Please note:all reviews contain spoilers for the comics being reviewed.



Written by:Geoff Johns

Drawn by:Ethan Van Sciver

Colors by:Moose Bauman



I remember when Doomsday Clock was announced I heard some criticism of Geoff Johns being the one writing it. Johns was not seen as a very “deep” writer to the extent worthy to write a sequel to Watchmen. The truth is that no writer in comics has consistently shown enough thematic depth to compete with Watchmen. Honestly, even Alan Moore couldn’t consistently show thematic depth on the level of Watchmen. But Johns? His Green Lantern, run while it had it’s problems, over the course of it’s duration forms a pretty fleshed out look at how fear and other emotions affect people. It takes 9 years for him to say as much as Moore did in 1 year, but it’s still pretty great.



In the six issue mini that kicks off the run, the message is pretty simple. In many situations, one needs to accept fear and process it in order to properly deal with it. In doing so it raises a pretty interesting philosophical dilemma: how much of a strength is Hal Jordan’s brand of fearlessness, really? Because yes there’s no denying that the sheer extent of Hal’s fearlessness is what propelled him to the number one spot in the “greatest green lantern” rankings, at least according to in-universe sources. However, it’s also directly acknowledged that he never used his incredible willpower to fight off the thing that turned him into a mass murderer, because he’s too cocky to realize that something was wrong with his mind. The dilemma of how his fearlessness both helps and hurts his life is what fascinates me about Hal Jordan overall, and why I’ve never understood when people call him a boring character.



Johns smartly doesn’t cop out of making Hal into someone who made a huge mistake. He just changes it from a mistake so monumental it would be almost impossible to make him likeable ever again to one much more human and understandable. Parallax chose Hal out of all the Green Lantern’s because he knew he would be the easiest to exploit. When faced with a tragedy like the destruction of Coast City he’s easier to make snap because he’s forced to experience fear after being unaccustomed to it for such a huge portion of his life. On top of that the retcon is just really clever. It’s satisfying to see Johns tie in a bunch of disparate elements of GL mythology (Hal’s greying hair, the yellow weakness, and Hal’s turn to Parallax) while simultaneously setting up the future of the franchise. It’s kind of a masterclass in the art of retconning and referencing the past in a satisfying way.



One aspect of this story arc that is often criticized is the depiction of Batman, which is something I’ve never understood the dislike of. Characters shouldn’t be perfect all the time, and being paranoid and distrusting of others is perfectly in character for Batman, and the fact that they have such contrasting attitudes towards fear is an interesting contrast to highlight. Besides, he has a point. How many times has a villain used pretending to reform as part of an evil scheme? Besides, in a situation clearly related to Hal Jordan where the plot being executed is done using powers Hal Jordan has (at the time, namely the power of The Spectre) Hal Jordan is a logical prime suspect. Besides, since whether Hal Jordan’s approach to fear is good or not is the central thematic dilemma of the story, it makes sense to have mutliple perspectives including a hard “no”.



(On a related note, Johns embues Hal with an interesting sense of menace in this story that’s never quite seen again. The moment of Hal waiting in the shadows for Carol at the end of issue 1, just a little too calm, and his matter of fact response of “I don’t know how” to being told to give up make him seem just…not quite right)



The other primary differing perspective is Kyle Rayner, who’s greatest strength is the very thing Hal lacks. While in some way this story sweeps Kyle under the bus, it also pays tribute to him and in one of the best scenes, Hal summarizes Kyle’s strength in a single page. Anyway, the new status quo for Kyle is much fairer than some other legacy characters after their predecessors returned (cough Wally West cough), and he’s been in at least one monthly comic pretty consistently up until recently.



Despite the overall message supporting Kyle, Hal and Kyle are presented as both representing necessary aspects of being a Green Lantern, since it’s implied that Hal’s complete fearlessness is not just Hal’s greatest weakness but also, more obviously, Hal’s greatest strength. After all, as mentioned before, there has to be something that elevated him to “greatest Green Lantern of all” and he doesn’t seem like much of a standout in intelligence or creativity (sorry Hal).



The best thing about this comic though is the little details. I feel like Johns could write a novel because he’s great at writing inner monologues that shine an interesting perspectives on what’s going on. Stuff like the description of how the different Green Lantern’s use their powers differently ,how Sinestro is the one villain Guy Gardner never mentions, and the description of how Hal feels when he’s finally free of Parallax add so much to the story.



Finally, there’s the artwork. It’s hard for me to describe why, but there’s something about it that really captures the epic feel of the story. He imbues every characters look with the atmosphere of the character. Hal gets a square jawed heroic look. Sinestro, Black Hand, Hammond and Parallax (I’m referring most noticeably the occasional appearances of Hal’s parallax look in order to represent Parallax as an aspect of the spectre, which looks great) all have a solid sense of menace to them. John Stewart looks broad shouldered and serious in a way that lends himself well to his down to earth professional attitude. Kyle looks very human and unflashy which works well with what he represents.



Overall, this is a beautifully written, epic and thought provoking kickoff to Johns’s legendary GL run.



9/10