The question is simple; what have the heroes done to better the world?
Creative Staff:
Story: Geoff Johns
Art: Gary Frank
Colors: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Rob Leigh
What They Say:
The Comedian lives! The Mime and Marionette loose in Gotham City! Rorschach is locked in the bowels of Arkham Asylum! Secrets will be revealed as the Doomsday Clock ticks on…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a new issue every two months, Doomsday Clock is simply going to lack the punch it needs and reminds me why I often stick to trades for events and even then simply forget to get them. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are definitely putting together something interesting here across the board with how it’s presented and the ideas behind it but that gap really makes it difficult to connect with amid everything else one may be reading. As we head into the halfway mark with the next issue, Doomsday Clock is still doing place setting and putting people where they need to be. There are a lot of characters in motion here and plenty of background ideas being bandied about in interesting ways to add to the theme and feeling of it all, particularly with the Superman Theory.
The smaller moments are fun as we see Mime and Marionette moving about to connect with the Joker, which comes at an almost comical moment toward the end just as Batman gets taken down by the crowd and essentially delivered into said Joker’s hands. We also get a really interesting subplot piece involving the JSA as we see Johnny Thunder, having escaped the home, making his way to Pittsburg where he’s trying to find the Green Lantern lantern of days of old. These subplot is pretty haunting and beautiful in its way with him being 102 and dealing with not having much of anything to his name, taking the bus there, and essentially getting accosted by a bunch of drugged out kids looking for anything that they can get their hands on for cash to get more drugs. The fear and hope mixed in Johnny’s eyes is simply really well done.
The two main pieces that are engaging to me involves very different but similar characters. Rorschach has now been teamed up with Saturn Girl as they escape from the asylum and are on their own hunt. The dynamic between the two is interesting and his easy understanding that she should know his goals since she can read minds is definitely delightful. There isn’t significant progress here but watching the two has me wanting to see more of what it’s going to do. Far more interesting, however, is Veidt’s easy escape from custody from some Metropolis cops that were making some easy money. He ends up finding the Owlship with Batman in it but simply progressing along his own plans. What makes it work is that Batman smartly listens more than anything else to try and understand more of Veidt and hearing Veidt talking about all that he did after the events of Watchmen in order to help save the world is what works. When he does ask what the heroes have done other than fight each other, well, that’s the simple reality of it and these shared universes of the Big Two. It’s only in other books that we see the real ramifications and attempts to change the world instead of playing as close to being contemporary and it’s an ideal way to slice at what DC and Marvel are like in how they force themselves to be stuck.
In Summary:
Doomsday Clock is solidly put together with great artwork and a great jumble of interesting ideas that are coming together. I quite enjoy it with what they’re trying to do and the foundations being laid. But three issues in six months simply means it doesn’t maintain interest and it reduces the impact of it as being relevant to what they’re trying to do with in the DC Universe itself. I’ll certainly still keep reading but it’s just a curiosity at this point that has me wary to whether it’ll have any real impact long term.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 30th, 2018
MSRP: $4.99
