Doomsday Clock - Does anyone still care?

[mmurphy1968]

When this series launched my initial reaction was "Another unnecessary addition to Watchman, sigh". Then I started reading it an i thought "This is pretty good!". Now I saw an article on CBR and thought "Oh crap, I forgot all about that. Is it cancelled? Who the hell cares any more?"

George RR Martin has nothing on Johns & Frank. Such blatant disregard for the audience makes me wonder why I should buy a single new issue.

[Lee Stone]

1. Considering how detailed the series is in both story and art, DC made a mistake in beginning publication too soon. They should have waited until at least six issues were in the can before soliciting the first one.

2. My inner conspiracy theorist believes that someone higher up is ‘okay’ with the delays because it allows other projects to get priority and news buzz.

3. It’s almost over. Once it’s done with and collected, it may not matter any more, but then nothing in the last 25 years has really mattered six months after they were released. Likely won’t change now.

[Pohzee]

No interest when it was announced. Picked up the first issue out of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised. I decided to trade wait it. The delays have had no impact on my anticipation.

[HandofPrometheus]

Doomsday Clock was the most interesting story from DC in years for me. I enjoy it.

[Rod G]

After the first couple of issues . . . meh.

[BatmanJones]

Of course I care. It's one of the best books DC's put out in a dog's age. A year or two after the series ends nobody's going to remember the book for its tardiness; then it will be judged according to how good it was.

I much prefer a great (but horribly late) book to one that's less great but is on time.

[ermac]

but then nothing in the last 25 years has really mattered six months after they were released. Likely won’t change now.

That's one of the things about comics that annoys me the most...

[CaptCleghorn]

Obviously the delays have been embarrassing and frustrating. And we don't have a handle on the real reasons for the majority of those delays. Was it editorial revamping due to changing overall DCUniversal plot points? Was it Johns or Frank needing more time? A mix of both seems to be a natural conclusion to make. But the threads about DClock delays and theories are common.

As to how I feel at this point? I'm still interested. It's a valid and interesting story to me despite many questions. The franchises being held hostage by the story's conclusion are two of my favorites so my fanboy personality is hooked. Still, it's an interesting story and one I want to see finished. With the pop culture relevance of Watchmen, it leads me to believe that the story will finish and DC will hope to get an evergreen collected product. What DClock has to do with the current shifting continuity miasm of DC Comics remains unknown.

[jsafanforever]

The delays have been very frustrating to wait through for each piece of the story so far. However, given its ties to so much of the DCU moving forward, I am still interested in seeing it through to its conclusion. It's been a great read, well put together. i will definitely get the trade when it is all done, too.

[Tzigone]

I haven't read it. I am not into the concepts of Watchmen, and would only care for DC material, and how it affects our world. I might read in TPB, if I like the ending. So, for me the question on whether I care is whether it makes an impact. We were told it would. But if the delays mean that it doesn't meaningfully change the world because Johns' position has changed or DC has otherwise changed ideas since publishing became, then it doesn't matter to me. If we can bring hope back and "fix" the bleaker nature of the universe, then that's great. I'd love a long-term change from the grimmmer/grittier and less heroic heroes that's been going on for the last 20 years of comics, but that's ...extremely unlikely. I'm not looking for silver age, here. But not having your heroes blackmail, torture, or brainwash is not that high a bar. Toss in them not treating their families and allies like crap and especially not killing off or erasing their families, and we're golden.

[Cmbmool]

I care for Doomsday Clock, even if DC and everyone else doesn't I just want to see how Geoff JOhns will pull this one off and try to restore something that Flashpoint/new 52 messed up.

[EmeraldGladiator]

I must admit my interest has waned. I love Geoff and Frank is a very good artist but I was always lukewarm on the Watchmen stuff. The reason for my excitement over DClock was the return of two of my favorite DC properties the LSH and the JSA, however due to political intrigue lateness or whatever those "debuts" have been shifted to other writers, Bendis' Superman for the LSH and Snyder's JLA for the JSA. Wally's story is being done if Flash Forward so not really sure what there is to be done in DClock that I really care about.

[married guy]

While I do enjoy it when it eventually arrives, at this point I think it's all been made relatively moot.
Nothing happening in this book will have a wider affect on the DCU, even though it was originally billed that way.
I'm OK with that. I just want a satisfying story worth the SIGNIFICANT money I'm shelling out for it.

[K. Jones]

I still care.

I'm eager to get to the bottom of it.

I'm also frankly just curious as heck where it's going to fit into the DCU chronologically. I've been leaving it open ended "after" everything else that's coming out contemporaneously with it, but now I'm just not sure. I need context to make heads or tales of that sort of thing. Typically I don't place things on a timeline (sliding or otherwise) until after all the issues or arcs have ended. Maybe that's why the delays have been making my head explode a little.

To review, what are some of the Rebirth stories that actually directly reference or tie into Doomsday Clock?

DC Universe Rebirth.
The Return of Wally West, to a degree.
The Button.
A Lonely Place of Living.
All of Rebirth Superman (Tomasi & Jurgens) up to The Oz Effect (and thereby, Bendis's run?).
A failed attempt by Ganthet and Sayd to use Kyle Rayner (White Lantern) to rekindle the Blue Lantern Corps, thwarted by something cosmic that doesn't believe in hope.
A single panel of the Book of Oa in The Green Lantern # 1 with a blue symbol.

Am I missing any?

[Jackalope89]

Deathstroke Rebirth I believe did (it had a temporary effect on Slade to go "good" for awhile after he confronted, quite possibly, Dr. Manhattan, after he stole the Speed Force for a short time).