Doomsday Clock #1 spoiler-free review: Not what you expected, in a good way

The Doomsday Clock is ticking, but it’s counting down toward a story that seems likely to surprise readers in unexpected ways.

If it’s possible to be pretty forthcoming about what a comic book story is about while also playing one’s cards close to the vest at the same time, DC Comics is pulling it off with regard to Doomsday Clock. What we’ve known for a while is that the 12-issue series by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank would delve more deeply into the how and why DC Rebirth came about, and why the person at its center wanted to mess with the memories and histories of characters everyone knows and loves.

Furthermore, it’s not a secret that said person (or maybe being is the more precise term given his power level) is Doctor Manhattan from the seminal ’80s series Watchmen. Just the thought of mixing the Watchmen and mainstream DC universes is a concept that would have whipped the comics community into a frenzy at one point, but we also live in a post-Before Watchmen world where tinkering with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ creations no longer seems so blasphemous.

As Johns himself noted at New York Comic-Con, this is a different ballgame altogether. Instead of riffing on the likes of Rorschach and Nite Owl before we first met them, Doomsday Clock is plotting a new course altogether. DC wouldn’t be pushing this series quite so hard if it was just another story, and the fact that the company is keeping it tight, avoiding crossovers and the like, reinforces the idea that the comic wouldn’t be happening if Johns didn’t feel it was worth it.

What’s so startling about Doomsday Clock #1 is that it comes with answers to questions you didn’t know you had. Partly, this is because the end of Watchmen was so perfect that it doesn’t necessarily dawn on you to ponder what happened in that world once the final page ends. Was Veidt right? Did the truth ever come to light? And did it matter?

Backing up Johns’ assertion that this isn’t going to be a series about Superman slugging it out with Doctor Manhattan, the Man of Steel plays only a small role in its first chapter. The pace is deliberate, and while there are action sequences, much of the narrative is driven by dialogue and the thoughts of an off-kilter narrator.

Johns clearly has not only put in plenty of thought into world-building in Moore’s footsteps but also the aesthetic of the Watchmen world. It feels like a step back into that setting, albeit one that has gone on and had a number of big but logical developments since the last time we visited. There are recognizable faces, shifting alliances and motivations, and at least one very big reveal of the type that stops you dead in your tracks.

Aiding in this marriage of the familiar and the new is Frank’s art. Johns has been vocal about how he was the only artist he felt could draw this story and that once he heard the writer’s pitch, he was all-in. While working with the same nine-panel grid that Gibbons used to give Watchmen a unique visual language, Frank also adds plenty of his own flourishes. If every issue looks as good as issue #1, he and colorist Brad Anderson are about to get tons more kudos than they’ve already received to this point in their careers.

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Still, the best part of Doomsday Clock #1 is how it pretty deftly gets you to check all of your expectations at the door. It was smart for DC not to market this as just another event series that follows up on Rebirth, or a sequel to Watchmen, or even a Watchmen/DC crossover. It’s very much its own thing, and considering the building blocks it’s playing with, just saying that is high praise indeed.