2 out of 5

Fucking crossovers.  So, sometimes, in the midst of these Big Two multi-title nonsenses, some peripheral book will drop that would never have gotten a shot in the publication schedule.  Sometimes these can even be the breakouts of crossover season and go on to ongoing titles, which are generally pretty fun until they inevitably get swooped up by another crossover and lose their charm or the momentum simply peters out and cancellation beckons.  But in both cases, you can say that’s one of the potential boons of these craps.  Often, though, you get a bunch of bullshit by good writers and artists that feels like it wouldn’t be bullshit if it didn’t have to worry about being a crossover.  Enter: The Question.  As part of DC’s continual starting over, Renee Montoya as The Question popped up first in (I think) 52, as scripted – at least in part – by Rucka, since he did much for the character in his DC history, and then her story continued in various Rucka forms in The Crime Bible grotesquierie and Detective Comics.  Now we have ‘Convergence,’ or Crisis, part 1000.  And Convergence is dropping a smattering of 2 issue mini-series that promise glimpses of DC worlds and characters from over the eras, generally by their most-associated writers.  It’s an opportunity for that peripheral book boon.  While the idea is a little bit different from what I imagined, if other Convergence titles are like ‘Question’: it seems that characters have been plucked from their worlds and isolated in landscapes that mimic moments from their history, as opposed to just telling tales that take place in those particular settings, but whatever.  Rucka and Cully Hamner did a nice two-fisted take on crime-fighting Question with Huntress at her side as a back-up in Detective Comics, and this book seems to follow suit.  Hamner’s style has stream-lined immensely over the years, but despite the simplicity of the construction of his panels, he’s got great pacing and characterization, so the pages flow well.  And Greg knows these characters, so their voices work.  And then on page whatever, the story gets hi-jacked by a fucking Convergence overlord voice from off-panel saying ‘Citizens of my world!  I have brought this convergence upon you…’ blah blah blah seriously.  Off-panel announcer, explaining the purpose of the crossover.  The story litterally just fucking puts the breaks on at this point and everyone starts saying ridiculous things to advance the Convergence agenda instead of the Montoya / Harvey Dent character drama Greg was toiling upon in the preceding pages.  The book goes from fun to dumb.

Fucking crossovers.