A new comic book has been announced titled Doomsday Clock, which will bring together the worlds of the DC Comics universe and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ legendary graphic novel Watchmen.
The standalone miniseries will be a continuation of “The Button” crossover storyline, which began in Rebirth Special #1, continued in a four-part Batman #21 arc, and concludes tomorrow with the release of The Flash #22. It will be written by DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns, with art by Gary Frank and Brad Anderson, and is planned for a November release.
Find much more info on Doomsday Clock below.
Of the announcement, Johns said:
“It’s time. Last year, the DC Universe confronted the legacy of Watchmen in Rebirth the way Watchmen confronted the legacy of superhero comics three decades ago. Thematically, and metaphorically, there was no better choice than to use Dr. Manhattan. If you’re going to have a conflict between optimism and pessimism, a battle between the very forces of hope and despair, you need to have someone who personifies the cynicism that has leaked into our hearts and also has the ability to affect the entire DCU. It’s all paying off this November with DOOMSDAY CLOCK.”
With Frank adding:
“DOOMSDAY CLOCK is a story for fans who love the DC Universe and Watchmen and want to see what a master of this genre creates when he puts them together. As for my artistic approach to the series, each panel is extremely detailed and I am constantly thinking through the position of every single element.”
Johns also shared some more thoughts on the project with SyfyWire, who shared the teaser image found below.
First, Johns wanted to make it clear that this is not a Watchmen sequel:
“It is something else. It is Watchmen colliding with the DC Universe. It is the most personal and most epic, utterly mind-bending project I have ever worked on in my career. With Rebirth, I opened the door to Manhattan. Part of that was I loved the real-world influence Watchmen has. I put Manhattan out there, and always thought there was a Manhattan/Superman story to be told, but then … it grew. And grew. It took my heart and soul over. Still, at the core of it, there’s a being who has lost his humanity, and distanced himself from it, and an alien who embodies humanity more than most humans. I love the idea that Watchmen influenced DC, but what would that look like in reverse? And it goes well beyond that.”
He also puts an emphasis on Doomsday Clock being a standalone story:
“We’re not going to do a story like this unless we one-thousand percent believe in it. It is all about the story; it is only about the story. There are no crossovers. No watered down one-shots or mini-series on top of this one. This is a standalone story. There is only Doomsday Clock. We had no interest in doing a crossover with this. We didn’t want to see Doctor Manhattan facing off against Superman in Action Comics, with all due respect. That is not what this is about. It is about something different “¦ It will have an impact on the entire DC Universe. It will affect everything moving forward and everything that has come before. It will touch the thematic and literal essence of DC.”
Johns then briefly touches on characters that will be involved, without revealing much:
“There will be DC characters throughout this, but this focuses in on only a handful. There is a lot of focus on Superman, and Doctor Manhattan. Doctor Manhattan is a huge focus, and his reasons for being here, and doing what he does, ultimately have to do with Superman. And there are many, many more characters to be involved, but it is a bit early to discuss.”
Johns also shares that Doomsday Clock is inspired by the very real things going on in our world right now:
“It is about much more than the American president or the reactions to him. That is low hanging fruit to me. It goes bigger, deeper. It is about the world, and the attitude of people. I feel like there are extremes now everywhere, extremes on all sides. There is no more olive branch. It doesn’t exist. I feel like people, more and more, are separated. They are choosing sides, instead of figuring out how to make life better together. There is a real sense of anger, and frustration, and there is not a lot of compassion, or willingness to understand in the world. Telling a story of two extremes, and exploring what our collective zeitgeist states through these characters is what we are doing. We think it’s important “¦ The truth is, if the world and the country didn’t go a certain way, I don’t know that we would be telling this story. For us, the story would not exist if the last year didn’t unfold the way it did, and the rise of extremism wasn’t so palpable.”
Johns had plenty more to say as well, so be sure to head over to SyfyWire to read that if interested.
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[Source: DC Comics]
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