DC Universe: Helltown [Mass Market Paperback]

Dennis O'Neil (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dc Universe | Publication Date: November 1, 2006

There are a lot of unanswered questions about VicSage, like how he spent - or misspent - his youth and how he came tobe a journalist in the country's worst city. This novel willsolve these mysteries, retell and embellish some old tales and tell anew tale of how Vic, with a bit of help, brought some measure ofserenity to a truly dreadful place. From his first meeting with LadyShiva, where he was almost killed, to training with Richard Dragon,the best martial artist in the world, and how Batman, whilethreatening his life, also saves him.DC UNIVERSE: HELLTOWN finally provides answers about The Question.Who he is and what he did...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dennis 'Denny' O'Neil is a comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s. As an editor, he is principally known for editing Batman.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446616583
• ISBN-13: 978-0446616584
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #928,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Night falls on Hub City, November 5, 2006

By 

J. B. Shoup (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: DC Universe: Helltown (Mass Market Paperback)

The trenchcoat-suit-and-fedora vigilante with faceless mask, known as The Question, also known as Vic Sage, has alternately benefitted and suffered from his low profile in the world of superhero comics. He was created for smaller publisher Charlton Comics by Objectivist comics creator Steve Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man among other characters, and was an anomaly in the world of sixties comics - while most everyone else was a spandex selfless do-gooder, Sage/Question was a crusading journalist whose "costumed" identity wore suits and street clothes. He acted out of rational self-interest and a thirst for answers and a guarantee of rational justice for all.

When Charlton folded, The Question disappeared, save as a favorite obscure character among myriads of readers who would one day become writers. But in the eighties, after DC bought the rights, his sun started to rise. Alan Moore, comics' greatest talent, crafted "Watchmen," one of Time's greatest novels of the twentieth century. This graphic novel featured more realistic analogues of the Charlton heroes, including Rorschach, a mask-wearing trenchcoat vigilante who took The Question's moral absolutism to new heights (or depths). Rorschach has become an icon of post-modern comics, but truly was Moore's clever play on The Question character.

Yet not long after this eclipsing of The Question had begun, writer Denny O'Neil teamed up with artist Denys Cowan to create one of DC Comics' first "Mature Readers" titles - "The Question." Here, Vic Sage was the professional journalism name of one Charles Victor Szasz, an orphan turned successful journalist who traveled to the fictional Hub City (think East St. Louis meets Gotham City) to find information on his birth parents, and also explore the city of his youth. His rage at his abandonment was hinted to be the roots of his fierce personality, and his first case in the pages of the comic series had him nearly killed, revived by a Zen master, and sent to Hub City after a year of training. An Objectivist turned Zen Warrior, sent to question himself and morality as the modern-day Gomorrah of Hub City fell apart around him under the weight of crime, corruption, and acts of God.

In the nineties, writer Greg Rucka took The Question, modeled after O'Neil's version, and thrust him into Gotham City as a mentor to costumed heroine the Huntress. In the new millenium, a paranoid Question that amalgamated Ditko's version and Alan Moore's Rorschach became a break-out character on Bruce Timm's "Justice League Unlimited." An off-kilter shamanistic version of The Question by Rich Veitch appeared in a mini-series, and after the company-wide crossover "Infinite Crisis," The Question became a star of the year-long series "52."

With "Helltown," O'Neil returned to the character to write a novel set tenuously in the same world as the other DC Universe novels. No mention of anyone but non-powered heroes, however, makes this fall in line with O'Neil run on "The Question," which featured Green Arrow and Batman, but never had anyone with x-ray vision or magic alien rings turn the stories into sci-fi.

But is "Helltown" a good contribution to the mythos of The Question? No. The problem? O'Neil truncates his masterful three-year comic series into a poorly-executed story that drastically departs from who Vic Sage is. It's a very interesting story, but is uninspired in terms of prose, and falls far short of the epic story that O'Neil crafted in the comic.

The thing about The Question is that it's hard to be a typical comic book "fanboy" about the character since so many versions exist. But each writer has built the character around a basic framework while taking him in new directions. Ditko created him as a Randian crusader. O'Neil made him a curious Zen warrior. Moore made him, via Rorschach, a living moral compass pointing to a dark pole. Rucka made him a bemused sleuth and Good Samaritan. Veitch made him a vicious but enlightened urban shaman. Timm made him into a conspiracy theorist and master detective.

In O'Neil's "Helltown," he removes a major part of who Vic is, a part of the character that each writer (including, previously, O'Neil) has respected in his own way. In his pre-"Helltown" forms, Vic Sage is a man who worked his way from nothing. For Ditko and most of the DC writers, this meant being a self-made man, with the DC writers adding the wrinkle that he overcame the status of being a disenfranchised orphan. Even Moore's off-kilter Rorschach overcomes personal adversity to be the last remaining superhero at the story's start. But in "Helltown," Vic is a manual laborer and brawler with no purpose or direction. It's an interesting character, but it's harder to admire and it's harder to be impressed when he claws up from adversity since the character as we first meet him has spent years resigned to his fate - he seemed to be lucky to achieve, not driven. He has never, before the story, achieved anything. While it's not a horrible idea for a main character, it doesn't fit the self-made persona of The Question. One wonders if O'Neil couldn't have crafted new characters from scratch and told the same story without sullying his own classic work.

O'Neil's writing style is suited for scripting comics, if this novel is any indication. There's little by way of the subtle, things move too quickly, and the characters beyond Vic are barely explored, and are almost written as if the reader is supposed to already admire Lady Shiva, Richard Dragon, the Batman, etc. Vic himself gets so side-tracked by his major vigilante investigation that the questions of identity raised at the beginning are left hanging, without even the twist that Vic has decided questions are better than answers.

The villains are barely explored, making the resolution uninvolving. Many plot threads are left hanging, and there's not enough on the villains to make the reader truly hate, fear, or pity them. Hub City as a city is also flat, presented in such a way at first that it feels claustrophobic, as if the city is so bad it doesn't make sense why it still has forty thousand residents. Where these residents are hiding isn't clear - the local economy and population seem non-existent save for a few bikers, an evil factory, and a few bums. O'Neil spends little time fleshing out the city, and the story suffers for it.

The Question himself barely appears, with Sage out of costume often, making the few moments where he declares the mask to be his true self ring false, since he rarely retreats in his true self enough to make us believe that declaration.

There are occasional bright spots, like the dialogue between Batman and his butler Alfred, or some one-liners from Vic, but most of the book is straight-forward narration, few deft turns of language, abrupt flashbacks or scene shifts, etc. In other words, the prose is weak, weak, weak.

Fans of The Question should give it a look, perhaps buy a copy in order to encourage DC Comics to utilize this character more. But most fans of The Question will have read the late eighties series or are (inspired by his recent televised and comic book appearances) collecting the back issues, and they'll notice how O'Neil is giving us a weak retread of his original story, which is one of the greatest comic series ever done. Many of the events of "Helltown" are taken straight from the comic series, and the contrast doesn't reflect well on them - O'Neil's done these ideas before, and done them much better. The only thing he does better is spend some time on Aristotle Rodor, a great character who manages to shine a bit in this book when he holds his own in conversations with the Batman and Alfred Pennyworth.

So, unless you're already in love with the character of The Question, save yourself the money for this book, and first buy Alan Moore's "Watchmen." If you love Rorschach and want to encounter a more sympathetic version of the character, relive your childhood by heading to an area comic shop (or an online shop) and begin obtaining the original O'Neil/Cowan series. You'll find a story much more ambitious, thought-out, and well executed than the disappointing affair that is "Helltown."

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Going against the tide, February 15, 2007

By 

Patrick McArdle "Grouchy old man" (Always moving) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: DC Universe: Helltown (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow.
After reading this book, I decided it was appropriate to write a positive review but then I came here and saw what other people said. The weird thing is, I kinda agree with many of the other readers' comments ... but I still think this book deserves a strong thumbs up.
The superhero novel is a strange beast, IMO, and rarely done well. A superhero like The Question in particular seems out of place here. As others have pointed out, this is, in many ways, a pretty standard adventure/mystery story and the sole "comic book" element (outside of the "guest stars," which is a strange way to describe characters in a novel...) is The Question's appearance. He doesn't have super powers or even odd gadgets like Batarangs or boxing glove arrows.
The issue becomes, I think, is this still a "comic book" novel? I suspect O'Neil's response was, "It doesn't *have* to be..." So he kept the striking appearance of the character but made it more of a quirk, more Columbo's raincoat than Captain America's shield. The end result is a book that many may buy thinking they're going to get the character from the comic book when in fact, this story is much more in line with an ongoing paperback adventure series like "The Destroyer."
As a comic book reader, I've read many of these kinds of novels and many are just awful for reasons ranging from rampant "Mary Sue-ism" to the fact that a description of Spider-Man fighting Doctor Octopus over New York City without some accompanying illustration just doesn't convey the proper spectacle. Comic books are a visual medium and I think the characters (at least the superheroes or other extreme adventure characters) just work better when they can be seen as in comic books, cartoons or film.
But "Helltown" was a good, enjoyable read. I think the open minded comic book fan will enjoy this but, even more, I think the non-fan would like this as well.
I think some of the other readers may have made some mistaken assumptions about O'Neil's approach. I think O'Neil decided to take the approach of adapting a work from one medium to another. I think he chose not to simply re-write what he had already accomplished when he wrote the comic book series but to take the basic premise and take it along parallel lines like a musician who creates a Reggae version of a Beatles song.
I think O'Neil does *not* see this as the only novel in the series and left some unanswered questions deliberately. I actually could see The Question succeed as a sort-of brainy "men's adventure" series because the character has those distinguishing quirks but not to the extreme that it might alientate the non-comic book fan.
I will admit that someone who buys the book based on the cover expecting strong participation by Batman would be disappointed. I think even those expecting a straight prose translation of O'Neil and Denys Cowan's comic book series will be disappointed.
But for the casual fan or those who can enjoy the sort of "Vertigo" re-invention of well-established characters, I think "Helltown" will prove to be a rewarding read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Waiting for a long time, but..., November 6, 2006

By 

M. Bast "mbastcinci" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DC Universe: Helltown (Mass Market Paperback)

I was a huge fan of O'Neil's 1980s Question series, and when I read he was going to do a novel a few years ago I was really excited. I expected to see some questions answered, and see a more "pure" version of what he wanted to do.
This, however, isn't quite what happened. The novel is good, and the action flows, so in that it's a decent adventure novel. However, as a novel, O'Neil had so much more room to do things with the characters, and he just didn't. He made changes, and the introducing page tells us this is a "correction" of the comic series, so I assume it IS more of his own story, but it's not as well done as the comics.
There's no more depth that any other comic novel I've seen, and this is a story that needs it. Sage has no childhood, doesn't know who he is, and his NEED for answers is what drives the comic series. That's almost absent here. His character is far more shallow here, and far less interesting. Watching him work out his life just doesn't carry anything powerful, as it did before.
It isn't just in comparison that this novel suffers, it's as a novel and piece of fiction. One of the complaints I have is that you don't find out anything about Sage's search for his roots. I know a lot of people enjoy fiction with no resolution, but I'm not one of them. Many people will tell you that's how life is, but if I want real life, I'll read non-fiction. What I want is quality fiction, and this suffers for it. It seems O'Neil thought making Sage an orphan was a good plot point, and used it to drive the character, but it becomes nothing more than convenient, and doesn't really give you a sense of the character here.
There won't be a follow-up novel, I think that's obvious, so I think that the mysteries should have been resolved here, and not doing so takes away from the book.
Overall, this is worth reading, but it does have flaws. Not the least of which is bad editing here and there (one character's name changes twice in the space of two pages, and is spelled differently both times) and there is a distinct lack of fleshing out who the people all are.