To summarize Vic's first twenty-three years of life quickly: son of a prostitute. Taken away by CPS from a home that wasn't really that bad due to getting in a bad fight with bullies. Kicked out of a home for problem children at 18. Mother's dead now. No hope left. Taken in by a university professor named Aristotle Rodor. Goes to college. Graduates. Becomes an investigative journalist.
With the sum-up out of the way, let's get onto Vic's career as the Question, and how it started. At 24, Vic was approached by his father figure and mentor, Aristotle Rodor, to help him expose Arby Twain, a scientist who, along with Rodor, designed an artificial skin-like bandage called Pseudoderm. The bandage's bonding gas, used to cement to surfaces, was lethal when exposed to open wounds. Twain, knowing of the toxicity, planned on selling it to third world countries for a large profit.
Knowing that there was no proof, and not able to sneak into Twain's warehouse to expose his crimes without revealing his own identity, Vic and Rodor decided to design a mask made of Pseudoderm to hide Vic's features.
Donning the mask, Vic took Twain and his cronies down, leaving the scientist and his goons bound in Pseudoderm in front of the police station with a flash drive containing an audio file of their confession.
After this fiasco, Vic decided his new alter ego would be handy, going out on nightly excursions to uncover things he couldn't find out as himself. One night, two years into his career as the Question,
he was bested by Lady Shiva after going after her then-employers. Shot in the head and dumped into a river, Vic survived via the 'diving reflex', and was saved by Shiva for reasons of her own and sent to train with Richard Dragon.
The training with Dragon made Vic reevaluate himself and his morals, and he attained a Zen-like philosophy during his time with Dragon. He spent a little under a year training with Dragon. Eventually, Vic returned to Hub City to continue his war on crime, but now with renewed sense of purpose and a larger endgame: put an end to corporate and political corruption in the city.
Vic's story wouldn't be complete without mention of Myra Fermin (originally Connelly) and her daughter Jackie. Myra was Vic's co-worker and lover during his time as an investigative journalist, and when Sage was busy training with Richard Dragon she was blackmailed by the corrupt mayor of Hub City into marrying him. Eventually Myra managed to leave her husband and become the mayor of Hub City herself during re-election season.
Myra, unable to care for a mentally handicapped child, had left her daughter Jackie in the care of an orphanage her entire life. Vic, with Myra's blessing, became Jackie's adoptive parent when the orphanage was closed down. During a dark time in Hub City when total societal collapse seemed imminent Vic attempted to flee the city to South America with Myra and Jackie.
Myra denied, feeling it was important she be with the city during its darkest hour due to being mayor.Vic left for South America with Jackie, retiring from his life as the Question. Jackie was kidnapped shortly after the duo settled in a Brazilian town by a child prostitution ring. Vic hunted down her kidnappers,
donning his guise of the Question once more, to save her. He ended up killing the big boss of the ring and realized that killing criminals, no matter how evil they were, wasn't what he wanted to do. He fled Brazil with Jackie, eventually settling down in Argentina.
However, Sage faced another problem when Jackie fell ill months later. Sage embarked on a long journey back to Hub City in order to hopefully find a cure for Jackie's illness, or, if failing that, reunite mother and daughter. Vic failed in both of his goals due to the hospital being overcrowded and being unable to find Myra; Jackie died without proper medical care, having never seen her mother again.
So here he was, back in Hub. He had nothing else to do, really. So why not get back to work?
The Question returned to active duty, pummeling criminals and exposing corporate and political corruption. Eventually he started going back to work as an investigative journalist. It was all he could do to keep himself from dwelling too much on what had happened and being lost to the despair.
Eventually, Vic joined the Justice League's reserve roster, primarily being the League's 'data guy' and chipping in during the really big missions that mean the world's survival. As the League's data guy, he digs into various government owned databases; this constant digging into the deepest darkest secrets of the world has led him to become increasingly paranoid and a bit of a conspiracy nut. But, most of the time, he's busy stalking the streets of Hub City. Some might think he's an urban myth, but criminals know better, especially when they hear the soft singing of 'Danny Boy' followed by the entry of a faceless man...