An Angry Question?

Some months back I bought the first trade volume of the O'Neil/Cowan Question series, and I bought Volumes 2 and 3 at the same time I picked up Essential Defenders Volume 3. The Question is what I'd call a solidly good series, at least through the 18 issues I've read, as it covers the difficulties in affecting change, on both a personal and metropolitan level. Denys Cowan's artwork is pretty nice too, more than capable of depicting Hub City as a grimy, rundown mess, and of illustrating the frequent fight scenes.

The series is giving me a lot to think about, but for tonight, I felt like talking about The Question #15 in particular. There will absolutely be spoilers, so now you're forewarned. There have been a series of murders in Hub City recently, each victim a black male, each left hanging. Into this enters Loomis McCarthy, a private investigator who visually reminds me of a more unkempt Harvey Bullock, and who is even more unpleasant as a person. Among his less endearing personality traits is a serious racist streak. Vic Sage figures Loomis might know something useful, but quickly finds the P.I. so distasteful he can't even hang around him long enough to dig for information. In fact, he comes to suspect Loomis, whose presence in town wasn't known until after the murders started, as the perpetrator.

Loomis seems oblivious to Vic's unease around him, always glad to see Vic when their paths cross. Until Loomis makes another racist joke in front of a black cop, who proceeds to kick Loomis' disheveled hind end, as Vic looks on. When Loomis wants to know why Sage did nothing, he explains he was being saved the trouble, which leads Loomis to use less than flattering terminology to describe him. Vic switches to his Question garb, now more sure than ever McCarthy is involved, and ends up trailing him to the man actually responsible, as McCarthy had pieced the truth together on his own. Sage then makes a news report detailing what he learned, and this is where it gets interesting.

Loomis shows up at the station, and tells Vic he didn't mean it yesterday when he said what he did, and he understands that Vic stayed out of it because he knew Loomis could handle it*. Vic loses his temper and lays out how much Loomis digusts him, and reiterates that if the cop hadn't thrown a punch, he would have. The man responsible for the murders appears, tries to shoot Vic, and well, Loomis takes the bullet. He can't figure out why McCarthy did it, and I find it pretty curious myself.

Why would Loomis McCarthy do that for Vic? The larger story reason is probably to illustrate that even people we might regard as terrible people are capable of noble acts. The fact he died for Vic, leading another person in the newsroom to describe Loomis as a hero probably served a purpose in tipping Sage off the balance he'd been working to maintain since his time with Richard Dragon. A man Vic had written off as scum, one the Question might very well not spit on if he was on fire, had turned around and saved Sage's life. If the people you think are the problem are capable of that, how does you figure out who you're supposed to be saving, and who you're supposed to be fighting?

In story, I think it tells us something about Vic Sage. Not so much his views on things, but more what's inside him. I think we can deduce that whether he admitted it or not, Loomis McCarthy was a lonely guy, as he has the sort of nature that would probably wear on people quickly, even if they agreed with his politics. The cosntant crude jokes and drinking would probably not be found endearing by many people. So why look to Sage as a potential friend? Sage has a lot of anger and self-rightousness inside him, it's a large piece of what drives him, and he has to struggle to control it or he winds up in trouble**. Maybe Loomis had a lot of anger inside as well, at himself, the world, whatever, and in Vic Sage, he thought he saw a kindred spirit. Sure Vic might say he wanted to pound Loomis' face in, but maybe the P.I. figures Vic just says that to maintain appearances, so he doesn't have to take a lot of guff from other people. Inside, Loomis might think Sage was just like him. If Loomis felt that way, contrast that with their outer appearances. Loomis is short, out of shape, constantly sporting stubble, he drinks, he smokes, his clothes are rumpled, and he works as a private investigator, which is probably not the most highly respected position. Vic is tall, athletic, reasonably attractive, keeps clean-shaven, wears clothes that are at least in good condition (I'm not the person to judge how fashionable they are), and he's a well-respected as a reporter that gets at the truth, and isn't afraid of speaking it. He may be what Loomis wished he was, or thought he could be, and so he wants to be around Sage, maybe some of that will rub off on him.

* Even though Loomis was pretty obviously losing before the cop's partner was able to restrain him.

** Which is the case over the next story, where Vic keeps behaving impulsively, because he's too angry to be calm, and it keeps getting him in over his head.