Finished
Doomsday Clock Part 2, which collects issues 7 - 12 of the 12 issue miniseries.
Dr Manhattan has taken an interest in the DC Universe. For years he's been rewriting histories, changing heroes' fates... but why? He abandoned his own world to meddle in this one, without a hint of an explanation.
Now Ozymandias, the Comedian, and a new Rorschach have all followed his trail to Gotham City, With the pieces all on the board, it's Dr Manhattan's move. Only one force in the DC Universe could possibly stand against the man who was once Jon Osterman, But when the two titans face off, will superman destroy Dr Manhattan, or will Dr Manhattan destroy everything?
In my review of pt 1 I mentioned that I'd heard the original publication struggled with delays, and that I could see the story would benefit from being read straight through. So, I reread pt 1 before starting pt 2 (fortunately - I found I'd forgotten quite a bit!).
There's still an undeniable kick in seeing characters from
Watchmen interacting with those of the DCU. The connections with/callbacks to the original
Watchmen are pretty cool, again helped by supplementary materials (probably my favourite parts of the whole thing). The story itself is entertaining enough. However...
I wish Geoff Johns had written as Geoff Johns, not as Geoff Johns trying to be Alan Moore. It doesn't work. It sounds false. I'm not Johns' biggest fan, but he can normally string an impressive phrase or two together. Here, he's reaching for something he'll never grasp. It jarred enough in pt 1, but for some reason I found it a
big distraction here. I've seen
Doomsday Clock described as reading like fan-fiction. I get that.
I've mentioned previously that the pacing in pt 1 is slow; here it's all over the place. It's like watching a movie that every now and then someone 'fast-forwards' for ten seconds.
Were last-minute changes made to this? I get the feeling they intended going in one direction, then suddenly had to change course.
Most annoyingly (possibly connected to my last point), the 'drop-off' in relation to certain characters. After pt 1 I was expecting the Comedian to play a major part... but he didn't. Joker, after the big build-up in pt 1? Disappeared pretty quickly. Mime and Marionette, featured so heavily in part 1? Didn't really do a lot. Okay, without spoiling, it's hinted that something involving them may play a part in things further down the line. But that's not the point; pt 1 built them up as major characters in
this story; then pt 2 did next to nothing with them.
Happily, Gary Frank's artwork is as great as in pt 1. Layouts, characters, backdrops, everything, just beautiful.
Whilst pt 1 felt like a build-up to a main event, pt 2 didn't deliver the epic I was hoping for. I don't know how much impact
Doomsday Clock had on the wider DCU. I'm a trade waiter, and with what we've had going on this year, I'm sure I'm further behind than usual.
When I reviewed pt1 back in February I wrote,
'I've long thought that if there was a further story to be told - one that did the original [Watchmen] justice - I'd like to see it. So, is this that story?'
The answer's no. Combining
Watchmen with the DCU was a big step; being 'entertaining enough' doesn't cut it.
7/10
@Babillygunn As promised, my thoughts on second part of
Doomsday Clock (sorry it took me so long).
