Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Colors: Brad Anderson
Letters: Rob Leigh
It’s sad. Doomsday Clock #7 dropped a couple weeks ago and I could not remember if I had read the previous issue. I went in search of issue #6 and to no surprise I had not. I opened the book and once again it was beautiful, dark but beautiful. Gary Frank’s artwork is absolutely amazing and Brad Anderson’s colors are deep with the perfect mixture of bright and dark. But again to no surprise I had forgotten what was going on, and sadly I didn’t really care. The buzz I had in the beginning has completely worn off. The excitement I felt at this all-star creative team delving into the dark and murky waters of the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons class had evaporated. I was lost and did not care, a rarity when it comes to comics and me.
I dove back in, and found the horrific origin of the Marionette and the Mime to be a riveting read. I also loved the homage to the villain centric Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 with the villains of the DCU trying to figure out their play in this less then stable and quickly deteriorating world of Doomsday Clock. The pure lunacy of the Joker was on display, yet I had forgotten how the Joker captured Batman. So back to Doomsday Clock #5 to jar that forgotten memory of the Batman and Ozymandias confrontation that resulted in Batman falling into an angry mob. So with things a little clearer I wrapped up #6 and finally delved into Doomsday Clock #7 with very little enthusiasm.
Within Doomsday Clock #7 we finally see Doctor Manhattan and his machinations in the DC Rebirth Universe. With all the principle players assembled in the lair of the Joker Doctor Manhattan finally appears and moves the Watchmen Universe heroes and villains so they can speak in private. After seven issues and almost a year after the release of Doomsday Clock #1 it’s nice to finally get some answers. We learn why Doctor Manhattan has come to the DCU and exactly what changes he’s made. We learn why the Marionette (and not the Silk Specter) was chosen to find Manhattan and the underlying tension between Ozymandias and Rorschach finally boils over. Yet as quickly as it begins it’s over and our characters are left without answers and in some cases motivation to continue and we the reader are in for another long wait.
I’m in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to Doomsday Clock. I think it is a beautiful book, from front cover to back cover the book is an incredible art spectacle. It’s also a compelling read, as Johns is doing some of his finest writing on the title as he originally made me interested in an idea I originally rejected when first proposed all the way back in DC Rebirth #1. My conundrum is that I’m not sure I care anymore. When the book was first released the rest of the DCU books were to catch up with the Doomsday Clock timeline. I really wanted that and don’t want that anymore, since to force this dark and morbid DCU on the entire line would be a step backwards, actually a huge step back since they already used this plot line leading into Infinite Crisis twelve years ago. Also the book will not finish until the summer of 2019, in which the incredible Heroes in Crisis will already have wrapped and that title has me more intrigued then Doomsday Clock. Ten months until the end of the series, almost two years to tell this entire story that is frankly moving at a snails pace with all of the side stories and the origin issues. So at the end I’m done with Doomsday Clock, until it is over. I’m sure in the distant future, probably 2020, there will be a copy of Doomsday Clock next to my copies of Watchmen on my bookshelf but until then I’m not going to worry myself with the long gap between issues, the slow burn of a story, the tangent origin issues, and the unyielding march to darkness. I’ll be there when it’s done. It’s a beautiful book with an intriguing plot, it’s just getting nowhere quickly and I don’t want to have to do a research project with each new issue since I’ve forgotten what has come before, I’ll just wait until the end and enjoy it then.
