rorschach continues as a criminal while Nite Owl retired. Nite Owl is based on Blue Beetle, most vividly Steve Ditko's revised version of the character who is very much dependent on technology to pursue his methods of crime prevention. 

There are two Nite Owls in this saga, one the ally of Rorschach, the other a retired hero who runs a garage and who famously wrote a tell-all book which uncovered some of the darker aspects of the heroes who preceded the Watchmen. This first Nite Owl is based on the classic Blue Beetle from the Golden Age. 

Silk Spectre is the singular female hero in this bunch, and the youngest of the lot. She's a second-generation hero, following in the footsteps of her mother who groomed her to replace her. She is the paramour of Dr. Manhattan as the story opens and together they form a key chapter of the story, but her relationship with the second Nite Owl is really at the center of the Watchmen saga. Silk Spectre is based on Nightshade, another creation of Steve Ditko who debuted in the pages of Captain Atom. 

The final member of the Watchmen is Ozymandias, the smartest man on the planet. He is based on  Thunderbolt created by Pete Morisi. Ozymandias is a man who started as a hero but finds that fighting crime is a limited effort and so focuses on his many business interests and philanthropy. He has a base in the Antarctic which plays a key role in the story as it unfolds. 

Of the five key Watchmen characters three were created or co-created by Steve Ditko. His fingerprints are all over his story. It's a grim look at a scary time in human history when we all thought doom was just around the corner. 

I've intentionally been vague about key details of the story as not to spoil the story for anyone who might not have yet enjoyed it. It took me some years to realize its greatness as I was away from DC when it first rolled out. But there's no denying it's a classic and deserves a close reading by all comic book fans, especially those who love the Charlton heroes as I do. The story itself takes place mostly during the month of October and the climax is on November 2nd, the birthday of Steve Ditko. Whether that's intentional or a fluke it's still remarkable. Personally given Moore's attention to detail I doubt it's a coincidence. 

The story has been reprinted many times now and can be found in both expensive tomes and cheap versions. I own it three times. More on the Watchmen tomorrow. 

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The Living Assault Weapons!

I very much remember anticipating this "return" of the Action-Heroes under the hand of Dick Giordano and Bob Layton. This project apparently was stalled a few times before it finally came out from DC at the very beginning of the current century. Like most of the product of that time, it was hooked into the JLA, a major seller for DC and the source of countless spin-offs and one-shots. L.A.W. was seen by many as just one more of those.

But for Charlton fans it was special. It featured the return of the "original" Action-Heroes. Sarge Steel, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, The Question, Nightshade and a new Peacemaker all play roles in the story, but the story itself was sculpted around the return of Rip Jagger, The Judomaster. This is a Judomaster story, though I will confess that focus does get muddled a bit as the story unfolds.

A powerful enemy named The Avatar (take that James Cameron) unleashes demons on the Earth and locks up the JLA in a dimensional trap. He seems unstoppable, but then Sarge Steel is put in charge of a group of heroes including Blue Beetle and the Question to battle the threat. He finds himself working out of a sprawling new project which gives birth to a new Peacemaker, a doctor. This force seeks out the Avatar's threat despite the lurking of traitors inside the project. Meanwhile Captain Atom has become a power source for the Avatar and will remain like that through much of story being reborn in a new costume before it's all over. Blue Beetle reveals a hidden guilt and the Question must come to terms with his lack of power in this battle against great evil. Nightshade is the most changed and seems literally to be battling for her very soul in the story. Sarge Steel is seduced and given the chance to be made whole again, but must stand strong. All the heroes seem to have an internal struggle alongside the external threat.

That threat is posed by Avatar who it is revealed relatively early is actually Tiger, formerly the partner of Judomaster who in a fit of teenage pique rejects the tutelage of his master and begins his fall into villainy. Judomaster meanwhile has obtained nirvana in Nanda Parabat but must give that up to rejoin the world and confront his corrupted partner. His struggle is the heart of the story.

This is a very uneven story though I'll have to confess despite my affection for it. It seems it was done in at least two stages looking at the artwork. The story itself is an a bit of a mishmash, offering many interesting angles and solving most of them, but not always convincingly.

I want to adore the L.A.W., but alas I only like it. I do recommend that you seek it out if you can find it. It's never been collected alas. It should be, everything else is available for heaven's sakes.

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Charlton Meets The Multiverse!

I picked up Multiversity- Pax Americana for the very simple reason that I love the old Charlton Action-Heroes and this is as close as we're ever going to get to seeing new adventures featuring those awesome characters.

These characters, created largely under the aegis of editor Dick Giordano were a brief but brilliant attempt to mine the superhero market which blossomed briefly during the Silver Age. Captain Atom and Blue Beetle were dusted off and revamped with new heroes such as Peacemaker, Nightshade, The Question and Judomaster brought along to fill in the ranks.

These characters of course these days are mostly remembered as the inspirations for Alan Moore's iconic Watchmen series and many dismiss them beyond that point. Alas, in this story Grant Morrison, a storyteller with stones, tries to revisit these heroes but clearly through the goggles of the Watchmen variations.

We are invited into a complex story, told by Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, which travels back and forth through time and space with all sorts of visual hijinks, all serving to create some larger mystery and make some larger point. The heroes are not as developed as individuals but merely used as elements of the one-shot story which explores the nature of heroes and justice and how the society can best make use of them.

We get good looks at Captain Atom, a man removed from his fellows by the dint of awesome power and who seems lost inside himself and the universe he sees differently from everyone else. The lovely Nightshade is a very young government agent who seeks to find the right way, but seems out of her depth most of the time. Peacemaker is a man on a mission which makes little sense for most of the story. The Question as always seeks answers regardless, while the Blue Beetle is a loyal government man.

We get glimpses of Sarge Steel and while Rip Jagger the Judomaster doesn't make the cut, his sidekick Tiger is around for a few pages as a member of a superhero unit which has a lot of vintage fun picking out a sobriquet.

The story even has a reference to Charlton's first superhero, the Golden Age Yellowjacket.

(Frank Quitely)

This is a complicated yarn, a mystery which has an answer, but which demands mighty attention from the reader and frankly more than one pass through the material. 

At five bucks for a copy, I guess I should thank Morrison and Quitely for giving me a comic which demands to be read more than once, since the density makes the entertainment value rise.

This is a book any Charlton Action-Hero fan should read, if only to see some vintage imagery and old rather obscure Charlton references hanging around in various panels. It has been collected up a few times. 

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