The penultimate issue of Geoff Johns’ homage to the celebrated WATCHMEN comic answers some questions and sets up what should be an explosive final issue.

Doomsday Clock 11
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencils and Inks by Gary Frank
Colors by Brad Anderson

I can’t wait to read this series in a collected edition, with the ridiculous delays behind us. It’s been three months since the LAST ISSUE came out, and I feel like I need a refresher course on what’s already happened when I open up a new issue.

Especially as DOOMSDAY CLOCK comes down to its final act. Johns is starting to tie everything together to reveal just how much everyone in the DC Universe has been manipulated by Ozymandias since he fled his own world on the brink of nuclear war. Adrian Veidt’s plan is a bit dense on the details, but for a man who was at one point considered a savior, only to see the peace he created crumble because of his own hubris, it’s probably a safe bet that he’d go a bit insane. Crazy enough, even, to flee to a different Earth and try and get it to destroy itself, too.

After hinting at and building towards a confrontation between Dr. Manhattan and Superman since the beginning of the story, I would have expected some punches to have been thrown by this point in the series. But I guess Johns is saving everything for that final issue – whenever that may get released is anyone’s guess. Instead, all we get is for Dr. Manhattan and Superman sharing a panel, getting ready to deal with all that’s happened.

The last two ISSUES of Doomsday Clock have been great, and they kept me interested in the story despite falling away from a monthly schedule. But after those, this issue felt like a bit of a letdown. I suppose it’s the calm before the storm, but I’m really hoping Johns can stick the landing with the final chapter.