SPOILERS!
As Ozymandias tries to convince Doctor Manhattan to save their world, the DC Universe begins to implode too as a metahuman war between America and Russia breaks out - with Superman caught in the middle! All roads point towards these two - but what will happen when Superman meets Manhattan? The Doomsday Clock is mere moments away from midnight…
Well that was disappointing! Doomsday Clock Part 2 is an unsatisfying and surprisingly boring finale to what was only ever a mediocre first half to this story.
Doctor Manhattan makes his big entrance (sans black zigzag underpants so you can see his doomsday cock) and I’d forgotten how annoying his speech pattern was. “It’s July 1960 and so and so’s doing something; it’s December 1943 and so and so’s doing something; it’s January 1986 and so and so’s doing something; it’s August 2014 and so and so’s doing something”. Droning on and on in this tedious fashion. I get it, he’s a time-traveller who sees multiple realities! But there’s so much of this rubbish in this book to struggle through.
Geoff Johns falls back on that most dull of superhero tropes: big dumb pointless fighting. Because of Firestorm’s contrived presence in Russia and an incident he seems to cause there, the superheroes get their asses to Mars to fight Manhattan. That was so, so stupid. Not one of them stood a chance, even together. I mean, what are Nightwing and Batgirl going to do against a time-travelling god who can literally create universes - throw a Batarang at him?!
Later on, the no-name Russki superheroes take on the big-name superheroes led by Superman - who d’you reckon will win? Come on. This is just tiresome padding to fill up space and isn’t in the least bit interesting to read.
The worst bit of the first book was the old movie stuff in the old folks’ home that led to the old geezer finding a Green Lantern in an abandoned factory. I’d thought the old movie stuff was irrelevant but it turns out the Green Lantern stuff was instead - I don’t think the Lantern or the old man play any role in this book whatsoever! Same with Rorschach, Saturn Girl, Marionette and Mime, Batman - pretty much everyone from the first book!
The old movie stuff featured an actor called Carver Colman who is an important part of Manhattan’s comings and goings. Apparently he needs an anchor to let him know which reality he’s in and Carver is that anchor. It still feels like there’s way too many pages spent on what’s a fairly basic concept, especially when nearly all of those pages are hella boring.
There wasn’t much I liked about this book. The idea of the Metaverse as distinct and influencing the Multiverse is a clever one as it explains why the other worlds in the Multiverse are derivative of the “main” one. The revelation though that Manhattan created The New 52 was a really silly one. Come on DC, you were responsible for that stink bomb, no-one else!
Superman choosing not to fight Manhattan was very much in Superman’s character, so kudos to Johns for that. And Gary Frank’s art is superb as always - really impressed with the details of the splash pages.
The ending was far too confusing. So the whole point of involving Marionette and Mime (who, the latter by the by, we never do find out whether he has superpowers or actual invisible weapons) was because their son makes some friends of Manhattan’s very happy. Those friends turn out to be the retired Nite Owl and Silk Spectre who we see in the final pages living in domestic bliss in some idyllic Americana.
But what’s so special about their son - why does Manhattan kidnap him over anyone else? What does that Manhattan mark on the kid’s forehead mean - is he Manhattan reincarnated, after Jon ends himself and returns to his pre-superhero state? Why does he need a boy’s body to reincarnate? If it’s not him, why doesn’t he just create a boy himself anyway - why involve M&M? I understand why there’s a “Clark” in the Watchmen world - because Superman inspired Manhattan to see the good, etc. etc. - but not why it had to specifically be M&M’s son.
So basically Ozymandias did the right thing because his tampering saved the Watchmen’s world and the DCU’s - so it’s a good thing that he’s in prison now…? And I guess Geoff Johns did what he set out to do which was place (most of) the Watchmen characters in the DCU - hamfistedly and without telling a fun, enjoyable story, but he dunit.
Doomsday Clock Part 2 is a weak and clumsy ending to an overwrought story. Tick, to... - snooze. Roll on Tom King’s Rorschach…
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