Scott Snyder unambiguously explains how Doomsday Clock fits.
[url]https://www.newsarama.com/45553-scott-snyder-to-reintroduce-justice-society-of-america-has-big-plans-for-them.html[/url]
[B]Nrama:[/B] [B][I]"So does this tie in to Doomsday Clock at all? Because we’ve seen the seeds of the Justice Society returning in Doomsday Clock."[/I][/B]
[B][I]Snyder:[/I][/B] [I]"Not really. I mean, Doomsday Clock really is its own wonderful, incredible story. [B]The kind of light connection between them is just that[/B], what Geoff and I talked about was because [B]Doomsday Clock is kind of running at its own pace and in its own kind of continuity[/B], what I didn’t want to do was bring the JSA back before he had a chance to reintroduce them as a concept in issue #10.
I think that’s similar with other characters that he’s going to be using in Doomsday Clock as well.
So there’s a nod to each other in that regard. I wanted him to be able to have the JSA as an idea, and have that first appearance in Doomsday Clock.
[B]But in terms of the continuities linking up, Doomsday Clock is a very special and inspirational book. We’re all amazed, I think, at how good it is. But its effects are relatively self-contained to itself.[/B]"[/I]
There you have it, Doomsday Clock is confirmed to only lightly be part of normal continuity. It was only ever intended to be an evergreen book for bookstores and people not too immersed in DC month to month. The regular creators are sort of just allowing Johns to introduce the ideas of the characters in Clock, but they will not be beholden to Clock as concrete continuity. This likely goes for Bendis too with the Legion and the Kents. My guess is that creators will now treat Doomsday Clock as this sort of nebulous free pass for slight shifts in continuity they were OKed for. So, it's very likely it doesn't matter if Bendis intended for this run to be before or after Clock, and there is not "threat greater than Manhattan that Snyder will follow up with in Crisis." It's just it's own thing, and it's in continuity enough.