The Question: All Along The Watchtower has shown the cracks in the Justice League’s plan, and it’s up to Renee Montoya and her unexpected team to keep the Watchtower and the League from imploding. That grows even more complicated when The Eradicator shows up and doubts about Montoya’s ex Batwoman start to creep in, making an already strenuous task that much more challenging. ComicBook had the chance to speak to series writer Alex Segura all about Renee’s new team, the unexpected reunion with Batwoman, and where the Trinity fits into the big mystery, and all the clues are there for fans.
Renee has had a rough go of it over the past few months, with a job she seem to destined for crumbling around her in Gotham. That led to a new opportunity though with the League, and that was a fascinating set of circumstances to explore for Segura.
“Yeah, my approach was that Renee was at a crossroads. She had really hit a low in terms of her professional career. She just left the job. She thought that would be hers for a while as commissioner of Gotham City, but you know, sometimes at your lowest is when opportunity arises and she was presented with something by the Trinity no less, to come onto the Watchtower and help them solve a problem,” Segura said. “So when people like Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman tell you, hey, we can’t figure this out, but we think you can help us, that’s a big enticement to get back in the game. And I think one of the unique blessings, I guess, of this opportunity is that I’d had the chance to write a few Renee stories leading up to this.”
“I think the scene change is great for Renee because it also shows you the flexibility of a noir story, a detective story or a noir story with a complicated, sometimes troubled protagonists can exist in any genre. It doesn’t have to be the streets of Gotham City. It can be literally outer space. It can be a sci fi setting, and so there’s a lot of that there. It’s a very traditional PI story in some ways, but it’s also a little bit of a contrarian kind of story because I tell Paul and Jillian, my editors, this often. It’s really a love letter to the DC universe. There’s a lot of fun Easter eggs. As you get further into the series, you’re going to see a lot of interesting nods to different characters and an unexpected mythos that you wouldn’t automatically tie Renee into, but it works, I think. And, you know, Cian Tormey is really just a dream,” Segura said. “He handles all the little character moments so well, and he knows how to deliver the action as well. So it’s, he makes my job easy.”
There’s a style and dare I say swag to Tormey and Romulo Fajardo Jr.’s take on The Question, embodying a bit of the old west with the overall look and tone. When combined with noir and science fiction elements, it creates a truly unique PI story that feels steeped in Renee’s own history.
“I think one of the things he’s great at is, he’s got really dynamic storytelling, a clean line, but he doesn’t shy away from the use of shadow and those elements. So I think he’s the perfect guy because he can do the big superhero action but then really pull you into the character stuff,” Segura said.
“And he really gets that each character is different, not just in terms of how they talk, but how they look and how they move. And so you can see it in Renee’s interactions with Kate. You can see it in her interactions with someone like Blue Beetle. Just the body language that Cian uses for Ted and Jaime and Buddy Baker, and this kind of really ragtag team that has been thrust into Renee’s hands has been really been a joy to see Cian bring to life,” Segura said.
Having Kate be not just on the Watchtower but part of Renee’s team has complicated things further, especially as her ties to the death on the Watchtower become more blurred. For Segura, the opportunity to explore the dynamic between these two amid this sort of high stakes situation was just too good to pass up.
“Yeah, I mean Renee isolates and that’s her problem, and sometimes it can be a strength because she can hyper focus and do the things she needs to do. But oftentimes she cuts herself off from the people she cares about. Whether it’s her partners at the Gotham PD or her staff or it’s Kate or it’s the original Question,” Segura said. “I think that’s something that will play out further in the series, but I think the strength of writing superhero comics or DC Comics is that context, that texture of history that you have, and Batwoman and The Question have a really complex history that I think it would have been foolish to not play on it in some way and have them interact.”
“Even if it’s not like, oh, they’re going to have romance or oh, big fireworks are going to go off,” Segura said. “But when you’re interacting with someone you’ve known a long time and you’re in a different role, they still know you as the person they’ve known all this time. So they can provide you with a perspective that you won’t even have in the moment. She has no real meaningful history with like Buddy Baker or the Blue Beetles. Like she knows them, but Kate is someone she’s known a long time who knows her very well and can kind of call her on her stuff when she goes off the lane.”
In the second issue The Eradicator jumps into the fray, and if that wasn’t bad enough, he’s pick up a Lantern Ring to amplify his powers. While his sheer presence alone demands attention, it’s the ties to the greater mystery and power figures behind all this that is really worth keying into, and Segura teased that all the clues to that mystery are present and accounted for, you just have to find them.
“Yes. I will say the clues are all on the table. I don’t believe in mysteries that shortchange you in, and by that I mean I don’t believe in mysteries that you get to the end and you’re like, oh, it was the butler that showed up in chapter two for a page and disappeared,” Segura said. “All the clues are meaningful clues. Some are red herrings. Some are clearly meant to derail you, but the Eradicator is a pretty big clue, and so I think if you take that into account and kind of look at the bigger picture, hopefully you’ll be pleased by the reveal of who’s actually behind this and more importantly, why.”
As for the Trinity, there’s a larger plan for them too, but it won’t necessarily be the news Renee wants to hear. “Where did the Trinity fit in? There is a point later on in the series where we hit that beat with more power and we kind of explain why the Trinity can’t interact with this moment,” Segura said. “And I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s definitely a turning point where Renee has to realize, like, okay, I’m in this alone. Like, it’s me and my crew, and we have to save the Watchtower.”
The Question: All Along The Watchtower #2 is in comic stores now, and issue #3 hits stores on January 15th.
What have you thought of the series so far? You can talk all things comics and The Question with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
The Question: All Along The Watchtower has shown the cracks in the Justice League’s plan, and it’s up to Renee Montoya and her unexpected team to keep the Watchtower and the League from imploding. That grows even more complicated when The Eradicator shows up and doubts about Montoya’s ex Batwoman start to creep in, making Read More