The Untitled Comic Book Newsletter Vol. 15

Let’s talk about serialization — and no, not the act of transforming something into cereal, which has probably happened before in a Lucky Charms commercial. We’re talking about when the story of one thing continues on in the next thing, like in a… comic book. Or an email newsletter about comic book.

Last time, ace reporter Vic Sage (who fights crime as the faceless wonder known as The Question) felt the indefinable currents of spiritual energy in the world draw him to Metropolis for reasons even he wasn’t too sure about. He got into a well-stylized fight with a guy called the Psychopomp who can send people to their own literal Hell, and then he hopped on a train to Metropolis to meet with his old journalism school buddy, Lois Lane. However, immediately after arriving in the city, he snuck away so he could do some Question business.

That brings us to issue 2, which I think offers a nice little lesson in telling a serialized story in a comic book. Issue 1 introduced us to what The Question is up to and established the basic premise for the miniseries (he’s going to Metropolis), and now issue 2 has to keep that going. Of course, it can’t burn through the whole story, because there are still a few more issues to fill, so it has to just keep the proverbial balls in the air while incentivizing readers to stick with the story. That last bit is especially important in comics, as opposed to, say, television, because you traditionally have to go to the local Comic Shoppe and physically buy a new issue (or get it from an app or whatever).

This issue of The Question doesn’t do a ton with the first part of that, but it does a lot with the “incentivizing readers” bit to make up for it. Plot-wise, The Question walks through Metropolis, completely unseen due to his ostensibly nondescript clothes and literally featureless mask, waiting for a sign of what sort of cosmic drama has drawn him to the city. Meanwhile, Lois Lane listens in as Lex Luthor gives a press conference about some new bullshit he’s doing at a new skyscraper with thinly coded fascist language about promoting the success of mortal humans (as opposed to, nudge nudge, aliens).

Then, a group of high-tech bank robbers who live in a train set off some kind of giant magnifying glass in the sky that shoots out a beam of super-focused sunlight. Oh no! Who could possibly stop something like that?

The answer, of course, is the big hook for the issue and the remainder of the series: Superman. Everyone obviously knows where this is going, but the book plays it well by treating it as a payoff instead of as a reveal. Also, you barely get to see anything more than glimpses of the Man Of Steel at this point, which is a nice way of keeping it grounded (or at least grounded to The Question’s rambling spirituality).

With Superman distracted by the sun beam thing, the bank robbers think they’re home free… except the pull of fate has drawn The Question right to their scheme. He beats them up, and the robbery fails. But now they’re pissed, and they reveal (to the reader, at least) that their actual plan to do whatever evil stuff they have in mind involves hiring the Psychopomp to attack Superman.

So there wasn’t a ton of plot movement, but now you see the shape of the miniseries come into focus and you have your incentive to read the next one. The Question is going to have to save Superman, which is not the sort of thing he normally does, and Superman is likely going to have to put up with The Question’s metaphysical philosophizing, which is also not something he usually does. Now, in theory, you want to read the next issue! Serialization at work!