The Question: The Five Books of Blood

I’ve generally liked writer Greg Rucka’s DC Universe work, but this extension of his Renee Montoya/The Question/Religion of Crime storyline that he started in “52” didn’t really do much for me.  Five different artists illustrate the five issues collected here as Renee gets an up close and personal look at the four tenets of the Religion of Crime:  Deceit, Lust, Greed and Murder.  All of these issues put her in various compromising positions as she struggles with the temptations that are placed in front of her.  These situations play out competently enough even though they way Renee struggles/resists them will be quite familiar to anyone who has read these kinds of stories before.  

That said, the biggest issue that I have with this collection is in its ending.  The climax doesn’t give off the sense that Renee has failed in her struggles, just that the people around her are too dumb to realize that the other guy couldn’t keep his balance.  It reminds me of the circumstances surrounding Daredevil’s assumption of leadership of the Hand, and as you’ve probably guessed from my review earlier this week that’s not a good thing.  Even more problematic is the ending which implies that there’s more to the story here, but I’ve got no idea where to look for it.  Is it in Rucka’s “Final Crisis” tie-in “Revelations,” his “Question” back-up strips?  If there’s more, I’d like to see where he goes with the character but finding out if there is isn’t all that high on my list of priorities after reading this volume.