Each Friday, we'll be letting a different DC.com writer share what they'll be reading over the weekend and why you might want to check it out. Here's this week's suggestion for a perfect Weekend Escape!
 

You’ve got plenty of weekend getaway options at your fingertips with access to the DC Universe. You could try your luck in Gotham City or get away to Paradise Island. But why not consider taking Superman’s advice from this past summer, and look up? To get a few days away from it all in low earth orbit, we’d like to invite you to The Question: All Along the Watchtower. (Never mind the intruder alert. We’re working on it.)
 

THE PREMISE:

Former GCPD commissioner, sometimes superhero, and perennial lesbian disaster Renee Montoya is in one of the worst ruts of her life. And if you know Renee, well, that’s saying something. Fired from a pretty controversial turn as leader of the Gotham Police in favor of an evil immortal caveman, Montoya is approached by none loftier than the Trinity with a new job offer: come be a cop for superheroes as chief of security on the brand new Justice League Watchtower.

Out of everyone they could have asked in the universe, why her? That’s what she’d like to know. But she’ll have to figure it out on the job because as soon as the Watchtower is open for business, mysterious malefactors break into the base’s security systems. Who could be behind the technological and social engineering required to breach their defenses, and to what end? And what is Renee going to say when she bumps into her ex, Batwoman, who also happens to be working the same case? Answers await for the patient, persistent and clever. But in this book, it’s all about the Question.
 

LET’S TALK TALENT:

Alex Segura literally wrote the book on comic book mysteries—in fact, he wrote several. Segura’s Secret Identity and Alter Ego are a duology of mystery thrillers steeped in the intrigue of the comic book industry itself. Who better, then, to take on the Question, hot on the trail of a case in the hotbed of the DC Universe’s superhero activity? Already proving himself worthy of the pseudoderm mask with a three-part Renee Montoya story in Batman: Urban Legends, Segura shows us here how a woman like Montoya might put the pieces of her life together among the gods.

You might recognize artist Cian Tormey’s work from the award-winning Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, where he brings uncommon depths of emotion to the book’s normally stalwart protagonist. But between his experience on Injustice: Year Zero and Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods, he’s no stranger at populating an entire universe of heroes either. In other words, Tormey is a perfect scene setter for our normally quite grounded protagonist charged with corralling a world far beyond the reach of any mortal.
 

A FEW REASONS TO READ:

  • Mysteries of the DC Universe: In their exploration of the Watchtower to get to the bottom of the security breach, Segura and Tormey go deep into the lore of the DCU. Plotlines unheard of in 35 years, characters only recalled by the most passionate readers, and fan favorites for fans of any era are all a part of this mystery as it twists through rarely explored annals of DC’s history. It’s the kind of story that makes you wish we could see a dozen more cases of our Question getting deep into the weeds.
     
  • The Next Chapter: Longtime fans of Renee Montoya are offered a feast of plenty here, with a story that truly represents the next stage in development for one of the most complex characters in the DCU. Drawing from her entire history, Watchtower synthesizes everything we know about Renee and uses this new responsibility thrust upon her to continue her evolution.
  • Where Everybody Knows Your Name: The Watchtower is, historically, a neutral setting in which heroes convene before heading out to deal with an emergency elsewhere. But what The Question gives us is rare, precious glimpses into the lives in between. We explore sleeping quarters, recreation and even mundane activities like inventory and zoo maintenance. As fantastic as a space citadel of superheroes can be, it’s never felt so much like a fully realized space. We want to set a roleplaying game here.
     
  • DOOMSDOGS!: If you read Superman: House of Brainiac, you probably remember the best part of the whole event—no, not the city full of Czarnians or the Brainiac Queen, we’re talking about Brainiac’s personal hounds, synthesized with Doomsday’s DNA. We’re delighted to see that through a bonding experience with our new security officer, one of those dogs has a new future as the Watchtower’s resident Best Boy. Everybody say thank you, Crispus.


WHY IT’S WORTH YOUR TIME:

Here’s another question for you, and I don’t mean Detective Montoya. Why is the current Justice League book called Justice League Unlimited? Sure, the suggestion of an infinitely expansive cast where any of your favorite heroes can show up is there. But it’s also a very conscious harkening back to the lived-in feel of a beloved animated series that, twenty years ago, lured so many of us from the corners of Batman and Superman into a wider fascination with the DC Universe.

Told all together, The Question: All Along the Watchtower feels exactly like what could have been one of your favorite episodes of JLU, with your favorite unlikely cohorts chopping it up between missions and revealing corners of their lives you never thought you would see. So, check your Justice League ID with the Challenger at the gate and spend a weekend 22,300 miles above the Earth. But if you see a faceless woman in a cowboy hat and huge rifle slung across her back striding with purpose, rest assured that the Question is on the case.


The Question: All Along the Watchtower by Alex Segura, Cian Tormey and Romulo Fajardo Jr. is now available as a softcover graphic novel in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and digital retailers. It can also be read in full on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.

Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.