This is "Foundationed Deep," a feature where we look at particular odd/strange/interesting instances of retroactively connecting different comic book characters (for instance, Uncanny X-Men #268 retroactively established that Wolverine knew both Captain America and the Black Widow from World War II).

Today, we look at the revelation that Vic Sage (the Question) and Lois Lane went to school together.

To recap, Vic Sage was Steve Ditko's alter-ego for The Question. Both Sage and the Question debuted in Blue Beetle #1 in 1967.

TV reporter Victor Sage would go on TV, rail against someone he had a problem with and then he would go out, turn into the Question, and kick some ass...

When Denny O'Neil revamped the Question in 1986, he revealed that Vic Sage was a pseudonym for Charlie Victor Szasz.

In The Question Annual #2, O'Neil establishes that Szasz changed his name when he got into TV news...

In 2005's The Question miniseries (by Rick Veitch and Tommy Lee Edwards), Vic Sage comes to Metropolis to cover a story.

Everyone on the train is intrigued by the fact that Lois Lane is at the Metropolis station waiting for the train to come in so that she can greet Vic. He apparently went to school with her...

Vic must have been using the name "Vic Sage" a little bit back in college, because that's how Lois knows him. She downplays how well they know each other to Jimmy, though...

Vic, though, ditches them.

They never actually meet during the series, but the Question does overhear them talking about him and laughing at how he kept writing poetry for Lois so she put him in charge of poetry...

In the end, he leaves her a key to a locker with a bunch of evidence for a big story. But they don't see each other.

As his train pulls away, though, we can see that Lois looms large in Vic's mind. He probably does have a major crush on her, but she, of course, was already married to Clark Kent by this point in time...

What an interesting and unusual pairing.

If anyone else has a suggestion for Foundationed Deep, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!