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Renee Montoya Reading Order

Harley Quinn may be the most famous character created for Batman: The Animated Series to join the main line of DC Comics, but she was not the only one. Created in 1992 by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Mitch Brian for the same show, Renee Montoya first appeared as a uniformed officer partnered with Harvey Bullock. 

Renee Montoya made her comics debut in Batman #475. She was introduced to readers as Commissioner Gordon’s new assistant. She was later promoted to homicide detective and became Bullock’s partner. At that point, she had become one of the most notable recurring members of the GCPD, appearing in major story arcs, often in relation to Two-Face. 

In the Gotham Central comics, by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, Renee Montoya took a turn when she was forcibly outed as a lesbian and framed for murder. This had an impact on her career and personal life. Her following struggles led her to resign. But this was not the end of her career fighting crime. She would eventually find herself on a quest that put her under the mask of The Question. 

Through the years, she became professionally and romantically involved with Batwoman, teamed up with other crime fighters, but eventually, as DC Comics underwent relaunches, she was put aside before returning as a cop and later as The Question. In recent years, she rejoined the GCPD and became commissioner, but then joined the Justice League… 

Renee Montoya Comics Reading Order

Renee Montoya appeared in a lot of comics, but mostly as a supporting character, like most of the GCPD cops or secondary crime fighters. She crossed Batman’s path many times and was in the background during epic team-ups, but her status in the DC Universe evolved through the years. This guide is an attempt to retrace her long career, from one era to the next.

Renee Montoya: The Essential Comics

Before jumping into it, here are the essential comics to read (co-)starring Renee Montoya.

  • Gotham Central Omnibus – Ask anybody, Gotham Central is a must-read, period. It’s also the books that made Renee Montoya more than another GCPD cop.
  • 52 Omnibus – It’s an epic with a lot of characters, but the one with Renee and Vic Sage is great and brought the character to a new level. 
  • The Question: Five Books of Blood – Renee Montoya became The Question, and this is the story you need to read if you want to know what she’s about.
  • The Question: All Along the Watchtower – Recently, a lot changed for Renee Montoya, so this is the book to read to be up-to-date.
Commissioner Gordon, Renee Montoya, and Harvey Bullock – GCPD’s Finest

Renee Montoya: The Early Years

During this first era of Renee Montoya’s story, she’s only played a small part in Batman’s adventures. She’s part of the recurring cast, sometimes only appearing in no more than a few panels in some comics. Those can be considered optional if you are not interested in Batman. Jump to Gotham Central to read her most significant story.

Unlike Harley Quinn, who made a notable entry into the world of comics, Renee Montoya’s transition from the screen to the page didn’t give her an upstart. She was a secondary character who appeared in the pages of Batman and Detective Comics for a while.

Introduced in Batman #475, Montoya was at first Commissioner Gordon’s assistant and only appeared next to him in a handful of panels in subsequent comics. 

In Detective Comics #644, she was assigned to the Major Crimes Unit and partnered with Harvey Bullock, but this didn’t lead to more appearances than before. The duo’s working relationship developed bit by bit that way, a few panels here and there as DC Comics entered the Knightfall era. If you only read the Detective Comics issues, you’ll not miss a lot concerning Montoya.

While the Gotham City cops are usually confined to being barely supporting characters in the main Batman and Detective Comics series, the Batman: GCPD 4-issue limited series put them front and center, with Renee Montoya and Harvey Bullock right in the heart of the story.

For a while, Chuck Dixon was the main writer on Detective Comics and barely did anything with Montoya and Bullock. Which leads us to the No Man’s Land crossover event. After the events of Cataclysm, Gotham is in ruins, barely recovering from an earthquake. Gordon, Montoya, Bullock, and a few more cops stayed behind to try to help. That’s when Greg Rucka wrote what will become the foundation of his Montoya/Dent saga:

In Batman Chronicles #13 & 14, and importantly in Batman Chronicles #16, Montoya looks for her missing brother, Benny, and finds him with Two-Face. The story continues in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #119, then Batman: Shadow of the Bat #87, Detective Comics #735, Batman #572, and Detective Comics #739. All these issues are collected in the No Man’s Land books:

  • Batman: No Man’s Land Omnibus Vol. 1
    Collects Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #116-121, Azrael: Agent of the Bat #51-57, Batman #563-568, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83-88, Detective Comics #730-735, Catwoman #72-74, Robin #67, The Batman Chronicles #16-17, Nightwing #35-37, Batman: No Man’s Land (Collector’s) #1, Batman: No Man’s Land Gallery #1, and Young Justice In No Man’s Land #1.
  • Batman: No Man’s Land Omnibus Vol. 2
    Collects Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #122-126; Azrael: Agent of the Bat #58-61; Batman #569-574; Batman: Shadow of the Bat#89-94; Detective Comics #736-741; Catwoman #75-77; Robin #68-73; The Batman Chronicles #18; Nightwing #38-39; Batman No Man’s Land #0; and Batman: No Man’s Land Secret Files #1.

Greg Rucka has become the new writer on Detective Comics and introduced Crispus Allen, newly arrived from Metropolis, who becomes Renee Montoya’s new partner. But issue #747 is the one to read, it’s Renee’s 29th Birthday.

Then, Gordon got shot. Montoya, Allen, and more are on the case…

Renee Montoya Vs. Two-Face in Gotham Central

Gotham Central

Gotham Central is a police procedural series written primarily by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker, with art by Michael Lark. Set in Gotham City, the series shifts the focus away from Batman and places it on the officers and detectives of the Gotham City Police Department, particularly those assigned to the Major Crimes Unit.

It’s a major series for Renee Montoya as she’s one of the main characters. It contains Two-Face’s comeback in her life, and he decides to take everything away from her, publicly outing her as a lesbian and framing her for murder.

Renee Montoya: Becoming The Question

Following the events of Gotham Central, Renee Montoya’s life is a wreck. Having resigned from the GCPD, she struggles with alcoholism, isolation, and a profound sense of moral exhaustion. We reconnect with her in the weekly series 52, where she encounters Vic Sage, the original Question. Sage took her under his wing, helping her find a new purpose, becoming a mentor of sorts as he challenges her to prepare her to take on the mantle of the Question

Montoya next appeared in Countdown #40, responding to Oracle’s request to help in tracking two suspects, which she does with Batwoman. She reteamed with the Birds of Prey in Gotham Underground #2.

A follow-up to 52, The Question: Five Books of Blood is the first (5-issue limited) solo series starring Renee Montoya as The Question, and it’s written by Greg Rucka. She’s looking into the mythic Crime Bible.

During the Final Crisis event by Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka wrote the tie-in miniseries Final Crisis: Revelations, in which Renee Montoya reconnects with deceased Crispus Allen, who had recently become the Spectre. After that, she appears in later issues of the main event.

  • Final Crisis: Revelations
    Collects Final Crisis: Revelations #1-5.
  • Final Crisis
    Collects DC Universe #0, Final Crisis #1-7, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1-2, Final Crisis: Submit #1, Batman #682-683.

When in charge of the main feature of Detective Comics, Greg Rucka, with artist JH Williams III, told the adventure of Batwoman and explored her relationship with Renee Montoya. She’s only appeared in what would be qualified as a guest-starring role in issues #859-860, collected in Batwoman by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III. Greg Rucka also wrote (with art by Cully Hamner) the ongoing backup feature that was published in Detective Comics. In it, Renee and Huntress investigate a gun-running scheme that threatens Gotham City.

Then, Batman asked The Question’s assistance in Detective Comics Annual #11, which is part of the Azrael: Death’s Dark Knight storyline. This is the issue in which Bullock discovered Renee is behind The Question’s mask.

During the Blackest Night event, Vic Sage came back to life and attacked Renee and Lady Shiva in The Question #37, collected in Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns.

Following the establishment of Batman, Inc. by Bruce Wayne (see Grant Morrison’s Batman), Batman sent Renee to France to infiltrate a cult, a two-part story published in Detective Comics Annual #12 & Batman Annual #28 that were reprinted in Batman: Gates of Gotham.

Renee Montoya as The Question (Convergence)

Renee Montoya: Rebooted

In 2011, when DC Comics launched its New 52 initiative, Renee Montoya was mostly removed from continuity for several years. She does not appear until late in the era, and not as the Question. She finally resurfaced in Detective Comics (vol. 2) #41-45, as Harvey Bullock’s new partner in the Batman Task Force, after working for five years in Blüdhaven.

Greg Rucka and Cully Hamner came back to write a new Renee Montoya/The Question story during the out-of-continuity event Convergence. It’s a simple 2-issue comic reconnecting with the pre-New 52 status quo. 

The Rebirth Era: From Cop to Question to Commissioner Montoya 

During the DC Rebirth era, Renee Montoya was reintroduced as a GCPD detective who had a shared past with Kate Kane and knew she was Batwoman. Most of her character developments were forgotten, though. She made her first appearance in Detective Comics #936, then came back in issues #943 and #944 (collected in Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 2: The Victim Syndicate), then in #952 and #953 (collected in Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 3: League of Shadows). She didn’t do much in those, but her appearance in Batwoman #17-18 was more important in terms of the character’s evolution, as Renee and Kate started a romantic relationship.

The couple came back in Black Mask: Year of the Villain #1. And then, because Renee Montoya appeared in the movie Birds of Prey, she is teamed with Harley Quinn for a short Christmas story in the holiday special one-shot New Year’s Evil #1.

Renee Montoya is back at being The Question with the Lois Lane series by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins, and played a minor part in the Event Leviathan (read the event between Lois Lane #5 and #6).

We are at the point when Renee Montoya got a promotion. It’s in the short story “Survivor’s Guilt” in Batman: Urban Legends #21 that she becomes the GCPD commissioner. It’s collected in Batman: Urban Legends Vol. 6. This story takes place between two pages in The Next Batman: The Second Son #1.

The Infinite Frontier Era: Commissioner Montoya 

The Infinite Frontier didn’t introduce notable changes to Renee Montoya’s story. We can see her in Batman (vol. 3) #107, confirming that she just recently took up the job of commissioner. As usual, it’s not much. Mostly a few panels in only 3 issues in the storyline.

She’s also back as The Question in the very short story “Try the Girl” by Vita Ayala and Skyla Patridge from DC Pride (2021) #1. But this didn’t seem to be a regular thing at the time. She just kept on doing her job (as a supporting character) as Gotham went through another crisis, the Fear State crossover event.

  • Batman: Fear State Saga
    Collects Batman #112-117; Batman Secret Files: The Gardener #1; Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper #1; Batman Secret Files: Miracle Molly #1; Batman: Fear State: Alpha #1; Batman: Fear State: Omega #1.

Renee Montoya made minor appearances in the “I Am Batman” comics (continuation of “The Next Batman” series), but issues #11-14 are notable as she’s back at being The Question again. 

Commissioner Renee Montoya was the headliner of the 6-issue miniseries GCPD: The Blue Wall by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. Renee must face challenges coming with her ambition to rebuild her department. 

Renee Montoya keeps appearing as a minor supporting character in issues of Batman, Batgirls, Nightwing, and others. The story to read at that point is a one-shot connected to the Lazarus Planet event that introduces the Dawn of DC initiative, in which she is the Question and goes after magic characters.

The Dawn of DC Era 

At that time, Renee was a recurring character in Ram V’s epic story in Detective Comics. This starts slowly for her, but her place in the story becomes more important at some point.

During that period, DC Comics published several of its holiday anthology comics, including short stories featuring Renee Montoya.

The DC All In Era: The Question in the Big League

Once again, DC Comics launched a new publishing initiative, DC All In. This time, Renee Montoya is joining (like everybody else) the Justice League as she was fired from her job as commissioner of the GCPD. And she even got a miniseries in which, as the Question, she is now in charge of the security at the Justice League’s Watchtower (as you can see in Justice League Unlimited #3). But then, there’s a murder mystery to solve.

Cheetah and Cheshire planned to rob the Justice League, so they inevitably (in the second half of the miniseries) ran into The Question in Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League.

The story continues…

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Let us know in the comments!

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