As the jewel in DC’s crown, Watchmen shone too brightly, and its distance from the rest of the company’s intellectual property was an offense. How dare it sit there, untouched for so many years? When all the rest of DC’s IP has been repeatedly dragooned into rebranding efforts, why isn't Watchmen pulling its weight? If the entire economic base of DC comics weren’t corporate capitalism, I would be tempted to see the assault on Watchmen as a kind of populist leveling,

Drawn into yet another crossover event and transformed into the new cornerstone of DC continuity, Watchmen has finally been completely assimilated. As the Borg always said on Star Trek, resistance is futile. There is no superpower that can defeat hegemonic mediocrity.

Eliot Borenstein 6 months ago · 0 Likes

Anders, thank you for all your excellent comments! I appreciate the thought you've put into them, not to mention the links. And Peter David does deserve a lot more credit than he gets!

Johns is a fascinating case, really. He's a really good comics writer (or at least he was), and he combines a Thomas/Gruenwald level of geek knowledge with an unprecedented ingenuity for making things work. But I suspect he really wants to be up there in the comics pantheon with Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison, but the more of their work he touches, the more he shows that he's just not in their league.

Plus, ugh, Flashpoint and the New 52...

Anders Davenport 6 months ago · 0 Likes

“Setting aside any and all aesthetic criticisms of Doomsday Watch, it is this particularly deployment of Dr. Manhattan that is the greatest outrage. And not because of what it does or doesn’t do to the character, but because of how unnecessary it was to accomplish DC’s continuity goals, and how far it advances a corporate project of denying and independence and autonomy to the Watchmen world.”

I completely agree. Overall yours is a very good analysis of why Doomsday Clock ultimately falls flat. DC’s editorial goals (make sure Saturn Girl comes back at some point!) led to an overcrowded story that didn’t really come together in the end. There was far too much going on just to lead up to Manhattan basically waiving his hand and all-powerfully putting things as they “should be,” followed by a bunch of exposition.

I hadn’t realized that Johns had played in Moore’s sandbox so much with his Green Lantern stuff (I didn’t read that run), but, based on what I have read of his (Flash, Infinite Crisis, Doomsday Clock), I think you’re correct in saying that he “wants to reassure the reader that all the contradictory lore you have mastered actually makes sense, and is going in a positive direction.”

Johns isn’t a bad writer, but he hasn’t done his legacy any favors by writing a sequel to Watchmen. Doing so has only highlighted his limitations, which is unfortunate for him as Doomsday Clock will likely be the biggest project of his career.

John C 9 months ago · 0 Likes

Not to defend Doomsday Clock....I’ve read most of it, and it is uneven at best....but to deny the impact Watchmen has had on DC (and superhero comics in general) seems odd. I know it had nothing to do with DC continuity, but as a work of art, it impacted the entire medium.

In that sense, Johns’s decision to tell this story seemed to at least have something to say in a meta way.

However, whatever that idea might have to offer seems to be lost in the attempt to use the story to tweak DC continuity yet again.

Great analysis though. I’m enjoying your essays.

Eliot Borenstein 9 months ago · 0 Likes

Thanks, John! I take your point. I did not intend to imply that Watchmen didn't have an influence on DC--it did, just not the influence its creators would have wanted. Of course, no creator can control how the work is received.

There are plenty of good ways to respond to the darkening of superhero comics after Watchmen and TDKR, but, as with almost all the really provocative artistic reactions to Watchmen, they're less direct. Astro City, for instance, is an extended rebuke of "grim and gritty."

It's when the writers insist on being so literal (staying in the fictional terrain of Watchmen) that they end up coming off as unimaginative by comparison.

The last issue hasn't come out yet, but I can't help but wonder if the main question asked by Doomsday Clock is that of the stereotypical 8-year-old fan: If Dr. Manhattan and Superman got into a fight, who would win?