Doomsday Clock

[The Laughing Fish]

Has anybody kept up to date with the Watchmen sequel, and its impact it's having on the DC universe? So far, I'm enjoying it much more than I expected.
SPOILERS below in the blockquote below.

I'm fascinated how we see the fallout once the alien squid hoax is exposed, as it was alluded that it would be at the end of Alan Moore's comic, and the planet in the Watchmen world eventually erupts in nuclear war. Despite this, Ozymandias still has a delusion in his aspirations to save his world, as well as the DC world, while in pursuit of trying to get Doctor Manhattan's help. More so, how he encounters Batman and denounces him and the DC heroes for their ideals in handling crime, as he finds them compromising their world's safety and neglecting the real issues plaguing it. Judging from where he came from, it's hard to dismiss Ozymandias, despite how horrendous his original plan was, because of the cruel world he comes from where simplistic morality can't prevail, and a planet that either corrupts people past the point of insanity, or in Doctor Manhattan's case, leave him completely dehumanised. As you can see with the original Rorschach in Watchmen, or the backstories you see with the new characters Marionette and Mime, who were victims of severe bullying or police extortion. To me, it brings to mind what Zack Snyder was trying to say when he mentioned Batman wouldn't cope in the Watchmen world, because it is such an uncompromising and harsh environment compared to the mainstream DC continuity, where characters can overcome any sort of deconstruction and prevail with some sense of hope.

Geoff Johns uses the the fact that vast majority of comic book characters being American and uses it as a plot point with the Supermen Theory - a conspiracy theory that alleges all the metahumans were experiments by the US government, with some speculating they were created to be biological weapons or government agents. It might be a little bit similar to the Mutant mythos of the X-Men, but I quite like it here because I haven't seen the political ramifications affecting the DC characters of this magnitude before, maybe since Kingdom Come. It's definitely affecting Batman's reputation, as the people of Gotham City have now lost all trust in him and they protest for his capture. It's a realistic analysis how such fear mongering could cause such panic and doubt, to the point Black Adam breaks international law and offers asylum for all the metahumans, though this only fuels speculation among the media whether or not if he's trying to start an army against the human race. As you can tell, the tension is rising quite a bit. I only hope Lex isn't lying when he says to Lois the Supermen Theory was created by a former Justice League member serving the government. It would be quite a fresh take, I reckon.

When Doctor Manhattan was hinted at in the DC Rebirth special a couple of years ago, and Batman/The Flash: The Button storyline I read recently, I thought that he may have been responsible for creating  the DC universe. But that doesn't appear to be the case, as it turns out he escaped to another reality to get away from the doomed Watchmen world, but interfered with the DC reality that may have indirectly lead to the current crisis at hand. I'm anxious to see how his alluded conflict with Superman will occur, whether or not it results in changing the timeline again or if Superman kills him. The fact that Doctor Manhattan can't see the future like he normally does is suspenseful enough as it is, so I hope the conclusion is a satisfying one. Speaking of Superman, I do hope he features a lot more in Doomsday Clock long before his confrontation with Doctor Manhattan. So far, the story has been fairly Batman/Gotham City-centric on the DC side of things.

Spare a thought for Reggie Long, the son of Rorschach's prison doctor, and Rorschach's successor. Despite how deranged he had become, he had been misled to see good in everybody, such as Ozymandias lied to him about having cancer, and being lied by Byron Lewis about Walter Kovacs becoming a friend to his father. Byron may have had good intentions to help a traumatised Reggie suffering from the horrors inflicted by Ozymandias's alien squid that also took his parents' lives, but ultimately, it had done more harm than good. Reggie appeared to adopt the Rorchach persona, even copying his fractured speech pattern, as a way to pay tribute to somebody he thought was his father's friend. But judging by the end of Chapter 7 and he abandons the mask, Ozymandias revealing his latest hoax may have indirectly saved Reggie from losing himself into Rorschach's dehumanised character. We'll wait and see.

I got to say, Gary Frank's creepy art does serve the tone of the story quite well here. But I wish that every character who smiles would stop looking like they've seen a ghost. I do like his art, but that's one little detail that annoys me. Plus, it's refreshing to see Clark Kent/Superman doesn't have a strong Christopher Reeve resemblance for once.

Patiently waiting to read Chapter 8 and beyond.

[The Laughing Fish]

I finished reading this awhile ago.

After my enthusiastic review of everything towards Chapter 8, Doomsday Clock's conclusion was rather ordinary. I was hoping for something more innovative rather than Superman inspiring Doctor Manhattan to regain hope in life and restore and recreate the multiverse. I thought it was a rather predictable ending. I wasn't a huge fan of Martin Stein implicated into the Supermen Theory either.

Meh, after all that hype, it turned out to be a cliche. This was an excuse to restore and rewrite DC continuity, such Superboy saving the Kents from the car accident that was destined to kill them. All in all, Doomsday Clock is not exactly bad, but I thought it was going to be something more profound than it turned out to be. It also doesn't help that my perception of Geoff Johns has soured nowadays.

[thecolorsblend]

It also doesn't help that my perception of Geoff Johns has soured nowadays.

Do you mean your opinion of him on a personal level? Or his talent as a writer?

It is weird how a lot of the workhorses from yesteryear like Geoff Johns, Bendis, Matt Fraction, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison and others have all lost their mojo at just about the same time. Idk what's up with that (other than a general decline of the entire industry) but it's happening, that's for sure.

[The Laughing Fish]

It also doesn't help that my perception of Geoff Johns has soured nowadays.

Do you mean your opinion of him on a personal level? Or his talent as a writer?

It's a bit of both. The more I hear about what he's allegedly done to the DCEU, his silence on the matter, as well as that latest fake PR release nonsense regarding Jason Momoa recently, the more I'm convinced he's absolutely guilty. As far as comics goes, I don't think he's a bad writer exactly. He does know story structure, but I find his collaboration with Gary Frank to adapt Christopher Reeve into Superman comics to be a gimmick. I thought Doomsday Clock had some promise initially, but ultimately, it turned out to be this hopeful fan-fiction to me.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm reading Watchmen again and taking my sweet time to savour the masterpiece that it is. The other comics, such as this one, don't count for me. It's not just that they don't have the creative input or complete approval of the original creators. It's that the story works perfectly as a one-off and expanding it in any direction cheapens its power. Everything we need is already contained in the original book.

I don't think the world ever gets reduced to ash because of nuclear war - just as Rorschach asks the vendor if the world will end today, and it doesn't. But we don't know, and the possibility is always there. That's the point the story leads to, and it's all the story should ever be.

Watchmen's characters are too important to be reduced to plot devices for other stories, and that's not taking in to account characters like Superman and The Flash are meant to be fictional in this world. The multiverse isn't an adequate excuse to justify any crossover with traditional DC heroes. Watchmen's mythology is rich enough paint a world and spark philosophical debate, but also leaves readers asking questions or wanting more. This universe and these characters work for one specific story, but what a story it is.

[thecolorsblend]

I'm reading Watchmen again and taking my sweet time to savour the masterpiece that it is. The other comics, such as this one, don't count for me. It's not just that they don't have the creative input or complete approval of the original creators. It's that the story works perfectly as a one-off and expanding it in any direction cheapens its power. Everything we need is already contained in the original book.

I don't think the world ever gets reduced to ash because of nuclear war - just as Rorschach asks the vendor if the world will end today, and it doesn't. But we don't know, and the possibility is always there. That's the point the story leads to, and it's all the story should ever be.

Watchmen's characters are too important to be reduced to plot devices for other stories, and that's not taking in to account characters like Superman and The Flash are meant to be fictional in this world. The multiverse isn't an adequate excuse to justify any crossover with traditional DC heroes. Watchmen's mythology is rich enough paint a world and spark philosophical debate, but also leaves readers asking questions or wanting more. This universe and these characters work for one specific story, but what a story it is.

Enjoy. I did a slow-read of Watchmen a few months ago. Every time I do that, I always enjoy it a little bit more. What strikes me every time is how truly powerless all these characters are (including Dr. Manhattan in a sense) but they're still making gigantic decisions far beyond their station. And the damage that ensues...

As to crossing the characters over with mainstream DC characters... just no. The whole charm of Watchmen is that the characters, universe and story are self-contained. If you MUST try something like that, why not do something with the og Charlton characters? It's not like DC has done very much with most of them. Captain Atom and the Blue Beetle have seen some action. But otherwise, it's kind of amazing how little DC ever used most of them.

Crossing Watchmen characters over with the DC characters was purely a commercial decision. Because oddly enough, the Charlton characters don't necessarily have the same marketability as the Watchmen characters.

[The Dark Knight]

What strikes me every time is how truly powerless all these characters are (including Dr. Manhattan in a sense) but they're still making gigantic decisions far beyond their station. And the damage that ensues...

Very true. Ozymandias orchestrates his plan efficiently, but he's doing so out of fear of Armageddon, and he still can't really control how the nuclear superpowers behave despite his best calculations or hopes. He's very much a relieved man when things go his way. Rorschach is investigating a situation that is bigger than anything he has ever experienced, and is essentially preordained out of his control. By the time he realizes what's going on he can't do anything about it.

Nor can anybody else. Manhattan is the closest thing to God and for a long time he's chilling on Mars in a state of detached numbness mixed with some guilt (due to the cancer hoax). For someone with unlimited power he is rendered powerless due to his perspective of the universe. Nite Owl II begins to feel restless about the possibility of a plot against heroes and suits up out of a urge to take a sense of control, which he never has. And so on. There's lots of little intricacies to pull apart which makes this such a worthwhile book to revisit.

As to crossing the characters over with mainstream DC characters... just no. The whole charm of Watchmen is that the characters, universe and story are self-contained. If you MUST try something like that, why not do something with the og Charlton characters? It's not like DC has done very much with most of them. Captain Atom and the Blue Beetle have seen some action. But otherwise, it's kind of amazing how little DC ever used most of them.

Crossing Watchmen characters over with the DC characters was purely a commercial decision. Because oddly enough, the Charlton characters don't necessarily have the same marketability as the Watchmen characters.

Indeed. I can't consider Doomsday Clock to be pure canon, but rather a spiritual tribute from other creative minds many years after the fact. It follows on directly from the original in terms of timeline but it's still not the way I ever envisioned the story continuing if it had to. The final panel of the original comic makes it ambiguous if the journal will even be picked up in that moment. Perhaps it wasn't and was just thrown in the trash. I like the vibe that there's a delicate balance between war, peace, truth and ignorance.