When Alex Segura’s The Question: All Along the Watchtower roots its sci-fi in the crime noir genre in which we also find many of his novels, the book shines, giving Deep Space Nine “Casablanca in space” vibes that I’d love to see developed into a whole series. But when that gives way to a standard superhero plot, Segura’s book struggles mightily.

For a whodunit, the revelation of the villain is not as surprising as it needs to be nor are the reasons very interesting. Moreover, Segura hand-waves a key change to the villain’s power, which feels far less narratively strong than it could have been, besides “cheating” in the “solve it yourself” aspect of the book. Rightly or wrongly, Question also isn’t written for the trade, and so there’s plenty repetition here that slows the story overall.

John Ridley’s recent GCPD: The Blue Wall miniseries was considerably dark and treated Renee Montoya roughly. I left that book wishing it might have been more redemptive, but on the other hand, Segura’s Question Renee Montoya is perpetually on her back foot, having gained the esteem of her fellow heroes but going on at length about how she doesn’t feel she deserves it. I imagine this is Segura’s take on Renee’s hard-luck aesthetic, but comparing Segura, Ridley, and Greg Rucka writing Renee in Gotham Central, there’s a performative, “telling over showing” component of Segura’s presentation of Renee that I didn’t find as effective.

Segura’s superhero cameos, as drawn by Cian Tormey, are on point, fulfilling the potential of the Justice League Unlimited concept. Again, I’d read a DS9-esque Justice League Watchtower series forever, between the Menagerie, the armory, Nightshade’s nightclub, and so on. But quite unfortunately, All Along the Watchtower is a dim start to that, far from what it needs to be.

[Review contains spoilers]

Question turns heavily on the events of Segura’s three-part story from Batman: Brave and the Bold #15–17 — even so much as to drop in a character from that story halfway through that otherwise many readers might have thought was dead. DC really ought have included it here; it’s another 36 pages for a story that has ties to some other books, too, so that inclusion would have saved the reader at least a little cross-referencing, if DC considers that a bug and not a feature. Also, not that collections releases necessarily hew to reading order — striking when the iron is hot and all that — but the Question collection came out in August 2025 and the relevant Brave and the Bold volume won’t be out until January 2026, so it’s particularly inconvenient for trade-waiters to unsnarl some of this.

Again, Question is best in its beginning issues — a Sam Spade intro, Renee with a giant Absolute Universe-esque gun, a tour of the station Watchtower, Conduit(!), and, of course, a near-murder. That’s all the right pieces for the kind of story I’m looking for, and Segura doubles down in the second issue — friends become suspects, Renee seeks information in the Watchtower bar, and then Segura brings in the Eradicator. Mystery? Check. Appearances by Superman Triangle Titles-era villains? Check. Question is on its way.

With Conduit and the Eradicator, emphasis on the Phantom Zone, and weird mechanical glitches on the Watchtower, it seems fairly obvious the Cyborg Superman is to blame (we saw him just recently, and indeed the story spins out of, Mark Waid’s Action Comics: Phantoms). That heroes are being mind-controlled is the only piece that doesn’t fit, so … Cyborg Superman and Despero, maybe? But no, the culprit is just the Cyborg Superman, whose barely explained ability to manifest himself outside the Phantom Zone also brought with it a barely explained ability to control minds; these inexplicable abilities are also, inexplicably, killing him. With that much grafting of facts, Segura’s culprit could have been anyone — as easily Cyborg Superman with mind control powers as Gorilla Grodd with tactile telekinesis.

There’s a multitude of red herrings, too, that make the Cyborg’s scheme far more complicated than necessary. Injuring Challenger of the Unknown Kenn Kawa, what started this all, was a feint so the heroes would believe Kawa¹ when he said the target was the League’s Atom Project, and saying the target was the Atom Project was also a feint so the heroes would be looking for the culprit “inside” the Watchtower instead of outside. And what that even means is unclear since the Cyborg was also “inside” the Watchtower, within the Watchtower-based Phantom Zone. All of that, just for the simple purpose of blowing up the headquarters.

Question feels overwritten to me beyond just the scheme — between recaps and Renee’s constant monologue, there are blue narration boxes everywhere. That Segura has Renee doubting herself seems fine in the beginning — the noirish “I’ve never been a good sleeper” and so on. But by the time we get to Renee and Batwoman imprisoned in the Menagerie, Renee’s for some reason blaming herself for the Cyborg’s escape (via, I think, the Phantom Zone gun that the League issued to her), and that feels too self-pitying. The attraction of a character like Renee is that she’s personally a mess but good at her job, and that’s the balance I don’t think Segura strikes. More than once Segura builds suspense through Renee’s controversial actions — using the memory of Animal Man Buddy Baker’s son against him, beating up the Eradicator during an interrogation — but there’s never any consequence to this to make the suspense pay off.

Again, I did appreciate Alex Segura’s use of all the Justice League Watchtower setting offers: Tawky Tawny, the Seven Soldiers' Bulleteer, Red Star — I spotted Argus Nick Kelly and the Heckler! Segura’s The Question: All Along the Watchtower certainly builds the world of the Justice League Watchtower, but it doesn’t quite live up to its potential, nor can it stand with Question volumes like Jeff Lemire’s Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage or Greg Rucka’s Question: The Five Books of Blood. Hopefully there’s a next time; hopefully it’s better.

[Includes original and variant covers]