The big plays are put into motion and it’s uncertain where everything will land.
Creative Staff:
Story: Geoff Johns
Art: Gary Frank
Colors: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Rob Leigh
What They Say:
The critically acclaimed series by master storytellers Geoff Johns and Gary Frank reaches its most shocking chapter yet when the DC Universe collides with its greatest threat: Dr. Manhattan. But nothing is hidden from Manhattan, and the secrets of the past, present and future will rock the very foundation of the DC Universe.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Doomsday Clock has been that kind of weird mixed bag that’s simply incredibly frustrating to watch unfold. It’s got a lot of really good ideas in it and it plays out with a strong sense of power as you’d expect from an event work like this, but the schedule has caused pretty much all of its energy and enthusiasm to be sucked out of it. Geoff Johns deals with a number of events here that helps to explain why certain things are as they are in the DC universe and it builds well to the more powerful scenes toward the end. And, as always, Gary Frank puts together a beautiful book with so many standout panels that you can’t really narrow it down to even a handful that you’d want to highlight over the others.
After the events in Moscow, the book moves in a couple of directions here that does eventually tie back together. Though the world is placing its blame on Firestorm and Superman, with him being called out to provide answers even though he’s unconscious still, the reality is that it was some other power and that Firestorm didn’t cause it. That has the heroes heading up in ships to go to Mars where Manhattan is in order to confront him over what he did, and to figure out who he is and what he’s up to once there. It’s a fun couple of opening pages seeing the various groupings that we get and how they deal with being on Mars as the Lanterns set up a protective shield and Firestorm, almost essentially kidnapped and brought here, brings breathable air to everyone so they can at least survive and operate “as normal” here.
There are a few things going on earthside with Bruce realizing there’s a bigger play at work here while Diana is setting to speak to the United Nations, which is why Black Adam is ready to make his own move. But we also get Luthor sneaking into the Hall of Justice to talk to Lois about the footage her got her about the missing heroes and the strangeness of everything. All good little story bumps along the way but the real focus is on Mars and Manhattan. He operates in his usual disconnected way as we saw from Watchmen with his offworld phase here and it’s problematic as it just sets the heroes against him as almost nobody is interested in really talking to understand things. It just becomes a pile-on as it progresses which makes for some fun scenes in again seeing the groupings come together but it’s just building to a larger disaster.
In Summary:
The book does have some nice little nuggets for fans, such as how the future is cloudy and blank going far into the future as we see the 31st-century material wiped out after Manhattan initially discusses it. My only hope is that once all of this is said and done and things are set going forward again that we get the Legion books back in some form and actively work my favorite of the DC properties. Again, it’s a solid issue with what it does and as it puts us into the next phase, but it’s also an echo of works past in some ways with obvious twists. It reads well, has some neat nuggets, and looks gorgeous, but it still feels hollow after far too long of a road to get here, one that was more complicated and messy than it needed to be.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 6th, 2018
MSRP: $4.99
