NOTE: My thoughts on this comic were originally posted on the Community site within the DC Universe service. Some minor edits have been made, most notably a new introduction paragraph. Otherwise, my original thoughts on the comic remain unchanged.

DC Comics has made several mistakes over the years. One of their most infamous is the New 52. It was their attempt to restart their universe and continuity from scratch, as if it was brand new. I’m not the first to tell you it was a massive failure. The vast majority of issue can be connected to a lack of commitment to actually start over, seemingly referencing events and characters that shouldn’t have happened or exist yet, as well as the dark and sour tone of a lot of the title being published at the time. This started in 2011 but came to an end in 2016 with the soft reboot one shot, DC Rebirth. This would help change the tone of all title and characters and actually help improve the creative direction the company was leading towards. One thing to note in the one shot that the in universe reason for why the New 52 happened, while at the time still unknown, was caused by someone. And the ending pages made it clear that the being responsible is Doctor Manhattan. Thus setting the stage for the characters of the Watchmen universe to finally meet the heroes of the main DC Universe.

First things first – if you are an Alan Moore purist or if you have an unbreakable love for the original Watchmen story, chances are you are not going to be interested in this story. You might even be someone who just really prefers grounded and realistic stories like Watchmen, preferring to read stories that deconstruct the genre much like how Alan Moore did. If any of this sounds like you, chances are you aren’t going to be interested in this. But maybe there is a small chance what I have to say might make you curious enough to check it out. With that said, let’s dive in.

When it comes to Watchmen, I will be one of many people to say it as an epic story. It is a graphic novel I still very much love today,. However, I will admit, especially looking back on it recently, there are a few flaws. Because it does explore complex philosophies and mature themes, Watchmen is a cold story, one that presents a dark deconstruction of the superhero genre. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It could come off as a touch pretentious at times, but it is still an important and relevant story even to this day. But this has inspired the Dark Age of comics, a lot of new anti-heroes and dark stories that have really turned the genre itself into a depressing landscape. Characters and titles that are dark, violent, and “edgy” just because they can be or the people behind them thought they would be cool and popular. But those stories and characters that came afterword, despite how popular they became or how laughably bad they ended up becoming, did serve as a reminder about Watchmen’s legacy. One that is dark, cold, and pessimistic to its core.

In hindsight, it should come as no surprise that one of the characters that story created ended up being the one responsible for the New 52. That era of DC did seem like something that would come out of the 1990s.

But let’s get back to the present. When we return to the world of Watchmen in the first issue of Doomsday Clock, it is living in a state of anger and conflict that feels eerily similar to our real world. New characters Mime and Marionette bring a dark glee to the world, similar to Joker and Harley Quinn, but the new Rorschach (Reggie Long) is a reminder of how grim their world is. Whether it is how Ozymandias talks to Saturn Girl or how Doctor Manhattan explains what he has been up to all these years, the pessimistic tone and cold logic from the original story is still alive.

I wanted to start this off by talking about the grim tone of Watchmen because it plays a hugely significant role in Doomsday Clock. Look, I am never going to say that we should never have realistic and grounded stories like Watchmen. They are needed, important even in this day when it feels like everything related to the superhero genre has over-flooded pop culture. Not only do these stories bring variety, but they do help some people get a better understanding of why people like superheroes to begin with.

But we also need the fantastical. The bright and optimistic stories. The stories that embrace everything that comes with the genre. Because those stories show even more why people continue to love and look up to superheroes well past childhood.

Doomsday Clock is both a tribute to Watchmen but also a critique. It respects Alan Moore’s story, reminds us that it is something that should still be talked about. But this sequel also shows the danger of what a dark philosophy and viewpoint of the world can bring, how it affects people. Doctor Manhattan is passive because for years he has been under the belief that he can’t change what is to come. He believes that there is no difference between a dead body and a live one. He has drifted away from what makes him human. Ozymandias sees himself as a hero, but is more like the madman Lex Luthor that he seeks help from in the beginning. The new Rorschach gives up for a period of time in the story because he believes that we should let the world burn in hopes of bringing all the pain and suffering to an end. But the heroes of the main DC Universe, and the writers of Doomsday Clock, have the perfect counter-argument:

You need hope. People can’t live, can’t truly live, without having hope that they can make the world better. That they can change things.

Doomsday Clock takes a look at both Watchmen and the Dark Age it had inspired and reminds us that heroes like Alan Scott and Clark Kent are what truly make the superhero genre timeless. They are the light that brings people to them like moths. A dark deconstruction every once in a while is fine, even eagerly welcomed. But to have that dark thinking become the dominant force will simply bring more despair to the world. When Alan Moore wrote his story, his world wasn’t a bright place. Just do a little research about his political beliefs and the things he’s said about former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This is not a critique, I still love many of his stories and characters today. His beliefs helped create great stories like V for Vendetta. Now, you can make an argument that political/social climate of 2016 isn’t too different from how it was back when Alan Moore released Watchmen and you would most likely be right. But we don’t need another Watchmen. We need stories like Doomsday Clock to inspire and bring meaning to the genre we love, so that way we can be inspired to bring the same hope to the real world.

Watchmen is cold, dark, and ultimately pessimistic. Doomsday Clock pays tribute to everything that made its predecessor great. But this is a story of warmth, light, and optimism. And that is why this story is more than worthy to be known as a sequel to Watchmen. It respects it by keeping true to what that world was about, but it also brings something new by helping the characters naturally progress towards something brighter so that they can help shape their world for the better.

Due to how iconic Watchmen has become, I don’t think even the strongest supporters of Doomsday Clock will say it is as good as Alan Moore’s story. Partly because it suffered multiple delays, causing some interest to wane and for it to temporarily be disconnected from the main universe it is supposed to impact. But maybe in time, popularity for Doomsday Clock will grow and people can make the argument.

There are a few small flaws that I just want to briefly mention. I would have liked it explicitly stated that Mime actually had invisible weapons. That’s what I ended up assuming, but it would be nice to have it stated in story. Manhattan’s predictions for what he sees in the future of the DC Universe, predictions meant to set up potential stories, can very likely end up not passing, which is mildly distracting in the back of my mind. Perhaps if those stories end up not passing, we can say that they ended up playing out in a different universe that is separate, but created by, the metaverse. Like mentioned earlier, the multiple delays have complicated just how connected Doomsday Clock was to the rest of the regular DCU as it was being published. That has seemingly been rectified and the company can now be more organized moving forward.

In conclusion, Doomsday Clock is still a very important story. It is a welcomed sequel to Watchmen that pays tribute to its predecessor yet very much has its own story and opinions to share that make it different. I am very happy that I got to read it and I can only see my opinion for this story strengthen over time.