Doomsday Clock 9

[Rikdad]

Once again, it took some time for me to assemble a breakdown for this issue. I see a lot of loose ends, and a lot happening, and a lot of questions that still remain. It's been such a great story so far, but there are some signs that we might be getting a second story very much like… Infinite Crisis.

http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2019/03/d...y-clock-9.html

[Robotman]

Thanks Rikdad! Always look forward to your issue breakdowns.

I’ve been a fan of Johns’ work but he has had a problem with sticking the landing on some of his major storylines. So that definitely worries me as there are so many balls in the air at the moment.

[BatmanJones]

Thanks, as always, Rikdad!

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Your thoughts and analysis are always appreciated, Rikdad.

I, too, am a little concerned that Johns might fumble the ending, as a he has a few times now, but I'm hoping the pressure of living up to Moore & Gibbons's Watchmen will push him to surpass himself, as Frank has absolutely done. My recent re-read of the first nine issues gave me a new perspective on how clearly plotted and structured the whole story is, so I have more confidence now that Johns & Frank might just pull off a satisfying conclusion to Doomsday Clock, irregardless to its obvious continuity reshuffling purposes.

[Rikdad]

Robotman, I agree. To be fair, he has utterly stuck the landings on many stories. I thought Blackest Night was a great story, and in general, his GL run was a masterpiece overall as well in several segments/events. His Superman Secret Origin and the LSH tie-ins were also very good, and I loved his post-IC JSA run. I know he can do it. I'm just waiting to see if what I think of as "it" and he thinks of as "it" coincide this time around.

[Rikdad]

Thank you so much, BatmanJones!

[Rikdad]

Bored, thanks and I'm glad to hear that you've got that impression after having read the nine as a unit. I haven't looped back and read the nine at once yet, but there's some time to do that, yet, before #10.

It's obvious, though, the care that Johns and Frank have put into the individual issues, scenes, and panels. This is sure to be one of my favorite major events based just on what we have seen so far.

[JonaX]

I think having the Trinity on Earth means they have to tackle three different situations, Superman/Manhattan, Batman/Ozymandias and Wonder Woman/Black Adam.

There is a number of red herrings, we assume Lex is talking about Doctor Manhattan as the one who's undermining humanity but I suspect he's talking about Adrian.

Great analysis as always BTW.

[theoneandonly]

perhaps the accidental recreation of universe in the infinite crisis instead of one created by the superheroes was a message that superheroes are not gods and shouldn't be involved in such tinkering but should let nature take its course. it seemed in a fashion a direct refutation of zero hour where the heroes prevented Hal from imposing his vision on the universe and recreated the universe themselves through initiating a new big bang thus resetting the timeline. in fact infinite crisis came into being partly because the editors were not satisfied with the concept of hypertime replacing the multiverse and thus it was a means for reviving many pre crisis concepts.

maybe John's is going to follow a similar path over here and perhaps the conflict will not be resolved through more fisticuffs as it was clearly denoted here that using force against dr Manhattan isn't going to work. it could be possible that a resolution is reached where perhaps the entity of Manhattan is going to be erased with his assent by Superman as the best means of resetting space/time and heal the damage to the timeline and that occurrence will lead to a universal reboot and perhaps the child of mime and marionette is the first metahuman to be born in the watchmen's universe and it's power could evolve to dr Manhattan levels or beyond due to being at ground zero when Manhattan is erased. it could emerge as a saviour who is going to do what both Manhattan and ozymandius were unable to do and rescue their world.

thus after the doomsday clock ticks to the universal catastrophe that is being foreshadowed which actually turned out to be the means of salvation of the DC universe it could be the younger generation of the watchmen's universe that redeems their earlier generation and undo the mess that they caused.

the role Superman plays could be one of inspiration for the unborn baby which could be absorbing ambient information from its surroundings where he convinces Manhattan to sacrifice himself and despite the utter impossible odds succeeds in convincing him of it being the best and only solution for the good of both universes. their succeeding in the endeavour could perhaps cause ripples in the watchmen's universe and perhaps cause that timeline to also be reset subtly. perhaps its possible that Manhattan is moved by the superhuman effort of Superman to save the universe still striving against universal doom even though he knows it's hopeless but he doesn't abandon it like Manhattan did thus showing him what true heroism is.

maybe his heroism will inspire the child to become the universal guardian in vein of eternity or the tribunal to the watchmen's verse denoting that the best of humanity can achieve the impossible and restore the humanity of even the most lost amongst them and further inspire the coming generation. the child could be evolved into a cosmic guardian who could undo what Manhattan wrought in DC universe and even prevent nuclear Armageddon in their world. then it could depart the mortal planes to ascend to a higher level.

perhaps Manhattan will find the ultimate meaning of life in this manner through his sacrificing himself or perhaps he could reconstitute himself some point far in the future thus denoting that Superman didn't kill him.

[failo.legendkiller]

I haven’t noticed Guy Gardner full dressed in GL uniform in the last panel on the ground.
Yes, it’s probably an error.

[silly]

I haven’t noticed Guy Gardner full dressed in GL uniform in the last panel on the ground.
Yes, it’s probably an error.

Manhattan took and disassembled Guy's ring.

I wonder what will happen to Firestorm post Doomsday Clock.

[MrBlondey]

Maybe this is obvious, but Jay Garrick in the speed force...Johnny Thunder out of contact w/Cei-U, but still alive and with memories from another timeline AND guilty feelings about what he did to the JSA, so it's not all Dr Manhattan's work, maybe. Also not Veidt's.

Luthor's "source": any ideas?

[Rikdad]

A few notes while I ponder a longer blog post, and responding, also, to MrBlondey's great questions:

Superficially, it looks like Dr. Manhattan took the JSA out of continuity. But, I think you're right – he may have incidentally set into motion the chain of events ending with the JSA leaving continuity, but we have no indication that he took them all out, with Alan Scott only one example.

Here's an obscure detail: Dr. Manhattan mentions that Alan Scott appeared before HUAC on January 8, 1950. This is NOT the event that many people may be thinking of. According to older stories, the JSA appeared before HUAC on October 13, 1951. According to, at least, The Golden Age, Alan Scott appeared in his civilian identity before HUAC on January 8, 1950. So, if that mention is significant (and it certainly seems so), Dr. Manhattan's beef with Alan Scott seems to pertain to the man himself, not with Green Lantern. Granted, these are events we still haven't seen in detail, so there may be more crucial details coming.

There are some other intriguing details that I'll post very shortly.

As a bit of mere supposition, I caught myself assuming that the blue blast at the end of issue 9 was Dr. Manhattan knocking out the superheroes with a blast of energy. Maybe, but this is exactly what was staged, also, at the end of issue 8! I think there's an excellent chance that Veidt (using Bubastis II) created both blasts to create three (or four) different frame jobs! First, to make Firestorm and Superman look bad in the eyes of the world, then to set the DC superheroes upon Dr. Manhattan, and now, finally, to make Superman, when he wakes up, engage in battle with Dr. Manhattan.

Much more to say, soon.

[JonaX]

A few notes while I ponder a longer blog post, and responding, also, to MrBlondey's great questions:

Superficially, it looks like Dr. Manhattan took the JSA out of continuity. But, I think you're right – he may have incidentally set into motion the chain of events ending with the JSA leaving continuity, but we have no indication that he took them all out, with Alan Scott only one example.

Here's an obscure detail: Dr. Manhattan mentions that Alan Scott appeared before HUAC on January 8, 1950. This is NOT the event that many people may be thinking of. According to older stories, the JSA appeared before HUAC on October 13, 1951. According to, at least, The Golden Age, Alan Scott appeared in his civilian identity before HUAC on January 8, 1950. So, if that mention is significant (and it certainly seems so), Dr. Manhattan's beef with Alan Scott seems to pertain to the man himself, not with Green Lantern. Granted, these are events we still haven't seen in detail, so there may be more crucial details coming.

There are some other intriguing details that I'll post very shortly.

As a bit of mere supposition, I caught myself assuming that the blue blast at the end of issue 9 was Dr. Manhattan knocking out the superheroes with a blast of energy. Maybe, but this is exactly what was staged, also, at the end of issue 8! I think there's an excellent chance that Veidt (using Bubastis II) created both blasts to create three (or four) different frame jobs! First, to make Firestorm and Superman look bad in the eyes of the world, then to set the DC superheroes upon Dr. Manhattan, and now, finally, to make Superman, when he wakes up, engage in battle with Dr. Manhattan.

The last point could turn out to be true, I wonder if Manhattan's 'What are You Hoping to Accomplish?' is aimed at Veidt and not the DC heroes.

[MrBlondey]

The last point could turn out to be true, I wonder if Manhattan's 'What are You Hoping to Accomplish?' is aimed at Veidt and not the DC heroes.

One hell of an observation, that would be SO in character if he was talking to someone else.