Doomsday Clock #1

[AnthonyO'Brien]

M&M are a play on Punch & Jewelee (who also started off as Charlton characters). Wanna bet Mime is another bastard offspring of Eddie Blake? Adrian found this out after going through every detail of Blake's personal life...

[jtd]

Terrific comic. Absolutely terrific. Was worried it would be a mar on the original Watchmen story, but my fear was assuaged.

Very hopeful for this series now. Kudos to Johns & Franks.

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Well Spotted! The psychological damage the New York Massacre did to survivors and relatives of victims would have been great and may have created characters like the Mime..

[Ying Ko]

I love Geoff Johns.

Best book of the week and probably best I've read in months. If only all comics were this good.

[silly]

I love Geoff Johns.

Best book of the week and probably best I've read in months. If only all comics were this good.

glad to hear that. i will check this out.

[batfan08]

I just finished it and I’m very curious to see where it goes from here, and, particularly, what happens to bridge the gap between the worlds of the DCU and Watchmen.

In regards to the new Rorschach, I’m going to suggest that he’s the Roger Jackson referenced in the news article at the back of the book, who was imprisoned for murdering Seymour David, the New Frontiersman writer who found Rorschach’s journal. Considering the social commentary appearing in the book, the idea of a black man being wrongfully accused and convicted seems both apt and timely, there’s the evident Rorschach connection with the New Frontiersman and the journal, and, when you examine the mission “to find God” that Veidt has tasked him with, in addition to Veidt’s brain tumor, it seems like, to a certain degree, this could be Veidt’s attempt to atone for his past in the face of his own mortality.

Maybe it seems simplistic, but I wonder if this book doesn’t boil down to Adrian Veidt having a guilt complex, and, thus, attempting to lure Doctor Manhattan back into his role as humanity’s savior in an attempt to atone and succeed where his initial plan failed. The idea of Jackson’s role, as well as Rorschach’s, too, would become clear in consideration of these newfound motivations, as Veidt attempts to atone for his role in Jackson’s imprisonment and, perhaps, subsequent mental break in addition to acknowledging how he wronged Rorschach.

[Tazpocalapse]

Thought this was a good introduction issue to who some of the players are that will move the story forward. A different Rorschach and the introduction of a duo that have a purpose and stakes makes me wonder why these 2 were selected. The Mime draws interest because it could be more to him than it seems. I like the idea now that the world is reeling from a incident used to manipulate it.

[sakuyamons]

This was much, MUCH better than what I was expecting. Hell, much, MUCH better than it has any right to be.

Agreed. We are in for a wild ride.

Johns seems to be on fire for this one, and also...

spoilers:

Mime rocks.

end of spoilers

[Frontier]

I'm curious to see how the Kents' death will prove relevant to the ongoing story.

And I love how Manhattan leaves the Watchemen universe for the DCU for something a little less "complex." It feels kind of Meta .

[Buried Alien]

It's almost unthinkable, but in the first issue, at least, Geoff Johns (of all people) is almost outalanmooreing Alan Moore himself.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[blunt_eastwood]

I'm curious to see how the Kents' death will prove relevant to the ongoing story.

And I love how Manhattan leaves the Watchemen universe for the DCU for something a little less "complex." It feels kind of Meta .

I wonder if their death will have been caused by Manhattan since that's a New 52 element and Manhatten is apparently responsible for the changes that it brought. It would also make sense since the New 52 is about losing hope and now Clark is having his first nightmares as a result.

[batfan08]

I'm curious to see how the Kents' death will prove relevant to the ongoing story.

And I love how Manhattan leaves the Watchemen universe for the DCU for something a little less "complex." It feels kind of Meta .

With the idea of this being the return of “hope” to the DC Universe, I’d love to see Ma and Pa Kent get to meet their grandchild, but that’s probably asking a lot...

[ironman2978]

With the idea of this being the return of “hope” to the DC Universe, I’d love to see Ma and Pa Kent get to meet their grandchild, but that’s probably asking a lot...

With all honesty, I hope that the Kents remain dead (maybe have a scene where Clark have a closure scene with the Kents ). But knowing Johns, he probably do something like revive the Kents or recon the Kents to fit his narrative. Johns love doing that in the past, usually ignoring other stories that didn't fit into the one that he wanted to show. I honestly wish more of the New 52 Action Comics origin remained in Reborn Superman's storyline.

[Rikdad]

I've been too busy today to put in the hard grind on analyzing this, but I may suggest to anyone who wants to look, it is informative to leaf through Watchmen #1 and Doomsday Clock #1 in parallel. No, Johns isn't making page-by-page parallels, but there are many obviously intentional parallels, roughly in sequence. That's true not only on a thematic level, but even minor visual motifs. For example:

We open with Rorschach, the title page features Rorschach with no dialogue, we see Veidt's chair and the Comedian thrown out of respective windows.

Also interesting, the order of introduction:

WM #1: Rorschach, Nite Owl, Veidt, Dr. Manhattan.
DC #1: Rorschach, Nite Owl (suit, gear only), Veidt, Superman.

I'd also pay careful attention to every use of the word "God," keeping in mind that Dr. Manhattan is going to serve as a stand-in for the deity.

The Kents' dialogue is full of dramatic irony: They refer to their own passing implicitly and explicitly just seconds before they die. And when they refer to God's plan, let's consider that destiny in the DCU (one timeline or another) may be according to Dr. Manhattan's plan.

In the ads at the end, there is one for Schrodinger's Clock and Watch Repair. Big flashing red symbol warning! Watchmen used several physics analogies. Schrodinger is probably best known for the hypothetical cat that can be either dead or alive. This, coupled with the above, suggests that Dr. Manhattan may tinker with who is alive and who is dead. He, or Superman, may repair things. Also note the symbology in the alternate cover showing Superman disassembled into watch/clock parts. If there is a clockwork universe being tinkered with, Dr. Manhattan may be taking the DCU and Superman apart and back together per his whim. But "and Watch" repair suggests that the Watchmen Universe may be repaired, perhaps by Superman.

Note the start date of the diary is exactly 25 years before DC #1's release date…*seems like far too much of a round number to be a coincidence.

There's a lot more to look at and then I'll probably post a more complete list of observations.

http://rikdad.blogspot.com

[victorsage]

From his inception and all of pre-Crisis, Superman's parents always were dead and gone well before he became Superman. In the Golden age they die of natural causes (don't think its really expanded on beyond that), with Jonathan providing Clark with future inspiration and the name Superman on his deathbed, and in the Silver Age their deaths in Superboy is portrayed as being from a tropical disease they caught while on a vacation to the Caribbean. But they were never around when he was an adult until his reboot in 1986. New 52 brought it back and its stuck, but it didn't start it.

In the Golden Age they didn't exist until later. Clark originally was an orphan. The "passing motorist" simply found Clark, it wasn't until later that they were given the name the Kents, and became his adopted parents.

Either way the Kents surviving into adulthood was one of the best things about the 86 reboot. Turning Clark once again into a mopping teenager was one of the problems with the New 52. Thank God it's dead.