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O'Neil: Vic the Seeker (pt 2)
After the first arc, O'Neil's series tended toward Vic confronting a Curiousity of the Month, set against the backdrop of a Hub City trying desperately (and mostly failing) to put itself back together.
Today we'll be looking at two such issues, #'s 7 & 8.
Question v1 #7, August '87 (approx 9 of 27 pages)
We open with Myra and Wesley waiting at the mayor's office for a visit from a fellow name of Volk. Tell us a bit about this Volk character, eh Myra?
Well, you gotta give Wesley one thing, he's certainly consistent!
Real classy, Volk. :/
Anyway, Myra calls and Vic comes a-running.
"You're not the mayor." Way to rub it in, Vic!
That line, especially after Volk's dismissal, is setting up for some big stuff on Myra's end. Since I'm sure I'll end up losing all since of narrative and just post the parts with Myra, Tot, and Vic's inimitable fashion sense unless I do something, expect a post focusing on where this whole bit is going soon, like the one after the next one.
They stand there for a bit before Myra addresses the elephant in the room.
Vic gives Volk a call, which gets him a pretty bad reaction.
As Vic makes a backflip up Volk's fire escape, he suddenly gets a whip across his neck. Vic shows a lot of creativity, instead of fighting Volk and easily losing, he talks to him. Convinced that Vic is not his enemy, Volk answers his questions and tells his story.
Part of a family of Romanian gypsies, Volk (who's in his sixties) fled from the Soviets as a teenager only to fall into hands of the Nazis.
Volk, fearing he is falling into insanity, is preparing to retire. He was planning to turn state's evidence on his competitors, but he found Fermin as corrupt as they. The guys in question, they're not excited about the prospect either way, and are on their way to take Volk down themselves. Volk tell Vic to go, but that's not Vic's style.
I, uh, have a bad habit of cutting all the fight scenes, but I did like this bit:
After the chaos has subsided, Vic makes an unfortunate discovery.
Volk gives cryptic directions to a location in Bavaria, repeating that "someone should know the truth." Vic, well, Vic's a sucker for this kind of shit.
Now, he'd decided that remaining a journalist was important, yes, to share the truth, and he's been doing that freelance lately. The job offer he turns down here is not about sharing the truth, it's about stability, and he'd have to quell his curiousity in order to take it. For Vic Sage, that's a deal that just isn't worth it (Peter Parker should've taken notes!)
oh my god look at his ridiculous little outfit! the hat totally makes it.
Someone should know, notice, not everyone should know. This is a personal truth Vic has found, it only has meaning to him because he, even if briefly, knew Volk. Not a truth to be shared to those for whom it wouldn't matter.
A truth that, by the way, is at once against the realistic tone the book has set up (though perhaps vague enough to dismiss), but at the same time reminds you of the DCU beyond Hub City's rotting interior. I don't think this necessarily suspends disbelief at Hub City's state of being, Reagan was still president, after all.
Moving on...
Question v1 #8, September '87 (approx 9 of 27 pages)
Notice something there? That's right, The Question, with #8, joins the esteemed ranks of DC's pre-Berger Mature Readers line, following in the footsteps of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Post-Crisis Vigilante, and leading the way for Mike Grell's Green Arrow series (though Longbow Hunters was being released around this time).
On to the insides, let's start with a look at a real jerk. We're talking about a fucking moster.
I'm having to cut this scene down from three pages, but that about says it. Check it out, guy's got something under his sleeve.
Fuckhead goes out for a walk when a stranger offers him a lift, only to shoot him in the neck with a tranquilizer.
oh it was a pack of cigarettes, that's a really cool detail
Now, that's pretty gruesome, but I really have trouble feeling sorry for this guy. After our vigilante's through, the cops find the body.
Vic's heard tell of murders lately that echo the conditions of earlier patients admitted to the hospital from the same household as each victim. Unsurprised given the city's state, Myra distracts Vic with jokes.
What's a Hub City straight?
Five unrelated card and a switchblade.
Oh, you two. Back on track now, people are only dying after all!
Good to hear Izzy's getting his act together. It'll be a hard road, but if Hub City will be saved by anyone, it'll be the people who start caring about the state it's in.
...People like Vic and Myra, who could live happily together somewhere else if they weren't so busy trying to put this mess in order. Some things are just bigger than our own desires.
Back to the investigation, Vic tries a drug gang angle, but it leads to a dead end. One thing keeps coming up, Doctor Spaulding, a respectable and hard-working guy Vic keeps running into. A living saint, this guy, another one of those people trying to dig Hub City out of its hole.
Weird how he cuts off in the third panel, but I figure the last panel's the end of that thought. It's abrupt and a little awkward, but you get what he's saying.
Vic confronts Doc Spaulding, but gets shot by one of his paralytic tranqs. He tarts talking about how he became a doctor to help the suffering.
Notice the little triangles flying around Vic's head? That obviously-drugged shorthand reappears later in the series. It's a nice touch.
They're never easy, guy. That's why it's not the answering that's important, it's the asking, right Vic? It's knowing that you've faced the hard truths and can still look yourself in the mirror.
Spaulding injects himself in the leg and collapses, singing his mantra with his dying breath. Shocked and still clearing his head from the drug, Vic takes to the bathroom and dunks his head under the sink. When he comes back, Spaulding's gone, only the syringe left.
The logistics of this gambit are interesting. If Vic handed tried to talk Spaulding out of it, would he have just faked a sudden moral dilemma and turned the syringe on himself out of guilt while Vic was still paralyzed? I figure that's what he had planned, but Vic kind of forced him to ad-lib on it a bit.
What're your thoughts, guys?
Next time, new insight into Doctor Aristotle "Tot" Rodor! Comics' first visit to Santa Prisca! Vic needs a haircut! Same place, different time, right here on scans_daily!
Question v1 #7, August '87 (approx 9 of 27 pages)
We open with Myra and Wesley waiting at the mayor's office for a visit from a fellow name of Volk. Tell us a bit about this Volk character, eh Myra?
Well, you gotta give Wesley one thing, he's certainly consistent!
Real classy, Volk. :/
Anyway, Myra calls and Vic comes a-running.
"You're not the mayor." Way to rub it in, Vic!
That line, especially after Volk's dismissal, is setting up for some big stuff on Myra's end. Since I'm sure I'll end up losing all since of narrative and just post the parts with Myra, Tot, and Vic's inimitable fashion sense unless I do something, expect a post focusing on where this whole bit is going soon, like the one after the next one.
They stand there for a bit before Myra addresses the elephant in the room.
Vic gives Volk a call, which gets him a pretty bad reaction.
As Vic makes a backflip up Volk's fire escape, he suddenly gets a whip across his neck. Vic shows a lot of creativity, instead of fighting Volk and easily losing, he talks to him. Convinced that Vic is not his enemy, Volk answers his questions and tells his story.
Part of a family of Romanian gypsies, Volk (who's in his sixties) fled from the Soviets as a teenager only to fall into hands of the Nazis.
Volk, fearing he is falling into insanity, is preparing to retire. He was planning to turn state's evidence on his competitors, but he found Fermin as corrupt as they. The guys in question, they're not excited about the prospect either way, and are on their way to take Volk down themselves. Volk tell Vic to go, but that's not Vic's style.
I, uh, have a bad habit of cutting all the fight scenes, but I did like this bit:
After the chaos has subsided, Vic makes an unfortunate discovery.
Volk gives cryptic directions to a location in Bavaria, repeating that "someone should know the truth." Vic, well, Vic's a sucker for this kind of shit.
Now, he'd decided that remaining a journalist was important, yes, to share the truth, and he's been doing that freelance lately. The job offer he turns down here is not about sharing the truth, it's about stability, and he'd have to quell his curiousity in order to take it. For Vic Sage, that's a deal that just isn't worth it (Peter Parker should've taken notes!)
oh my god look at his ridiculous little outfit! the hat totally makes it.
Someone should know, notice, not everyone should know. This is a personal truth Vic has found, it only has meaning to him because he, even if briefly, knew Volk. Not a truth to be shared to those for whom it wouldn't matter.
A truth that, by the way, is at once against the realistic tone the book has set up (though perhaps vague enough to dismiss), but at the same time reminds you of the DCU beyond Hub City's rotting interior. I don't think this necessarily suspends disbelief at Hub City's state of being, Reagan was still president, after all.
Moving on...
Question v1 #8, September '87 (approx 9 of 27 pages)
Notice something there? That's right, The Question, with #8, joins the esteemed ranks of DC's pre-Berger Mature Readers line, following in the footsteps of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Post-Crisis Vigilante, and leading the way for Mike Grell's Green Arrow series (though Longbow Hunters was being released around this time).
On to the insides, let's start with a look at a real jerk. We're talking about a fucking moster.
I'm having to cut this scene down from three pages, but that about says it. Check it out, guy's got something under his sleeve.
Fuckhead goes out for a walk when a stranger offers him a lift, only to shoot him in the neck with a tranquilizer.
oh it was a pack of cigarettes, that's a really cool detail
Now, that's pretty gruesome, but I really have trouble feeling sorry for this guy. After our vigilante's through, the cops find the body.
Vic's heard tell of murders lately that echo the conditions of earlier patients admitted to the hospital from the same household as each victim. Unsurprised given the city's state, Myra distracts Vic with jokes.
What's a Hub City straight?
Five unrelated card and a switchblade.
Oh, you two. Back on track now, people are only dying after all!
Good to hear Izzy's getting his act together. It'll be a hard road, but if Hub City will be saved by anyone, it'll be the people who start caring about the state it's in.
...People like Vic and Myra, who could live happily together somewhere else if they weren't so busy trying to put this mess in order. Some things are just bigger than our own desires.
Back to the investigation, Vic tries a drug gang angle, but it leads to a dead end. One thing keeps coming up, Doctor Spaulding, a respectable and hard-working guy Vic keeps running into. A living saint, this guy, another one of those people trying to dig Hub City out of its hole.
Weird how he cuts off in the third panel, but I figure the last panel's the end of that thought. It's abrupt and a little awkward, but you get what he's saying.
Vic confronts Doc Spaulding, but gets shot by one of his paralytic tranqs. He tarts talking about how he became a doctor to help the suffering.
Notice the little triangles flying around Vic's head? That obviously-drugged shorthand reappears later in the series. It's a nice touch.
They're never easy, guy. That's why it's not the answering that's important, it's the asking, right Vic? It's knowing that you've faced the hard truths and can still look yourself in the mirror.
Spaulding injects himself in the leg and collapses, singing his mantra with his dying breath. Shocked and still clearing his head from the drug, Vic takes to the bathroom and dunks his head under the sink. When he comes back, Spaulding's gone, only the syringe left.
The logistics of this gambit are interesting. If Vic handed tried to talk Spaulding out of it, would he have just faked a sudden moral dilemma and turned the syringe on himself out of guilt while Vic was still paralyzed? I figure that's what he had planned, but Vic kind of forced him to ad-lib on it a bit.
What're your thoughts, guys?
Next time, new insight into Doctor Aristotle "Tot" Rodor! Comics' first visit to Santa Prisca! Vic needs a haircut! Same place, different time, right here on scans_daily!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 12:58 pm (UTC)I like them together.
And now a quote from the Mikado? Didn't another Question arc you posted quote Shakespeare?
no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 05:41 pm (UTC)And, yeah, I think the Blue Beetle arc ended with a quote from Romeo and Juliet. So, different writer, same weird parallels.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 10:23 pm (UTC)