Doomsday Clock #1
Who reads the Clock?
by Phil Perich for the Capes and Lunatics Blog
This past Wednesday, we got the release of the first issue of Doomsday Clock #1, the limited series that will finally introduces the characters from the twelve issue Watchmen series from 1986-1987 created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons to the more widely known superheroes of the DC Universe.
The series is certainly going to be controversial, not just for the fact that Alan Moore has refused to cooperate with any Watchmen project from DC including the movie from several years ago and the upcoming series on HBO. But how could this series affect the DC Universe story wise? And what secrets will be revealed?
Tell Me What You See
One of the biggest mysteries of Doomsday Clock #1 is the identity of the new Rorschach. The only clues we have are that this is a new Rorschach and not the original who was killed by Doctor Manhattan. And when this individual took his glove off he appeared to be a person of color. I believe whoever he is, the new Rorschach will have a tie to the original series. But who could he be? Doctor Malcolm Long who attempted to pierce the psyche of the original Rorschach when he was temporarily incarcerated? What about the young boy who was always reading at the newsstand? Both appeared to die in Ozymandias’s attack on New York but in a world with Doctor Manhattan and Ozymandias anything is possible.
Back To The Future
While the original Watchmen series took place in the 1980s, issue #1 of Doomsday Clock begins in 1992, the world is in chaos (social commentary on our real world, or just dramatic storytelling?). Ozymandias is the world’s most wanted man thanks to the original Rorschach’s journal that detailed the whole “fake alien invasion” plot of Ozymandias that killed millions to “save” the world. Ozymandias and his new Rorschach break two previously unseen villains out of jail, Marionette and Mime. Ozymandias who is now dying of cancer claims to need their help to find the world’s salvation, Doctor Manhattan, who in the original series and in flashback in this issue said he was leaving the galaxy for one less complicated. Where could he have possible gone?
Crisis on Infinite DC Properties
The prevailing theory seems to be that at some point Doctor Manhattan journeys to the main DC Universe and tampers with time and space itself. Part of the theory is that Doctor Manhattan shares the blame with Barry Allen for transforming the DC Universe into it’s New 52 incarnation. Manhattan has also seemingly plucked Superman’s father Jor-El from the time stream and saved him from death. Jor-El has been living on Earth for years under the guise of the mysterious “Mr Oz” (Manhattan’s attempt to create his own, new Ozymandias?). I have even seen multiple theories that place Manhattan at the foundation of the DC Universe. Millions of years ago, when the renegade Guardian of the Universe Krona attempted to pierce the veil of time and see the beginning of the universe, he saw a giant hand emerge from nothingness. Later believed to be Krona himself thanks to the anomalous nature of time travel, the new theory is that the hand was Doctor Manhattan. Did Doctor Manhattan create the DC Universe? Has he been responsible for every universe altering crisis since the beginning?
Faster Than A Speeding Cosmic Assassin
And if the theory of Doctor Manhattan altering the flow of time in the DC Universe is true, has he done the unthinkable? Is Manhattan responsible for the erasure of events like the marriage of Barry Allen and Iris West? The last few pages of Doomsday Clock #1 are fueling speculation that thanks to Manhattan’s manipulations Jonathan and Martha Kent died before their intended time. And with the reveal of Jor-El as the mysterious Mr. Oz, what agenda does Doctor Manhattan have with Superman? An attack on a foe powerful enough to stop him? Or does Manhattan have darker plans in mind?
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