Convergence: The Question #2 Review

With her ex-girlfriend and her new roommate in two, The Question has to fight for her own survival, all the while trying to decide whether she has the right to kill an innocent man to save her city… Your Major Spoilers review of Convergence: The Question #2 awaits!

CONVERGENCE: THE QUESTION #2
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Cully Hamner
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Corey Breen
Editor: Marie Javins
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

Previously in Convergence: The Question: After a long and rocky career with the GCPD, Renee Montoya finally gave up being a police detective. Instead, she found a mentor in Victor Sage, a man dying of cancer, and spent a tough year fighting her own demons. When Sage died, Renee took up his role as The Question, faceless balancer of right and wrongs, only to find Gotham City swept up by an alien presence and trapped under a dome for a year. Now, the Harvey Dent of her world has been chosen to fight the Harvey Dent of another world, to decide which world survives.

The Question doesn’t intend to let the answer be a random one…

AN AWKWARD CHARACTER DYNAMIC

Partnered with her former flame, Batwoman, and The Huntress, her new roommate, The Question is searching the streets of Gotham (where, Stephen will angrily remind you, it’s sometimes night and sometimes day) for Harvey Dent, Two-Face.  At the same time, her father Hernando, lies on his deathbed with cancer, calling out for his daughter.  The balance of plot to character in this issue is pretty excellent, and it even has a tie to Convergence (albeit a slightly altered one) in the battle between two nearly identical versions of Harvey Dent.  By making the conflict less about battling cities in an alien sky and more about two men who have to make a terrible decision about, essentially, themselves, Greg Rucka’s script makes this seem more like an actual issue of the Pre-Flashpoint Question than a nostalgic flashback signifying nothing.  The interplay between a jealous Batwoman, a defiant Huntress, and a steely Question is also beautifully handled, including a confrontation wherein Kathy Kane shows her true feelings for Renee.  It all comes to a head as Two-Face confronts Harvey Dent (in a church, natch) with a firearm, leading to a fateful gunshot…

A FINE-LOOKING BOOK

Let me just say this: OH. MY. GOD.  What a great looking comic book!  Renee gets her proper trilby hat back, Batwoman is all blood-red cloak and dark visions, and Cully Hamner’s Two-Face should really be the new status quo for the character.  (He hasn’t looked this good since he was voiced by Bull from ‘Night Court.’)  There isn’t a lot of fighty-fighty action, but Hamner makes even quiet conversations interesting to look at, and provides a really emotional note at the end, as Renee finally makes it to her dying father’s side.  There’s a little bit of drama, a heroic sacrifice by The Question, and even a big damn romantic kiss to wrap it all up with a bow.  Sure, it’s not really so much ‘CONVERGENCE: The Question” as it is “convergence: THE QUESTION!”, but I’m really sort of fine with that.  Given how rough some of the other revivals have been (I’m still puzzled by the first issue of The Atom), I’m happy to have a comic that stands not just as a good Convergence crossover, but a really good issue overall.

THE BOTTOM LINE: REALLY SOLID ON ALL LEVELS

The hardest part of writing Batman is admitting that he exists both as a powerless, secretive avenger of the night AND as a member of the greatest superhero team of all, alongside aliens, Amazons, and creatures who could make him bulletproof, immortal or even give him super-powers of his own.  Greg Rucka clearly realizes that the same issue stands with The Question in a cosmic battle crossover, avoiding a lot of pitfalls to give us a story that’s emotional, powerful and best of all, satisfying, without ever once making me wonder why I’m supposed to want to read about it.  In short, Convergence: The Question #2 is an excellent “final appearance” for Renee Montoya and her life, providing closure on a number of levels, with phenomenal art throughout, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall.