Originally Posted by
Korath
What's the story of Doomsday Clock ?
More accurately, what is the story of Doomsday Clock as presented in the books as opposed to what the readership knows from interviews, rumors, etc ?
At best, a mess. Nothing makes sense in Doomsday Clock. Nothing.
How can Rorsharch II, Ozymandias, Mime and Marionette travel the Multiverse so easily ? Not explained.
Why has DC World's turned so violently against it's heroes ? Not explained.
What's the plot, the overaching storyline of Doomsday Clock ? Not explained.
Mime and Marionette may be interesting characters and concept, but their raison d'être in the story is, again, not explained. They seek they kid, hence why they jumped into another Universe ? How does it make sense ? It doesn't.
Jones' doesn't try to craft a story, he tries to grasp the spirit of Watchman, its vibe. Unarguably, he succeeds, but it's at the cost of an actual plot being used and proposed to the reader. Watchamn is extremely simple in its central plot : someone is killing former vigilantes and some of them seek him out. Then it branches into a deep conspiracy and how it affects those characters. But even when it seems to stray from the main plot, it's still always there, because all those characters are either back in their costumes or out in the open because of how the Comedian was killed.
In Doomsday Clock, were are 8 issues out of 12 in it and we don't know how Comedian was brought back to life, what Manhattan truly wants, how Ozymandias knew where to find him, why he chose Mime and Marionette. Nothing, not even a hint. And that's discounting the JSA and LOS plot which is, frankly, completely disconnected so far from the main plot.
HiC's first issues weren't just bad, they were terrible. I only started to warm to it in the last issue because I felt that King finally put his A-Game into it. But even from the start, I knew what the story was, per the book : a massacre has happened in Sanctuary, the culprit must be found and stop, and the heroes must deal with the after-effects of this event.
it may not be a good story, but at least it exist, it's a simple foundation which can be built upon and allow for moment of greatness (Superman's speech in the last issue) even if it also allows terrible moment (basically, Superman and Lois before the speech had been utterly terrible in the story).
Both HiC and DDC are far from good, but the former has the potential to still save itself, while the latter is both over-ambitious and far too light in actual story-telling for my taste.