Long-awaited sequel to 'Watchmen' has humor, heart

Yeah, Supes is in it too.

IMAGE: DC ENTERTAINMENT

BY NICOLE HERVIOU6 HOURS AGO

Warning: this post contains spoilers for the first issue of Doomsday Clock. 

There seems to be two kinds of comics — gritty, dark, and serious on the one hand, lighthearted and funny on the other. Somehow, the first installment of Doomsday Clock does the impossible: it manages to be both.

That's appropriate, because this comic is attempting to do the impossible in another way, too. Writer Geoff Johns (who also happens to be the President and CCO of DC Entertainment) is trying to close the divide between the regular DC Universe of Superman, Batman et al, and the world of Alan Moore's 1986 standalone classic Watchmen — in which Superman is named as a fictional character in a comic book. 

So that's not exactly simple.

SEE ALSO: The first 'Doomsday Clock' pages introduce a character as controversial as the event itself

Doomsday Clock has garnered wide interest and buzz, but has also dug itself into one hell of a hole out of which it needs to climb.

It needs to be so good that it justifies its existence to the world (we really didn't need a sequel to Watchmen, which ends on a perfectly ambiguous note). It needs to prove it's not just a gimmicky crossover. Ideally, it needs to not be seen as blasphemous to the millions of comic book fans who view Watchmen as a sacred text.  

It also needs to fix the elements that make Watchmen so problematic — its treatment of women and scarcity of people of color, amongst other issues. To be embraced in this day and age, it has to make some changes.

But the first installment offers some hope. When the first six pages were revealed at New York Comic Con, the crowd went crazy for them, especially when the final page revealed the return of Rorschach — a character who was utterly obliterated in Watchmen. 

Is this a new Rorschach? Doomsday Clock #1 gives us the answer fairly quickly: Yes. This version of Rorschach proves that he's a different man by removing his glove to show that he's black. This is an interesting twist. It makes one wonder what the old Rorschach (who wasn't the most liberal of characters) would think about a black man taking up his mantle. 

Adrian Veidt, a.k.a. Ozymandias — the dude who killed half of New York City with a giant freaking alien — is also back, and working with the new Rorschach. The shock of that reveal is a highlight of the issue, not least because Veidt is holding a baby version of his genetically modified big cat Bubastis.

Source: mashable

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