DC Comics' hero The Question has finally returned to comics after a long absence. Since the Batman company's New 52 reboot remade their continuity in 2011, the faceless detective has been largely absent, save for a few attempts to retool the character in new incarnations that broke completely from previous versions. But the character has returned in two forms that are active simultaneously: the original and a second Question that's also a character from the new movie Birds of Prey.
The two heroes who go by the name The Question were reintroduced in the Event Leviathan miniseries by Brian Michael Bendis. Lois Lane created two detective teams to investigate the major suspects for the secret identity of a new villain. The first one contained Vic Sage, the original Question; the second, secret team, was later revealed to be headed up by the second Question, Renee Montoya.
Before Bendis's move to DC to write Action Comics and Superman, Vic Sage worked for Suicide Squad agency Task Force X and Renee was a police officer. The two have been reverted to their 2000s-era selves; for Renee, this returns years of lost character development.
The first Question, Charles Victor Szasz aka Vic Sage (no related to villain Victor Zsasz), was originally conceived in the 60s as an Objectivist vigilante who believed in objective black-and-white morality (hence the faceless mask), the character was later revamped as a martial-arts-using Zen detective who was skeptical about the very idea of heroes and villains. The character was adapted into Rorschach, the conspiracy-theorizing star of Watchmen. Rorschach, in turn, influenced future portrayals of The Question in series like the animated TV show Justice League Unlimited.
Renee Montoya was created for Batman: The Animated Series in 1992 and then brought into comics. The Gotham City police officer featured heavily in the Gotham Central comic book and later went on to date Batwoman. Her most prominent comic book story is the 2006 series 52. Renee is a friend of Vic's who, in 52, helped him on a pilgrimage to a mystical city in Asia after learning that Vic was dying of cancer and planned to die there. When Vic passed, he left his mask and title to Renee, who acted as the Question until continuity was reset.
This sudden revival of two characters as they existed in 2006-2007 is unexplained, but another DC series is delving into the phenomenon. Lois Lane, a 12-issue ongoing series from author Greg Rucka and artist Mike Perkins, stars the namesake reporter investigating multiple mysteries, ranging from real-world problems to supervillainous threats. In an early chapter, Renee and Vic discuss their own deaths in a nebulous conversation. What's clear is that Renee and Vic remember life before the Flashpoint storyline remade the multiverse; Vic even remembers his own death. The book is introducing other characters who also remember the past, setting up some sort of supernatural conspiracy revolving around them.
Readers who want more Vic Sage can follow his continued fight against Leviathan in the Checkmate series. Readers interested in Renee Montoya can see her in Bendis's Leviathan storyline, Lois Lane, and the film Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey, as well as the new series of the same name. No matter the reason in-universe for these heroes' return, the new stories being told with them make it clear that their revival is due to editors and writers who love them and want to see them have more adventures.