Image: Jorge Fornes/DC Comics
The latest series announced by DC Comics for November is a six-issue mini-series form writer Alex Segura with art by Cian Tormey. It figures to tie in closely with the new status quo in the DC universe with the return of the Justice League and their satellite The Watchtower. That is because the start of the series, Renee Montoya, in her guise as The Question has been recruited by the big three of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to solve a murder mystery that has occurred on their orbital headquarters.
Appropriately titled, The Question: All Along the Watchtower, Segura is the perfect choice to pen this series. In the initial announcement for the series with DC media partner Polygon, he has this to say regarding his influences via e-mail, “like Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie: plot-driven novels that feature colorful characters and situations, often outside of the expected or mundane. But I’d also have to tip my hat to more modern PI novels, like the work of Walter Mosley, Laura Lippman, and George Pelecanos — stories about flawed protagonists in over their heads, trying to do the right thing.”
Additionally, Segura is no stranger to crime noir and mystery as he is also currently writing the Dick Tracy series for Mad Cave and his 2023 novel Secret Identity was also a murder mystery set in the 1970’s within the comic book industry itself. That novel also starred a female protagonist and coupled with Segura’s named comic influences regarding Montoya of Denny O’Neil and Greg Rucka, bode well for a well-paced story with great characterization for Montoya and her Question persona.
In his most recent newsletter on Substack Segura said this regarding the upcoming series, “If the title didn’t tip you off, All Along the Watchtower chronicles Renee/The Question’s story about the JL Watchtower, after she’s enlisted by Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to get to the bottom of a series of deadly events. And yes, there might be a murder or two. It’s a noir murder mystery on the biggest DC stage, featuring, hands down, my favorite DC Comics character. To say I’m thrilled would be an understatement.” Clearly Segura will be giving his all when writing this title and fans of the Question should be as excited as Alex himself.
He goes on to add, “The Denny O’Neil/Denys Cowan run on The Question, along with Greg Rucka‘s work on Renee in Gotham Central, 52, and with Cully Hamner as the Question, are seismic influences on me as a writer, period, and on this book in particular. It’s not a job I take lightly, and I’m definitely trying to do my best to perfect that potent blend that makes Renee stories sing: weaving through the tenets of classic noir crime fiction and mixing them with the wide-eyed wonder of superheroics. It’s been a blast so far.”
“As some of you know, I’ve had the honor of writing a few Renee/The Question shorts over the last few years, including a one-off in Lazarus Planet: Legends Reborn with the amazing Clayton Henry, and a three-part story currently running in the pages of Batman: Brave and the Bold with old friend/top-flight artist, Andy MacDonald. I love the complexities of Renee’s character, and her ability to overcome her personal demons to do the right thing – which will be at the heart of this new series. Expect lots of fun cameos, surprises, and some unexpected deep cuts. This is a love letter to Renee, the work of O’Neil and Rucka, and the DC universe as a whole.” Considering his excitement and stated influences, it’s entirely possible we are going to see Renee Montoya level up as a character in the DCU.
For his part Tormey, sums up his approach to the series with one word “Scale”. When it comes to a massive satellite with futuristic tech and a clinical and pristine environment as a setting for a noir story usually set in dark alleys or smoke-filled bar rooms, it’s clear that Tormey was excited by the challenge.
He went on to tell Polgon vie email “The Watchtower is as much a character in this as Renee herself, but, it’s a noir story when all is said and done — so you’ll have to trust me when I say, there’s a lot of thought put into all those backgrounds you won’t be able to see under all the blood and shadows!”
We’re not sure where and what Polygon is referring to when they say Montoya’s time in Gotham has come to an abrupt end as most recently, she was serving as the Commissioner for the GCPD, a role since taken over by Vandal Savage. Some titles, such as Detective Comics, still have her serving in the role, however. It’s entirely possible that with the All In initiative starting in October, that DC is taken advantage of the fact that all titles are starting new arcs to sync up all the titles.
If this is the case, it might very well explain why Montoya is more than willing to take on this case as she looks for a place to settle and put Gotham City behind her. Mark Waid himself referred to Montoya as the Security Chief for the Watchtower when we spoke to him at SDCC this year. It seemed a bit of an innocuous comment at the time. In hindsight, it may be a case of Montoya earning that position by solving this mystery.
Whatever the case, Montoya has shown herself to be an intriguing character who is more than capable of anchoring a series as she did in 2023’s GCPD: The Blue Wall by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. What has us even more excited about The Question: All Along The Watchtower is right there in the title … The Question. As much as we love Renee Montoya, it seems her persona as the Question has taken a back seat to her civilian identity in recent years.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that and it speaks to her strength as a character that she can anchor a title with out using her superhero identity. However, with Segura and Tormey focusing on her in costume, we have high expectations for mystery, action and adventure. No interior art has been released yet, but you can see several of the covers for Issue #1 below It goes on sale November 20th, so pre-order with your retailer now.
Image: Cian Tormey/ DC Comics
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