What is your current hype level for Doomsday Clock?

[Jon Clark]

My hype meter is probably at about 40% and heading downward.

1) Rebirth itself has been interesting when it has been far away from navel gazing. So far things like "The Button" and "Superman Reborn" were full of sound and fury but really didn't move the ball much.

2) This is the lynchpin supposedly of just what happened to the DCU and it's been coming for so long that I can't believe anything could live up to the anticipation.

3) This is also the 3rd "redefinition" of the DCU in just over a decade (Infinite Crisis, Flashpoint, this) so I'm wondering just what they are going to do this time that actually doesn't feel like a retread of past events.

4) Has anyone gotten the Watchmen characters "right" after Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons penned that last issue of the mini? And is Johns really up to the job? This isn't an attack on Geoff's overall skill as much as wondering if this is really in his wheelhouse. I enjoyed the Legion Final Crisis issues more than Morrison's actual Final Crisis but on his best day Johns' stories read less like Alan Moore than Morrison's worst stories. And I'd rather read Johns' doing his own stuff rather than trying and failing to recreate voices from almost 30 years ago.

[TruthAndJustice]

I don't share the dislike for Johns so evident here. (Y'all didn't like Blackest Night? Really?) I've enjoyed his work more and more since he overcame his gore fetish, putting "ultra-violence" in where it didn't belong. And his Superman isn't a lonely outsider. He's really not that different from the John Byrne Superman. Just the trappings are different (putting "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" back into Superman's history, etc.). The personality isn't different.

I admit I didn't read his Justice League but I opposed the whole idea of the New 52.

The very idea of bringing Dr. Manhattan into the mainstream DCU was something I couldn't decide if I liked or not for a long time. But at this point it's clear that Johns has a story to tell that has a point to it -- far more of a point than any of the Before Watchmen quick-buck comics. So I've decided it doesn't bug me. I look forward to the series.

I don't know if Doomsday Clock is the series that will lead to everyone on Earth-Zero remembering what they should remember:

Iris and Barry were married, Iris died and came back (somehow); Barry died in the first Crisis and eventually came back;

there was a New Teen Titans group that included not just most of the Titans cast but Cyborg, Raven and Starfire;

Linda Park remembers being married to Wally, finally;

J'onn J'onzz was a founding League member;

the Marvel Family (NOT "Shazam"!);

Young Justice and its members (Connor Kent, obviously), and the existence of the Teen Titans group that came afterwards;

Linda Danvers/Supergirl;

Connor Hawke/Green Arrow II;

the JSA, of course;

Ollie and Dinah are longtime lovers, not new ones, and were in the JLA very early on;

The Huntress isn't a NEW member of the Birds of Prey...and I could go on and on.

I hope everyone gets their memories back (of the most important stuff) BEFORE Doomsday Clock #12!

[Assam]

I hope everyone gets their memories back (of the most important stuff) BEFORE Doomsday Clock #12!

Getting the memories and all the great teams, characters and moments back in continuity is what we all want, which means that there's not a chance it's what we'll get. As someone pointed out a long time ago, if Doomsday Clock was actually going to change things on a massive scale, there would have been NO point to the last two years of stories other than to build up hype. And while that may very well be the case, that's still kind of awful.

[Jekyll]

Getting the memories and all the great teams, characters and moments back in continuity is what we all want, which means that there's not a chance it's what we'll get. As someone pointed out a long time ago, if Doomsday Clock was actually going to change things on a massive scale, there would have been NO point to the last two years of stories other than to build up hype. And while that may very well be the case, that's still kind of awful.

Yep. I believe the delay was all on Johns. He was going to write the book but he had his duties to fulfill on the film side first. So I’m really hoping this delay will pay off in the end.

[MajorHoy]

. . . But aren't the fans interested in the Rebirth story which started with Rebirth last year?

They showed promise that then, in many cases, didn't really get delivered on (or, from my viewpoint, were often changes for the worse, not for the better).

I would follow it through to the end unless its really terrible. Johns can do a wonderful story. Wasn't Rebirth something special?

Rebirth provided opportunities, but a year-and-a-half later I don't know if I can really care that much any longer. They've basically been treading water with the changes hinted at, and that gets annoying. (Plus, past experience with Geoff Johns has been that he can set things up nicely, but he can't follow through with a satisfactory ending.)

[KC]

Geoff Johns is one of my favourite DC writers and I have loved Rebirth so far. But on the other hand, I don't care about the Watchmen. Ultimately, my disinterest in the Watchmen outweighs my love of Johns' writing and I am only going to buy this event because I have loved Rebirth so far and I want to see how the story ends.

[Outside_85]

Somewhere between bugger and all.

[Dr. Poison]

I'm really excited for this series as I think it will resolve a lot of continuity issues along with bringing back heavyweights like the Justice Society and the Legion of Super Heroes.

[MajorHoy]

I'm really excited for this series as I think it will resolve a lot of continuity issues along with bringing back heavyweights like the Justice Society and the Legion of Super Heroes.

When you say "bring back", do you mean a return of the versions you/we enjoyed in the past, or do you mean more like "introduce a 'new' and (supposedly) "improved" kewl 21st Century updated version of the ancient classics"?

[Calvinr]

Was very hyped initially, but they’ve dangled the carrot for too long and people’s interest has wavered, hoping Johns nails the Watchmen characters although I’m not hopeful, but I will pick up issue #1 and judge from there whether to continuing following the arc.

[kilderkin]

I am very much hyped for this

Actually I'm beyond even that

Can't wait

[Aahz]

When you say "bring back", do you mean a return of the versions you/we enjoyed in the past, or do you mean more like "introduce a 'new' and (supposedly) "improved" kewl 21st Century updated version of the ancient classics"?

At least with the JSA they kind of tried a "new" version with Earth Two, I think they will this time more likely do something that is closer to the originals.

[Aahz]

I hope everyone gets their memories back (of the most important stuff) BEFORE Doomsday Clock #12!

Personally I hope that they don't brinf everything back into continuity, there happened a lot of things in 2000s that should imo stay erased.

[Dr. Poison]

At least with the JSA they kind of tried a "new" version with Earth Two, I think they will this time more likely do something that is closer to the originals.

I agree especially given Johns' fondness of the original JSA given how long he wrote the title in the last decade or so.

[Assam]

Somewhat related, but does anyone find all of DC's recent advertising for Doomsday Clock (As well as the covers we've seen) to be incredibly pretentious?