What is your opinion on Doomsday Clock?

[Mr_E_88]

Hi guys

A while back I asked a question about Dr. Manhattan's visions in Doomsday Clock and I found that some of you guys weren’t fond of the book.

What is your opinion on Doomsday Clock?

Do you hate it, do you like, or are indifferent to it?

Personally, I love the book, it tells a good story, the art is fantastic, the dialogue is brilliant, and it brought back great characters like the Legion of Superheroes
and the first Green Lantern.

And while we didn't get an actual fight between Manhattan and Superman, what we actually good was a much more realistic confrontation between them that I believe was great.

What do you guys think?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It certainly didn't have enough to say to justify the twelve issues it took. It also didn't help that Geoff Johns's fall from grace on the corporate level kneecapped it before it was even done. Then HBO's Watchmen came along right afterward and buried it creatively and critically.

I love certain issues of Doomsday Clock, particularly the one that introduces and explores the Metaverse concept, but, overall, Doomsday Clock has to be viewed as a misfire.

[FFJamie94]

I'll view anything that tries to expand the Watchmen Universe negatively. It's one of those things that doesn't need sequels or prequels, it's a set story that accomplishes what it hoped to achieve.
Even the TV show has a massive mountain to climb for me.

[scribbleMind]

I enjoyed it on a 4/5 -8/10 level. I don't mind the 12 issues. I DID mind how often the issues were pushed back, and how it felt to me like the DC Universe was growing away from events in this comic instead of towards all throughout its release. It robs the narrative of a bit of teeth. I should probably take the time to read the whole thing all at once.

[achilles]

I'll view anything that tries to expand the Watchmen Universe negatively. It's one of those things that doesn't need sequels or prequels, it's a set story that accomplishes what it hoped to achieve.
Even the TV show has a massive mountain to climb for me.

This. Watchmen was a work that depended on the zeitgeist of the 80s, which is long gone. Even then, it was a technically superior work that wasn't especially original, and really wasn't made with sequels in mind. Nor does it need any. Some stories are like that, meant as one shots and not needing or benefiting from sequels or prequels. As a character, I felt Manhattan's arc was well and truly finished in the original story, and using him for DC was a stunt.

So, right out of the gate I didn't like the concept for DC. YMMV.

[Agent Z]

A poorly-written story that ran for too long and a convoluted tale that placed the blame for DC's problems on the wrong thing.

[HandofPrometheus]

I only liked the issue where all the DC heroes came together to fight Manhattan. Seeing some of my faves was very pleasing. I also liked the issue Bored mentioned.

[Jekyll]

Completely derailed with scheduling and I lost any and all interest in continuing with the book. Ultimately it mattered little in the continuing plans for the DCU as well. So I guess count me in the indifferent category.

[FFJamie94]

This. Watchmen was a work that depended on the zeitgeist of the 80s, which is long gone. Even then, it was a technically superior work that wasn't especially original, and really wasn't made with sequels in mind. Nor does it need any. Some stories are like that, meant as one shots and not needing or benefiting from sequels or prequels. As a character, I felt Manhattan's arc was well and truly finished in the original story, and using him for DC was a stunt.

So, right out of the gate I didn't like the concept for DC. YMMV.

Doing a sequel to Watchmen is like doing a sequel to A Clockwork Orange, it says everything it needs to say and going back to it makes the Company look creatively bankrupt.

[HsssH]

Worse than Before Watchmen.

[lordozone]

It certainly didn't have enough to say to justify the twelve issues it took. It also didn't help that Geoff Johns's fall from grace on the corporate level kneecapped it before it was even done. Then HBO's Watchmen came along right afterward and buried it creatively and critically.

I love certain issues of Doomsday Clock, particularly the one that introduces and explores the Metaverse concept, but, overall, Doomsday Clock has to be viewed as a misfire.

This. After the HBO's watchmen, nobody cared anymore about this version. For me, it was just a passable crisis-event, who used Watchmen characters. But after the HBO series, who was written with a real vision by an excellent writer and was not totally corporate mandated (and even if this HBO version was far from perfect), it's hard to care about Dc vs Watchmen.

[sifighter]

I enjoyed it, only thing really hampering it were delays and obvious changes made because of editorial (you really think Johns wanted heroes in crisis and Bendis’ Legion). So yeah I had a good time, enjoyed the story, and the JSA came back, so yeah I liked it.

[Ishmael]

Unnecessary. Watchmen doesn't need a sequel - in fact, the uncertainty about what happens next is part of what makes it a classic and raises it to the level of art.

Also, Doomsday Clock not only tells a story that doesn't need telling, it does so purely to address editorial decisions made by the publisher that had not played out the way they had hoped (regarding the New 52 and its longer term outcomes). To use the Watchmen characters to tell a story that explains DC's publishing mistakes "in universe" is simply a horrible idea, and the end result shows it.

Doomsday Clock is like a car wreck - you pause to look at it, and then kinda wonder what happened before getting on with your own trip and forgetting about it.

[achilles]

Doing a sequel to Watchmen is like doing a sequel to A Clockwork Orange, it says everything it needs to say and going back to it makes the Company look creatively bankrupt.

Well, yes, absolutely. When I first heard they were going to do it, I thought it was a bad idea for that reason. You sort of wonder when DC is going to stop periodically going back to that.

[king of hybrids]

Dreck that existed only to desensitise readers to using Watchmen stuff in conjunction with DC characters