Reviewed by Adam Ford

One of the things Steve Ditko is most known for, besides the creation of so many enduring superhero characters (Spider-Man, The Creeper, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Doctor Strange...) is his determination to inject a sense of morality into the stories he tells. You can see it in the work he's most famous for: his early Spider-Man, with the "with great power comes great responsibility" philosophy being a strong aspect of the whole concept. But it becomes even more evident in his later work, when he was given the opportunity to write his own scripts without collaboration. A prime example of the way Ditko used comics to introduce his theories of morality is the first issue of MYSTERIOUS SUSPENSE, which features The Question in his first full-length non-backup story.

As superhero books go, this is an unconventional creature, focussing more on the issues at stake in the life of The Question's alter ego, newscaster Vic Sage, than on the activities of the superhero himself. In fact, to break it down panel-by-panel, over the entire 26-page book the Question appears on less than twenty panels. As such, this is not so much a fast-moving action story as it is a dialogue-heavy morality play. The theatrical metaphor is rather appropriate, with Ditko having broken the story down into three "acts," each introduced with a question designed to provoke contemplation and face the reader in the right direction to see the answers that this tale provides: "What is the greatest battle a man can fight?", "What makes a hero?" and "Why does a man fight?"

The answers to these questions are all tied in together as we read about Vic Sage who, in his identity as The Question, witnesses a questionable meeting between a respected businessman and a known gangster. When the businessman approaches Vic about sponsoring his news program, Vic refuses because of what he has seen. This lands him in all sorts of trouble as the businessman begins a smear campaign against Vic and uses his connections within the television station to bring other pressure to bear against our hero, hoping that he will back down or at the least be publicly humiliated. Vic stands firm against this assault, assured of the rightness of his decisions and prepared to accept the negative consequences of his actions. What is most important to him is not being popular, or even keeping his job. What is most important to him is acting on his beliefs to the letter. He won't even accept the help of his friends until he is sure that they are helping him because of their own beliefs and not because of any sympathetic or charitable impulses: "If I ever suspected blind obedience in any of you, I'd have fired him! No one here owes me anything!"

This dogged individualism that sets Vic up as the maligned hero of the story is a good example of the philosophical standpoint Ditko became notorious for. In his later work, many comparisons have been made with the work of American novelist Ayn Rand, whose books hammered home the message that a person should only do things for themselves and by themselves, regardless of how their actions affect others. This is a rather conservative and somewhat out-of-date philosophy and as such, Vic Sage tends to come across as some kind of stick-up-his-arse fascist, even though he's on the side of the good-guys.

Of course, being a simple morality tale and a superhero comic, Sage triumphs in the end, with the gangster dying in a shoot-out, the businessman being arrested and the mole in the television station frightened and alone (even though he takes the lion's share of the credit for the way things turned out so well). At the end of the story Ditko re-states the message he's had all his characters mouthing the whole way through, just in case we haven't got it yet: "When does a man achieve victory? When after he has honestly applied himself to the task facing him and having overcome it, is secure in the knowledge that whatever he has accomplished, the fruits of that goal belong to him! He will know... no one else matters!"

In the end this continual pontificating and posturing for the sake of Ditko's philosophies is a little wearying, though fascinating nonetheless. It gets in the way of any actual story-telling and renders the characters presented as wooden puppets with all the personality of a sit-com cast working their way toward the final five minutes of the show, when the music gets all serious and we learn the lesson for today. The story is text-heavy and strangely lettered, with almost square speech balloons sometimes taking up half of the panel. This doesn't mix well with the somewhat static artwork, especially the scenes where Vic is delivering a monologue while standing rigidly in front of those he's lecturing, arms held tightly by his sides. Even the device whereby the villains of the story are drawn as much uglier (fat faces, squinty eyes) than the heroes (dapper suits, square jawlines) is a little too obvious. That's not to say that MYSTERIOUS SUSPENSE #1 should be dismissed, however. While it may not be a particularly well-done superhero comic, or even a well-written story, there's no doubt that it's a culturally fascinating artifact that's well worth a look.

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Adam Ford is based in Melbourne, Australia. He currently works as a freelance editor and is writing his debut novel, "Man Bites Dog" (due for release in early 2002). He is the editor of "Going Down Swinging" and "Overland Express" (www.overlandexpress.org), two locally-based literary magazines.