Doomsday Clock issue #11 Preview

[Superlad93]

Bendis even said that it his legion will make sense by the end of doomsday clock.

Yeah, because it'll be made clear and without a doubt that his Legion is an entirely new version of the team with new continuity to build.

And, again, the issue wasn't that a past version of the Legion went away, but rather that a following version of them wasn't put into play when Manhattan's world was created. They were just erased. If a new version of them is created and placed into the DCU then the metaverse is satisfied as we've seen with the Golden, Silver, and Modern reboots. None of them remember the one that came before. So long it's parts are put back into play and hope is present, the metaverse is cool.

[manwhohaseverything]

Yeah, because it'll be made clear and without a doubt that his Legion is an entirely new version of the team with new continuity to build.

And, again, the issue wasn't that a past version of the Legion went away, but rather that a following version of them wasn't put into play when Manhattan's world was created. They were just erased. If a new version of them is created and placed into the DCU then the metaverse is satisfied as we've seen with the Golden, Silver, and Modern reboots. None of them remember the one that came before. So long it's parts are put back into play and hope is present, the metaverse is cool.

@bold Again, that is possible.the new legion will be without any connection. It will water it down and end it in a sour note for me . But, whatever(i am still gonna wait it out) .All i am saying is that a legion will have to return "from the fade" in this book to close the narrative ties.

[Superlad93]

All i am saying is that a legion will have to return "from the fade" in this book to close the narrative ties.

Agreed. I've agree with this idea from moment one. If some form of an optimistic Legion/future doesn't show itself in this book's ending then that scene with Saturn Girl, within the confines of this book, is left sad and not much else.

[your_name_here]

So how does this all end?
This issue wasn’t what I was expecting...I was expecting it to set up all we needed, but it seems there’s still a LOT to go.

[ArthurCurry]

Action Comics 1 has a "Doomsday Clock" countdown of its own

69586846_2219707801491417_6322840992479182848_n.jpg

[Last Son of Krypton]

A fan on twitter:

"Thank you for your amazing work on Doomsday Clock! I personally don't care for the delays if the quality stays so high. However since there is just one issue left, are we going to discover why Manhattan had to split Superman in two different beings?"

Gary Frank's answer:

"I don't really like commenting on stuff like this because interpretation is fun but...
He didn't. He had a different intention. The consequences were DCU specific.

I'd prefer not to go further than that."

https://twitter.com/1moreGaryFrank/s...41611989999616

[manwhohaseverything]

A fan on twitter:

"Thank you for your amazing work on Doomsday Clock! I personally don't care for the delays if the quality stays so high. However since there is just one issue left, are we going to discover why Manhattan had to split Superman in two different beings?"

Gary Frank's answer:

"I don't really like commenting on stuff like this because interpretation is fun but...
He didn't. He had a different intention. The consequences were DCU specific.

I'd prefer not to go further than that."

https://twitter.com/1moreGaryFrank/s...41611989999616

So, if manhattan didn't split superman. Then the culprit behind must be :

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Huh. I wonder if "I'd prefer not to go further than that" means there's actually a concrete answer for that - even if I'm certain Doomsday Clock isn't where it'll be delivered - or brushing off a question with no answer because everything that was supposed to lead into Doomsday Clock ended up about as relevant as Countdown To Final Crisis.

Prediction: since the first arc of Batman/Superman is tying into Snyder's DC megaplot - making clear it's supposed to be an Important Book - the second or third will be about resolving all the major plots those stories set up that Johns never actually touched. All the "what was the deal with Pre-Flashpoint Superman and New 52 Superman really being the same guy", "why did Manhattan save Jor-El", "what did The Button have to do with literally anything aside from setting up Thomas for King's Batman later on" stuff. Why did Dr. Manhattan blow up Pandora? Joshua Williamson and David Marquez answer the DC mystery of the decade May 2020!

(Taking bets now that it'll turn out all that stuff was ANOTHER angry cosmic guy, as implied during Hitch's Justice League run, so as to sidestep all Watchmen involvement with Manhattan never even being mentioned by name in this arc.)

[Yoda]

I don’t think Frank’s comment necessarily implies it wasn’t Manhattan. The question was “why he had to split Superman” and the answer is that Manhattan didn’t (have to) and his intention was different. The consequences (the split) of his actions (isolating and alienating Superman in his image) were specific to the DCU.

What he could mean is that Manhattan attempted to tweak the Metaverse and it reacted to his actions differently than he anticipated or intended. Possibly something along the lines of the traits Manhattan tried to excise to create “his” Superman, that he related to like he said in 10, were shunted off into the half that became the pre-Crisis version in a different reality. That was part of the Metaverse’s defense mechanism. Like he said the Multiverse reacts to The Metaverse. The unintended reaction could be the creation (or more accurately the preservation) of the traits Manhattan tried to excise in the Convergence Pre-Crisis Supes and Lois.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Hmmm, this is an interesting. How exactly Mr. Oz and the Flashpoint Batman fit into whatever Dr. Manhattan was doing has always been a big unresolved mystery, but I completely missed that it wasn't even touched on in the giant recap from last issue.

We know Johns contributed at least some input into The Button and The Oz Effect. If I'm remembering correctly, he got a special thank you in the credits.

[Sacred Knight]

My personal head-canon is that they were never split. They are indeed two distinct incarnations. Manhattan created new versions of Clark and Lois because the native ones of Earth-0 were outside of reality at the time. The merging of the two in Superman Reborn was just an illusion on Mxy's part, symbolism for him helping course-correct the timeline. That was Manhattan's intent, to create a Superman he could relate to more (even if that distinction is a bogus misinterpretation of what that Superman was all about). And he just couldn't use the actual Earth-0 template to craft it. That Superman did indeed die, and that Lois simply faded away.

Furthermore I believe the Superman encountered in Sideways is that Superman reborn. The reason he exists again being that a fascimile of what Manhattan did was re-created by Alpheus at some point prior to his arrival in Snyder's Justice League run as part of his experimentation with universes. It's currently an unfinished work with its Superman being set free from it for unknown reasons.

DC just needs to rehire Greg Pak to create that reason.

[Yoda]

Hmmm, this is an interesting. How exactly Mr. Oz and the Flashpoint Batman fit into whatever Dr. Manhattan was doing has always been a big unresolved mystery, but I completely missed that it wasn't even touched on in the giant recap from last issue.

We know Johns contributed at least some input into The Button and The Oz Effect. If I'm remembering correctly, he got a special thank you in the credits.

Bendis has said repeatedly that the resolution of Doomsday Clock will clarify certain things in his run and that he hasn’t forgotten Manhattan’s connection to Jor El. So to the extent it’s referenced at all I expect it to be something along the lines of Jor El intending to have some kind of mitigating effect on the reconstitution of the whole Superman.

As for Batman, generally in the Button if it remember correctly, Flashpoint Batman wanted Bruce to stop being Batman and live a life. We saw in this past issue of DC that Manhattan allowed Mime & Marionette to live because it brought Laurie and Dan happiness. It’s possible Manhattan was trying to do the same thing for Batman here. Essentially remaking Superman in his image and Batman in NightOwls. Removing two possible threats to his plan.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Bendis has said repeatedly that the resolution of Doomsday Clock will clarify certain things in his run and that he hasn’t forgotten Manhattan’s connection to Jor El. So to the extent it’s referenced at all I expect it to be something along the lines of Jor El intending to have some kind of mitigating effect on the reconstitution of the whole Superman.

As for Batman, generally in the Button if it remember correctly, Flashpoint Batman wanted Bruce to stop being Batman and live a life. We saw in this past issue of DC that Manhattan allowed Mime & Marionette to live because it brought Laurie and Dan happiness. It’s possible Manhattan was trying to do the same thing for Batman here. Essentially remaking Superman in his image and Batman in NightOwls. Removing two possible threats to his plan.

There was an interview that Johns gave in the early days of Doomsday Clock in which he mentioned that Dr. Manhattan was drying to neutralize Batman during The Button. I guess this issue was Veidt revealing his schemes in full, while the final issue will have Dr. Manhattan revealing his plan in full, with #10 laying the groundwork for his motivation.

[Vordan]

Huh. I wonder if "I'd prefer not to go further than that" means there's actually a concrete answer for that - even if I'm certain Doomsday Clock isn't where it'll be delivered - or brushing off a question with no answer because everything that was supposed to lead into Doomsday Clock ended up about as relevant as Countdown To Final Crisis.

Prediction: since the first arc of Batman/Superman is tying into Snyder's DC megaplot - making clear it's supposed to be an Important Book - the second or third will be about resolving all the major plots those stories set up that Johns never actually touched. All the "what was the deal with Pre-Flashpoint Superman and New 52 Superman really being the same guy", "why did Manhattan save Jor-El", "what did The Button have to do with literally anything aside from setting up Thomas for King's Batman later on" stuff. Why did Dr. Manhattan blow up Pandora? Joshua Williamson and David Marquez answer the DC mystery of the decade May 2020!

(Taking bets now that it'll turn out all that stuff was ANOTHER angry cosmic guy, as implied during Hitch's Justice League run, so as to sidestep all Watchmen involvement with Manhattan never even being mentioned by name in this arc.)

Willamson has said that the next arc after the BWLs will be Superman focused so you might be right.

[Last Son of Krypton]

From BC:

"Today I was been told by senior DC Comics sources that if Doomsday Clock had begun publication now, it would most definitely have been a Black Label comic book. And, as a result, out of continuity.

I am told by other sources at DC Comics that it is intended that the events in Doomsday Clock will fold into the rest of the DC Universe in one way or another. But not in the way that was originally intended. Both down to the lateness and the change in Geoff Johns’ relationship with DC Comics.

But if you were looking for something that will tightly tie into where the Superman, Batman and Justice League comics will be, come December, that ship has sailed. Under a flag emblazoned with a black skull."

Full article: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/09...of-continuity/