Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, HRL

Everyone Else's Spoiler Posts On Doomsday Clock #1 As The Embargo Lifts

Published Wed, 22 Nov 2017 10:52:10 -0600

Bleeding Cool ran a few spoilerific posts on Doomsday Clock #1:

But now that the embargo has lifted, everyone else can do the same!

Newsarama may have missed one thing about the poem Ozymandias being quoted:

The title, "That Annihilated Place," is a reference to the Horace Smith poem "Ozymandias." That is blunt on its own with Adrian Veidt's codename already clearly being a reference to that poem,

Because it's not. There are two poems that were competing, written at the same time by friends, one became more famous, by Shelley. Vulture picks up on this, saying:

The choice of that quotation is a nice demonstration of Johns's clever efforts to both honor and expand upon Moore. Rather than opting for a hoary verse from scripture or a line from an eye-rollingly well-known novel, the writer plucks from the poem "Ozymandias" — but not the one by Shelley, which was so prominently employed in Watchmen. No, he goes with the more obscure companion poem of the same name, written by Horace Smith and published just a few weeks after Shelley's in 1818. It works as an homage, but the lines apply well to the tale he's trying to tell, all portent and pessimism.

But Newsarama did pick up on something I was blind to:

Committed to total silence, the Mime quickly defeats the inmates around him, with the blood collected around his mouth as he smiles clearly evoking images of the Joker.

And as Polygon says:

Ironically, Punch and Jewelee are now easily mistaken for an inferior echo of Harley Quinn and the Joker, a comedic-influenced supervillain couple who didn't even exist when they were created — and whose star has risen precipitously in the years since Watchmen's publication. And given that Watchmen also used its Charlton-based characters to echo DC's bravest and boldest, well …

And they point out that this may not be The Joker at all now.

It appears that there was a press event at New York Comic-Con which has remained embargoed until now, with Polygon stating:

Geoff Johns, said that it was important to him to preserve what he considers "one of the best moments in the original Watchmen, which is [Rorschach's] death."

"But the character is so iconic," Johns continued, "and his voice is so iconic, that I wanted to do a different version of it."

"Recasting" Rorschach as a black man was not an idly chosen detail on Johns' part when adding to the Watchmen setting. At the same press event, he was asked whether the new Rorschach's race was a conscious effort towards a cast with greater diversity, and he answered candidly and immediately.

"It is," Johns said, "There's also more to it than that. The Mime also is Hispanic. I think the story needs it, I think the characters need it. There's a lot that's going to happen with it, so it's not just "Hey, he's black," and we move on. But yeah, it's very conscious — and it does tie into a lot of other things in the story. It's kind of a hint."

And Nerdist reporting:

In a New York gallery, hidden behind Nite Owl's iconic flood doors, DC displayed the entire first issue of Doomsday Clock page by page as Johns spoke in depth for the first time about his new book. "I think there's a lot of pressure on this simply because it exists," Johns said, acknowledging the controversy surrounding the idea of a Watchmen sequel. But for the writer, it was the need to tell this story that truly drove his decision. "There was a story to tell—an inkling of an idea with Superman and Dr. Manhattan—that was interesting. It was scary, it was dangerous, and it was sacrilegious in some aspects. I didn't want to disrespect anything, but I had a story to tell."

The chance to work with regular collaborator Gary Frank was also a huge drive for Johns, who clearly adores the artist. "Gary and I, we've worked together on a lot of stuff, and everything I've done with him I'm proud of," Johns said. "I do my best work with him, so I told everybody at DC that … if Gary doesn't draw this then the book isn't going to happen." Thankfully, Frank was just as excited about the project as Johns was, and after a brief pitch phone call, Doomsday Clock was born.

While CBR is not acknowledging they went to the event, but came to the conclusion by themselves.

It would appear that Johns understands that Kovacs' death in Watchmen was something that shouldn't be touched or undone, that there was no logical way to bring him back to life without doing disservice to the character. But Johns also understands the power of a mask, and the power of what a character stands for. In Doomsday Clock #1, we see that the people recognize Rorschach. Whoever is under the mask knows the strength and the significance of the costume he wears, an awareness that will likely prove important not only to the immediate story, but also the world of the Watchmen as a whole.

As for the identity of Rorschach few are speculating. Bleeding Cool suggested that it, somehow, be a Malcolm Long who survived the psychic assault on New York thanks to his own psychiatric training, who has now become obsessed with his patient Rorschach so much that he has become him.

It was also noted that he and his wife had not been able to have children, which gives new purpose to this exchange if true…