On account of my mostly useless retinas, comic books are mostly a fond memory for me. That said, the new girlfriend is herself a geek, and decided I should not be deprived of the DOOMDSDAY CLOCK limited series from DC. Thus, she took it on herself to read it to me over the past several nights.
Well, at least snuggling with her was fun.
Overall I was not pleased, though for reasons I am not sure are fair. My problem with the series is its basic concept. I was quite fond of Moore & Gibbons’ work on the original WATCHMEN A generation ago. But the notion of that story having a crossover with mainstream DC continuity, in essence turning it into just another comic book story rather than the brilliant deconstruction of same it was, really bothered me.
Perhaps it is just me. Perhaps the fact that I was only receiving the dialogue of the story (however entertainingly), along with my wobegon memories of being able to appreciate comic books properly, has left me embittered.
So, sighted people: am I being unfair in this assessment of DOOMSDAY CLOCK ?
The meta-concept was somewhat intriguing - the idea that the DC universe basically gets reset every few years with Superman being the central focus, i.e. his presence and specific form sets the tone, which I guess represents the first thought any editor at DC must consider when planning a major retcon - how will it affect DC’s most recognizable and arguably most significant character, because if you change him in ways that turn out to be unpopular, you could seriously damage the entire company.
Beyond that, I found the whole thing painfully slow and I tire of the trope where one character has made plans 50 steps ahead and that includes predicting to the second exactly what other characters will do and when. The DC characters seemed almost helpless against Ozymandias’s plans, which I don’t think were ever very clear or coherent: ….something-something-something-doctor-manhattan……
That part DID work for me, if only for the implied diss of Batman. Which in itself upset the girlfriend, but she was generally happy with the rest of it.
Well, I enjoyed Marionette and Mime. I liked the concept of the Metaverse. I’m glad they restored the Legion and the JSA to something like pre-Flashpoint.
There are probably parallel universes where an editor at DC comics thought “Let’s make him look like Nicholas Cage, and he doesn’t fly or wear the costume!” and the company crashed firmly into bankruptcy.
I enjoyed the bringing back of the LSH and JSA and fanboy appreciation of Superman and how his main ability is to inspire everyone to be the best they can.