From the moment DC Comics published its Rebirth last year, the company has been building to the release of DOOMSDAY CLOCK. Now that it’s out, the clock ticks closer to midnight.
Doomsday Clock 1
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencils and Inks by Gary Frank
Colored by Brad Anderson
For more than 30 years, WATCHMEN has been a sacred cow for a certain segment of comic book fans. Despite its overwhelming success and constant reprints, it has (for the most part) remained in its own little corner of comic-dom, despite being owned by DC Comics. But that all changed last spring, when the publisher ended its 5-year NEW 52 project and kicked off its REBIRTH.
From the moment that Geoff Johns – who wrote the Rebirth issue – intimated that the darker, less hopeful version of the DC Universe we’ve been reading about lately was the in-story result of Watchmen’s all-powerful Doctor Manhattan, it kicked off the road to DOOMSDAY CLOCK, the first major story that would combine the world of Watchmen with the greater DC Universe.
If this story was in the hands of a writer other than Johns, I would be worried. But this kind of large-scale epic is right up his alley, and whatever Johns has planned for this 12-issue maxiseries, it’s going to be a slow build. In the first issue, we establish out timeline. It’s been 7 years since the end of Watchmen and the date as we’re told is November 22, 1992 – or November 23 – just days after the real-world release of SUPERMAN 75, the issue where Doomsday killed Superman.
The ending of Watchmen was meant to bring about an era of peace, as the countries of the world united after the attack Ozymandias orchestrated, but peace doesn’t last, as a commission proves that the world’s smartest man was responsible for the deaths of millions. Things break down quickly and the world is once again on the brink of annihilation, as President Robert Redford – fresh from re-election – sets toward a nuclear attack against Russia.
With the world going to hell again, it should be no surprise that Rorschach is back walking the streets, on a mission to “find God” to make everything right again. Considering Walter Kovacs was splattered across the ice at the end of Watchmen, we quickly learn this is a new Rorschach. And instead of partnering with the Nite Owl, he’s actually working for Ozymandias, operating out of Nite Owl’s old hideout. Ozymandias has pushed Rorschach to break the Marionette out of prison. She brought her husband, The Mime, along and Ozymandias – suffering from cancer – wants them to help him find Doctor Manhattan to help set the world right, but he left to find a simpler world in which to live at the end of Watchmen.
That simpler world is implied to be the DC Universe, as we flash back to the New 52 version of the death of Jonathan and Martha Kent, the parents of Superman/Clark Kent, who wakes up from the nightmare of reliving their death.
Johns and collaborator Gary Frank do a wonderful job mimicking the style of writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons to bring us back into the world they created more than 30 years ago. And Johns has created enough mysteries within the first issue to form a compelling narrative. Who is this new Rorschach and how do two crazy criminals like The Marionette and the Mime play into this little drama?
I do have faith in Geoff Johns. And I love Gary Frank’s artwork – the pair have established a great rapport working together they gel really well here. DOOMSDAY CLOCK should be an epic read and a seminal story for the company going forward.