Doomsday Clock…

[Kirk Brent]

You can tell reading the story that this was not the original story they were going to tell. Whatever Johns had been building up to with stuff like the Button and other stuff in Rebirth got shoved to the side by Didio in favor of the new direction DC was taking being led by guys like Bendis and King. I still say that all of the delays came from Johns having to basically rewrite the entire 2nd half of the story because of what other writers were doing that went directly against the story he had planned. It was a giant mess created by Didio and Bob Harras which left pretty much no one happy especially the people who had been excited about the build up after Rebirth.

This is the absolute truth of the matter. So many people blamed Johns for the delays and/or Gary Frank's work ethic. The truth was that everything Johns had been building up to since the DC Rebirth Special was gutted when, for some reason, DiDio and Lee returned. Jurgens and Tomasi both shared at the time that they had stories planned and were told abruptly that Bendis was coming aboard. His plans for the Super Family were not at all what I imagine Johns had set up, including Jor-El sticking around. DC would have led to the restoration of the Metaverse/Earth-Zero/Earth-Prime universe with elements of the New 52 that worked remaining. IIRC, Johns was going to return to JSA and he also had plans for the Legion. He also succeeded in making Jason Todd interesting again (at least for me) and I think one of the titles in the post-Doomsday Clock relaunch would have shown Jason's journey to redemption.

Instead, DiDio and Harras bring Bendis in and Rebirth is gutted. I'm guessing someone at WB either hated Johns or loved him so much they decided to move him entirely to the film division. Johns would be great in that role but not as the studio currently runs things. We know he was frequently at odds with the Snyder direction. WB's problem has always been a lack of love for and understanding of the DCU. It's quite possibly the richest fictional universe outside of Star Wars, even more so than Marvel.

Bendis' Man of Steel was my second to last DC purchase. Once Doomsday Clock ended, I stopped buying completely. The saddest thing was that I had been reading more titles during Rebirth than I'd read since I was in high school and college. That line-wide quality was tossed out because of Bendis, King, and Snyder's "vision." I don't think the DCU will ever recover.

[Batgrayson]

. He also succeeded in making Jason Todd interesting again (at least for me) and I think one of the titles in the post-Doomsday Clock relaunch would have shown Jason's journey to redemption.

On Three Jokers? Because Lobdell made more for Jason during years on Red Hood and the Outlaws than that mini series, which again portrayed him just as the "Robin killed by the Joker".

I can just talk about the Red Hood and the Outlaws series from Rebirth, and I know the New52 series was a polemic one and the DcYou series was hated, but I think Lobdell really cared enough to make Jason a more complete character that is not just defined by his death.

[PennyDreadful]

King made the plot, told DC that there will be a character that did it and two characters that will be the red herring. He asked for which characters he can use for those three roles. DC gave him Booster, Harley, and Wally. King chose Wally as the culprit.

The creative team and editorial really wanted another Identity Crisis that badly, huh?

[Kirk Brent]

The creative team and editorial really wanted another Identity Crisis that badly, huh?

I'm sure DiDio was pleased by that choice given his hate for Wally. I'm so glad the man is finally gone.

[Restingvoice]

The creative team and editorial really wanted another Identity Crisis that badly, huh?

He said because he likes Wally, he wants to put him through the ringer, the same as he did to Batman.