Clocking The Watchmen!

Now having defended DC's efforts to develop the Watchmen universe, I must say that Doomsday Clock by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank is an uneven effort. Frank's artwork is outstanding as usual and there's nothing fundamentally wrong with writing by Johns. Both do a remarkable job of echoing the classic Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, but the final effort feels watered down. It's a clever trick to have some of the Watchmen characters (or revised versions at least) enter a more familiar DC universe, but adding Superman and Batman to the mix is well done but falls short of expectations. Frankly, we only get Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias and Rorscach. No Comedian, no Nite Owl, and no Silk Spectre. That's a mistake, particularly in regard to the final two. The story reads quickly, perhaps faster than I expected. Instead of the pirate tale traveling alongside the main plot, we get references to obscure DC character Nathaniel Dusk. This is a rocking good story, but put up against the classic original, it lacks the gravity and heft. Still a good read though. 

Here are the covers. 

 

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