Press Release

It was well over a year ago that the first seeds of DC’s Doomsday Clock event were planted with the release of DC Universe: Rebirth #1. 11 months later DC dropped a huge speculation bomb with the release of “The Button” part one in Batman #21 and part two in The Flash #21. The Comedian’s blood-stained button was discovered embedded in the wall of the Batcave and from there the countdown was officially on.

Watchmen is without question one of the most significant works in comics and literature. Time magazine has recognized it as one of the top 100 novels of all-time, critics across the board rain praise and it earned a Hugo award. So to say this is a big deal for DC and the world of comics as a whole is a huge understatement.

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My colleague and fellow writer Alyssa Jackson and I were fortunate enough to receive an invitation to DC’s mysterious and secretive Doomsday Clock event last night. Over the years I’ve attended quite a few conventions, seen a lot of really amazing things and had more than one “holy s--t” moment. But this was something different and truly special. The occasions where I’ve encountered a creator whose passion gave me goosebumps can be counted on one hand and Geoff Johns’s Doomsday Clock event is so assuredly on that hand. The last time I was this excited for a comic event was Green Lantern: Rebirth and that was over ten years ago. If that doesn’t get you interested in this book, I don’t have anything else in my toolbox to convince you.

Thus Alyssa and I are incredibly thrilled to be able to introduce you to the first six pages of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s epic, incredible and world shaking event, Doomsday Clock!

Doomsday Clock will be a twelve issue one-shot event. No tie-ins and you won’t be seeing Doctor Manhattan appearing in Action Comics. The captions for the following six images are words directly from creator Geoff Johns.

“If you know Watchmen at all, this is definitely a take off the first page. One of the first things I wanted to do is put a date. November 22nd 1992 or maybe it’s the 23rd. That’s really important to me because I wanted you to know the narrator is unreliable.”

“What’s happening in the world. The chaos that has sprung out, all caused by one man that’s to blame, Ozymandias. Making him the most wanted man in the world is a lot of fun because all he wanted to do was save the world.”

“The Great Lie, clearly there’s a story to be told there. The back matter of the issue will have pieces of the news article story. We cut to Karnak Adrian’s base with the Russian military moving in. I love the way Gary drew the frozen palm trees.”

“We get all the news clippings and we finally realize they’re coming from Adrian’s televisions. Russian military go into this room we haven’t been in before. We see these x-rays with a skull and clearly a tumor.”

“These newscasters are shutting down. Just like the newspapers have been shut down. The last broadcast from every independent station as they’re all shutting down. As they shut down the national news broadcast hosted by William F. Buckley Jr comes online. Now all the TV’s are the same.”

“This is the same prison Rorschach was imprisoned in. We get to the title and Rorschach says the the guy ‘you still want out?’ and he says ‘no I’m cool’ and Rorschach says ‘stomach groans. I’m hungry’.

Geoff Johns Gary Frank

Check out the official press release from DC below:

In the most anticipated story of the year, New York Times bestselling writer Geoff Johns confirms Watchmen will make an epic return to the DC Universe this November. As “The Button” crossover comes to a close in FLASH #22 this Wednesday, the four page epilogue affirms the mystery will continue with DOOMSDAY CLOCK from Johns and legendary artists Gary Frank and Brad Anderson. “It’s time. Last year, the DC Universe confronted the legacy of Watchmen in Rebirth the way Watchmen confronted the legacy of superhero comics three decades ago,” explains writer Geoff Johns. “Thematically, and metaphorically, there was no better choice than to use Dr. Manhattan. If you’re going to have a conflict between optimism and pessimism, a battle between the very forces of hope and despair, you need to have someone who personifies the cynicism that has leaked into our hearts and also has the ability to affect the entire DCU. It’s all paying off this November with DOOMSDAY CLOCK.” “DOOMSDAY CLOCK is a story for fans who love the DC Universe and Watchmen and want to see what a master of this genre creates when he puts them together,” says Frank. “As for my artistic approach to the series, each panel is extremely detailed and I am constantly thinking through the position of every single element.”