The miniseries written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Gary Frank will continue its run that started with Rebirth Special #1 and unfold in a four-part story arc in Batman #21 through The Flash #22. The issue “Doomsday Clock” will come out this November, and based on an interview that SYFY had with Johns, there are a lot of super things to look forward to.
As a note there are some spoilers in the interview with The Flash #22, but they are called out before the answer is given so be ready to check out another great article on here.
Johns first wanted to make sure though that everyone knew that this is not a Watchmen sequel but that it is really just the Watchmen crashing into the DC Universe. Â This quote from Johns really shows the level of thought and care that he has put into making this come full circle with the story and its impact on the DC Universe.
It is the most personal and most epic, utterly mind-bending project I have ever worked on in my career. With Rebirth, I opened the door to Manhattan. Part of that was I loved the real-world influence Watchmen has. I put Manhattan out there, and always thought there was a Manhattan/Superman story to be told, but then … it grew. And grew. It took my heart and soul over. Still, at the core of it, there’s a being who has lost his humanity, and distanced himself from it, and an alien who embodies humanity more than most humans. I love the idea that Watchmen influenced DC, but what would that look like in reverse? And it goes well beyond that…
…We’re not going to do a story like this unless we one-thousand percent believe in it. It is all about the story; it is only about the story. There are no crossovers. No watered down one-shots or mini-series on top of this one. This is a standalone story. There is only Doomsday Clock. We had no interest in doing a crossover with this. We didn’t want to see Doctor Manhattan facing off against Superman in Action Comics, with all due respect. That is not what this is about. It is about something different … It will have an impact on the entire DC Universe. It will affect everything moving forward and everything that has come before. It will touch the thematic and literal essence of DC.
So this means that we can expect great things from this standalone story that has had a lot of time to really be put together right instead of being pushed through on a whim and then trying to fix it as the story goes on. Now the story itself will have a menagerie of DC characters but will only really focus on a few. There will be some major interaction between Doctor Manhattan and Superman, but Johns doesn’t go into detail beyond what was just said. Johns does talk about how Rebirth kicked off and about Doctor Manhattan’s point of view on what is happening within the universe.
When Rebirth kicked off, and I wrote the special and worked with all the teams, and all the books did their own thing, I talked to Gary, and said there is a really interesting story with Doctor Manhattan, and his point of view, and the intersection into what is the DC Universe. We debated whether we would ever want to do it, because it is a big job. We talked for six months, and the truth is, it wasn’t until the election, and post-election, that I called Gary and said, ‘I’ve got the complete story.
There are more questions that are asked but if you want to read more on the interview and what was asked click here and enjoy. Cheers!
