I just finished re-reading Watchmen for the first time in many years. Every time I read I notice some new detail or nuance I had never noticed before. I used to pretend that non-comics readers might one day ask me to recommend a comic book or series to read, but that almost never happens. Over the years my choices have changed somewhat (and it would depend on that imaginary person's tastes in any case), but rarely have I considered Watchmen because it was not likely a non-fan could possibly appreciate it the way I appriciate it, but I have since changed my mind. It is so layered that a practiced reader couldn't help but appreciate it, maybe not in the same way I do, but in a way uniquely his or her own.
But I'm not here today to talk about Watchmen; I'm here to talk about what came after. I'm going to start with the nine titles collectively known as "Before Watchmen" which were released in 2013. I have read these series (and one one-shot) only once, in the order they were released. It struck me at the time that there should be an ideal reading order but, as I indicated, I have yet to even read any of them ininterrupted start to finish. By the time I am fiinished with thise phase of "Before & After" I hope to have a better idea of in which order to read the series. All I have now is a vague notion that Minutemen should be first and Comedian should be last. This is the order in which they were released:
- Minutemen
- Silk Spectre
- Comedian
- Nite Owl
- Ozymandias
- Rorschach
- Dr. Manhattan
- Moloch
- Dollar Bill
The series are either 1, 2, 4 or 6 issues. Because some are lengthier than others, some which started later ended sooner.
FIRST UP: Minutemen
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DOOMSDAY CLOCK #8 - "Save Humanity"
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." - H.L. Mencken
[Alternate: "You want to ave humanity, it's people that you just can't stand." - John Lennon]
Ozymandias in the Oval Office after late at night rifling through files. At the Daily Planet the next day, Lois recieves a thumb drive in the mail. Firestorm is in Russia, fighting "The People's Heroes." He is knocked from the sky and falls amidst a crowd of dozens of inlookers. He loses control of his powers and turns them all to glass. (Up until now, his powers of transmutation never worked on amything organic.) Rumor has it that Firestorm flew to Kahndaq to seek sancuary. Superman flies to Kahndaq and has words with black Adam, but Firestorm is not there. Superman suspects he is still somewhere in Russia.
Meanwhile, Lois access the information contained on the thumbdrive. It is newsreeal footage of a team of heroes from the 1940s known as the "Justice society of America," but she has no idea who they are. Back in Russia, Superman located Firestorm trying to change one of the victims, a little boy, back to flesh and blood. With superman's encouragement, he succeeds. Superman flies to Red Square where Vladimir Putin is holdng a press conference with the People's Heroes. He is threatening war when Superman arrives. Superman addressed the russian people and the world, "reflecting upon the destruction of his own home planet and how, in many ways, the inability of its leaders to work together to save Krypton mirror our own troubles here on Earth" (to quote from Ron Troupe's later coverage in the Daily Planet). As he is speaking, Batman tries using high frequency radio only superman can hear to interrupt.
Firestorm arrives, with the little boy, and a tense situation gets worse when the russian soldiers fire on him. Superman blocks the shots from hitting the boy, but some stray shots shatter some of the glass people still standing in the square. The People's Heroes attack superman, and tanks roll in, crushing more of the glass people. Firestorm begins to lose control again, but Superman calms him down. Batman tells Superman that that's not Firestorm. Just then, something explodes, apparently killing everyone, and all the television coverage goes blank. Watching from afar, Ozymandias say, "Yes. It begins."
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: Newspaper coverage of the event from the Daily Planet, the Daily Star, the Metropolis Times and Metropolis Today.
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #9 - "Crisis"
"Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for crisis." - Seneca
The ring on the cover belongs to Ferro Lad, who was/will be killed on December 27th, 3019. the explosion sends his ring hurtling back through time where Dr. Manhattan finds it. As he manipulates the past and prevents Alan Scott from becoming Green Lantern, the ring disappears from his hand in the present. There is now nothing but darkness in the year 3019... and 3002, and 2984, and 2430, and 2192, and 2030. The question still stands: Does Superman destroy Dr. Manhattan or does Dr. Manhattan destroy everything?
Nine spaceships are enroute to Mars, carrying just about every super-hero you can think of, including the Charlton characters. After the explosion on Earth, Superman is comatose in the Hall of justice; Batman is recuperating in Wayne Manor; and Ronnie Rayman has been separated from Martin Stein. Superman seemingly siding with the metahumans has led to a "March Against Metahumans" which culminates at the Hall of Justice. Raymond and Stein are aboard one of the spaceships heading for Mars. Bruce Wayne realizes that the explosion did not originate with Firestorm and that all the heroes are being played.
The ship carrying the Green Lanterns arrives on Mars and one of them finds the photograph of Jon Osterman and Janey Slater. The GLs erect a shield around the planet, sealing it. Ronnie Raymond touches Martin stein's arm, re-fusing them against the professor's will. All the heroes make their way too the structure Dr. Manhattan once created on the Mars of his universe. things are tense. Guy Gardner shoots his mouth off and Dr. Manhattan deconstructs his power ring. He then solves the mystery of what "magic" in the DCU really is and begins to wield it himself.
Meanwhile on Earth, Lex Luthor somehow gains entrance to the Hall of Justice where Lois Lane is keeping watch over Superman's comatose body. It was he who send Lois the thumbdrive of the "forgotten heroes"; he also knows about Wally West.Back on Mars, Dr. Manhattan separates Ronnie Raymond from Professor Stein and takes him back into the past, before the origin of Firestorm, and proves to him that Martin Stein was, in fact, complicit in the purposeful creation of Firestorm. They return to the present and Captain Atom tries to separate Dr. Manhattan from his intrisic field. (He has no way of knowing that that failed to kill him twice before.)
On Earth, Wonder Woman is addressing the United Nations when Black Adam and his forces chrash through the wall, taking advantage of the fact that virtually all of the United States' super-humans are away from Earth.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: A confidential dossier on Firestorm detailing Martin stein's involvment with what is now called "The Supermen Theory."
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #10 - "Action"
"Every action has its pleasures and its price." - Socrates
This is the issue which best describes the nature of the DC multiverse. It is also the issue in which the parallels between the "Nathanial Dusk" movies and Doomsday Clock itself are made crystal clear. Page one begins with a scene from the movie which segues into the studio on page two. Johnny Thunder is there, working on the set as a gofer. For the second time, Don McGregor is cited as director. This issue provides the background of the murdered actor Carver Coleman. On April 18, 1938, Dr. Manhattan arrives on Earth. Carver Coleman is the first person he meets. It is also the night Superman makes his first public appearance, smashing a car into a rock (Action Comics #1).
Carver Coleman is down on his luck. Dr. Manhattan takes him to a diner (shifting light's color frequencies around himself so others see him as a human being). The nature of time is different in this reality. It takes a while for him to see into the future, using Carver Coleman as a focus point. From here on, they develop a reationship like that of Morpheus and Hob Gadling, except instead of meeting every 100 years, they meet every year. Each year, Dr. Manhattan reveals what Coleman needs to do to achieve success in the year to come. When they overhear a radio report of "a mysterious man who lifted a car over his head," Manhattan disappears, leaving behind the photograph of Jon Osterman and Janey Slater.
The world was introduced to Superman on April 18, 1938. After that, Manhattan looks ahead to the origins of Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, Atom, Dr. Fate, Sandman, Spectre and Hourman. In November, inspired by Superman, the JSA meets for the first time. As they await the arrival of Superman, an "outside force" has shifted his arrivel on Earth forward and none of the other heroes have ever heard of him. On April 18, 1948, Carver Coleman has never heard of him, either. That is because, in this new reality, baby Superman arrived on Earth in 1931 and made his first public appearance in 1956 (Silver Age). Pushed forward again, he makes his first public appearance in 1986 (John Byrne's Man of Steel); again, Geoff Johns' and Gary Franks' own Secret Origin.
As Dr. Manhattan time trips through multiple realities, he sees Pa Kent die, Ma and Pa Kent die, both alive. He even witnesses the effect Superman will have on the 30th century. For some reason, reality is connected to Superman, and Dr. Manhattan sets out to discover why. He prevents Alan Scott from becoming Green Lantern, thus removing the lynchpin of the JSA from history. He causes Ma and Pa Kent to die in a car crash on the night of clark's high school graduation. It is Dr. Manhattan, not the flash, who is responsible for "The New 52."
"As I watch reality come crashing down," Manhattan narrates, "I realize that this universe is not part of the multiverse as others believe. The multiverse reacts to this universe. there have been endless parallel worlds, none, fifty-two, dark multiverses, all created by changes to this universe. This universe stands apart from the multiverse. It is a metaverse. And it is in a constant state of change." How's that for a bit of metatextual reality? AFAIC, it beats "the pounding of superboy's fists." The murderer of Carver Coleman is revealed, as the meeting between Dr, Manhattan and Superman draws ever-closer.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: A letter, removed from the crime scene by the killer, which would have revealed Carver Coleman's killer. Also, three pages of the shooting script from the last "Nathanial Dusk" movie, which strengthens the parallels between the movie and Doomsday Clock.
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #11 - "A Lifelong Mistake"
"I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lofelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too." - James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
News of the day: Putin prepares to send the People's Heroes into America to retrieve Superman if the U.S. refuses to hand him over; the National guard arrives in Gotham City, not too quell the violence, but to arrest Batman; Markovia's Outsiders have sided with russia; still no sign of the JLA since heading to Mars. Alfred reads Rorschach's journal while Wonder Woman fights Black Adam's forces inside the U.N. Lois Lane has accompanied Lex Luthor back to LexCorps. Superman awakens from his coma in the Hall of Justice to fins Lois gone. Saturn girl can contact Ozymandias telepathically, but she cannot read his mind.
Lex shows Lois a photograph of Jon Osterman and Janey Slater which he acquired from the belongings of Carver Coleman. He then leads her into a room where dozens of identical photos are on display, collected from flashpoints of DC history, unknowingly created and left behind by Dr. Manhattan like Rorschach leaving a trail of sugar cube wrappers. Soldiers try to arrest Superman at the Hall of Justice, but he says that if the President has a problem with him they will discuss it in person. Alfred makes pancakes. Reggie has been living on the streets since the truth of his father's realtionship with Rorschach was revealed to him. He is having a nightmare about his father and Rorschach and Mothman, but Alfred is there when he wakes up and offers him the pancakes in exchange for his help. The Amazons stormed the U.N. and abducted Wonder Woman in midbattle, leaving Black Adam and his forces to run free. Ozymandias reveals to Saturn Girl that Dr. Manhattan revealed to him that Marionette and the Mime's son was adopted by none other than "Mr. and Mrs. Hollis" (Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk).
Ozymandias goes on to explain how he arranged all of the seeminly unrelated events throughout the course of the seires and how they were designed to manipulate those involved. Black Adam and his metahumans have made their way to the White House where they are met by Superman. Saturn Girl admits to Ozymandias that Superman no longer remembers who she is. then she fades from existence because she is no longer part of this timelime, leaving just her Legion flight ring behind. In the midst of Superman's battle against Black Adam and his crew, Dr. Manhattan appears and the two meet face-to-face for the first time.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: A LexCorps document revealing where and when the first dozen of the photographs were found.
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #12 - "Discouraged of Man"
"Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man." - Rabindranath Tagore
this issue initiates a three-way battle between Superman, the People's Heroes and Black Adam's metahumans, with Dr. Manhattan as bystander. Across the globe, other metas (such as England's Knights, Australia's Sleeping Soldiers, Israel's Hayoth and Japan's Bif Monster Action) gear up to take sides. In Gotham City, Alfred continues to try to convince Reggie to help join the cause. Then Batman arrives and actually apologizes for not believing Reggie in the first place and for having him locked up in Arkham Asylum. With four minutes left of the clock, Superman continues to try to convince Dr. Manhattan to save the world. In Metropolis, Lex Luthor "dismisses" Lois Lane to go write up his story, demanding "credit" for uncovering the fact that thier history has been altered by a force from beyond their universe. Then he reaces for a "vibrational emitter" gun.
It is Batman who ultimately convinces Reggie to become Rorschach again, by pointing out that what Byron Lewis did actually conformed to Reggie's father's ideals. Beyond Superman destroying Dr. Manhattan or Dr. Manhattan destroying everything, Superman gives Dr. Manhattan a third choice: to save everything in both universes. Dr. Manhattan sort of "resets" reality, cherry-picking which events are in and are out of continuity. Krypton explodes, and the baby's rocket is shown landing om multiple planets, in multiple times, found by multiple people. He then allows Alan Scott to become Green Lantern in the original timeline, the ripple effect being that Superboy is able to save his parents from dying on graduation night. Because superboy again exists, so too does the Legion of Super-Heroes. In the present day, Johnny Thunder remebers that he became Jakeem Thunder's Thunderbolt. As Superman is being pummelled by the combined forces of Russia and Kahndaq, he is suddenly saved by the combined forces of the LSH and the generational heroes of the JSA.
Dr. Manhattan begins to examine the restored timeline. In 1938, Superman makes his first public appearance. In 1954, Earth-2 is born. In 1985, reality divides again. Earth-1 becomes Earth-1985 ("a world unexplored even today"); "Flashpoint" happens; "Rebirth" happens. Looking to the future, in the year 2020 the timeline is bombarded by the energies of the olg gods, "once again warping the metaverse"; in 2025, a crisis called "Time Masters" revitalizes superman in its wake; in 2026, the timeline is restored "and Earth-5G is born"; 2030 brings the "Secret Crisis" which apparently involves the Marvel universe; on April 18, 2038, Superman (again) makes his first public appearance, having first arrived on Earth as a baby in 2013; in another version of April 18, 2038, Jonathan and Martha Kent and their baby, Colin, first find the baby who will be Superman; in 2045, the childless Kents again find the rocket; in 2162, they find the rocjet with their three-year-old daughter, Clara; in 2965, Superman appears in Metropolis for the first time. And so on. When Superman's timeline eventually catches up to the Legion's 30th century, "humankind will eventually embrace the ways of Superman."
Back in the prersent, Batman and Reggie/Rorschach confront Ozymandias. He tells them everything went according to plan. Everything needed to clear superman's name is on Archie. Dr. Manhattan then summons Ozymandias and Rorschach, as well as Marionette, the Mime and the Comedian, to the lawn outside the Washington Monument. He tells them they can all go home, because Superman has saved not only his own universe, but theirs as well. "Everyone lives today." Then the comedian shoots him in the chest. "'Cept maybe you, Veidt. Goddamn asshole." Suddenly, Lex Luthor appears on the scene and zaps him with his vibrational emitter. "I don't often use that language myself, but it's appropriate. Yopu goddamn asshole." Eddie Blake then finds himself falling from his penthouse apartment on October 11, 1985.
Reggie/Rorschach then rushes to stop Veidt's bleeding... so that he can live to pay for his crimes and spend the rest of his life rotting in jail. Reggie has truly become Rorschach. Before transporting them back to their own reality, Dr. Manhattan tells Marioette and the Mime that they must stay. They will have a daughter in this universe, but Jon's plan is that they will see there son again someday, and they will be his anchor. Then Dr. Manhattan disappears into the past (April 18, 1954) to see his own anchor, moments after his earlier self told him he would not be there a year from now. Dr. Manhattan takes what he has learned from Reggie and from Superman and applies it to Carver Coleman. In a nutshell, coleman comes out as gay, lives a difficult life for a while, becomes an activist and lives lives with is partner for 40 years until he dies in 2005.
Then Johns spends a page tying up loose ends in Superman's reality and five tying up loose ends in his own. He even creates a reality in which Jon Osterman does not go into the intrinsic field chamber in 1959, "Six Months later, we are married. Three years afterward, our daughter is born. Followed by another the next year. And then our son four years later." In the new reality of 1992, someone comes to the door of the Hollis's. Their little girl answers it. "My name's Sally. What's yours?" A little boy with a hydrogen on his forehead replies, "Jon calls me Clark."
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: A photo of Carver Coleman's star on the Hiollywood "Walk of Fame" with a tattered photo of Jon Osterman and Janey Slater lying next to it.
RETURN TO OZ: Doomsday Clock is to Watchmen as Return to Oz (1985) is to MGM's 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. Neither sequel will ever replace the original, but both are very good and deserving in their own right. It's a shame we'll never see what Alan Moore (and Dave Gibbons) would have done with the property, but I can't see Moore doing it as work-for-hire any more than I can see DC reliquishing the rights.
And that's the end of "Phase 2" of this discussion.
UP NEXT: "Phase 3"
I read the second collection with issues #7-12 over the weekend. I agree about issue #10: at one time I was a pretty big DCU reader–although not of absolutely everything, so some of it was new to me–but it was a great tour of the whole mythos. The whole "the DCU is the heart of all of the multiverse, and everything revolves around Superman" concept is a little pat, but Johns makes it work as a satisfying conclusion to the whole saga. Looking forward to the Rorschach series!
And I look forward to hearing what you think about it.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
And that's the end of "Phase 2" of this discussion.
Today, Amazon delivered my copy of Absolute Doomsday Clock, which I ordered yesterday. It was 44% off, shrink-wrapped and packaged inside the printer’s box.
It is worthy of being shelved next to my Absolute Watchmen and Absolute Sandman. (Tucked inside the back cover is an actual size reproduction of the famous in-story photograph.)
The cover of the actual book is the “Superman Shield” cover of Doomsday Clock #12 (YMMV), but the slipcase is so beautiful that I had to share a photo of it.
I bought and read all the individual issues as they were published. I had forgotten much of the story because at the time we were dealing with medical issues. I will be rereading it in between other things as time permits.
PHASE 3: RORSCHACH (2020)
"Watchmen (Before & After)" now becomes my fourth discussion (following Mister Miracle, Supergirl and Adam Strange) that culminates in a Tom King series. King had previously collaborated with series artist Jorge Fornés on Batman. In this series, Rorschach apparently resurfaces 35 years after his death, but hhow and why is a mystery that will unfold over the twelve issues of the series. This is one of those series for which I "lost the story" midway through. (There's probably a record of that in real time over in the "What Comic Books Have You Read Today?" discussion.) But unlike Doomsday Clock, I stopped reading Rorschach when I lost the plot in hope of reading it through completely at some point inthe future. That day is now. Regarding alternate covers, each of the issues had a variant cover which presented the title running up the left side of the cover, Watchmen style; those are the ones I chose.
ISSUE #1:
Jorge Fornés chooses not to emulate Dave Gibbons' style on this series, making it much more like the "Before Watchmen" series than Doomsday Clock in that respect. the issue opens with "Rorschach" running across a catwalk above a political ralley for a presidential candidate named "Turley." A shot rings out, going through Rorscach's left shoulder. He shouts the name "Laura!" Four more shots to the body. He falls to his knees. A final shot hits him in the head and he falls to the catwalk, mere feet away from the bloody body of a woman dressed in a stylized "cowboy" costume (western shirt, hat and domino mask). Next day, two detectives discuss the circumstance in a hotel room. The story flashes back to the day before, When one of them took the call warning of an assassination attempt. Assuming it was a crank, he neverhteless treated it seriously, of course.
Later, at the autopsy, the other detective gets more information on the two assassins from the FBI agent investigating the case. The woman, young, has been identified as Laura Cummings. The man is William Meyerson. Meyerson is in his 80s at least, and created the comic book character (soon to be featured in a theatrical version) Pontius Pirate. Cummings had a bullet wound through her arm from about a week ago. Other than that, they didn't have anything on them but the clothes of their backs (and their weapons) except for a old reel-to-reel tape. The FBI is hoping the tape will shed some light on the pair's motives, but it is in bad shape and they first have to find a way to play it without damaging it. The Rorschach mask Meyerson was wearing is a cheap fake (it doesn't fluctuate), very common.
One of the three guards who confronted the pair on the catwalk the night before survived, but is not expected to live. The detective interviews him and learns some details of the night before, but nothing all that helpful. After the interview, the detective gets word that the tape has been transferred to digital. It seems to be a of séance hosted by Otto Binder. He is trying to contact his daughter Mary and his brother Earl. Also in attendance are Randy Cox, Frank Miller and Wil Meyerson. Meyerson's part of the séance is garbled. He has apparently been a recluse for the past 46 years, leaving his apartment only to buy groceries. Walter Kovas, the original Rorschach, was fingerprinted only once before, when he was caught and sent to prison. The FBI obtained a copy of those prints and compared them to Meyerson's. They matched.
RORSCHACH #2:
The detective (I don't think he's ever named, IIRC) continues to investigate the case. He's treating it like a missing person's casr so that, if Meyerson had any accomplices other than Laura Cummings, they would not be put on their guard. It doesn't look as if more than those two were involved, however. As the detective searches Meyerson's apartment, sepia-tone panels depict how he suspects Mayerson and Cummings met. Security in the building is almost nonexistant, and video camera footage goes back only two weeks. The similarities between Wil Meyerson and Steve Ditko are unmistakable. Meyerson lived a reclusive life and rarely had visitors. He never attended conventions, but fans would occasionally show up as his door unannounced. Sometimes he would let them in, and sometimes he was even nice to them. On his drawing table, an actual page of Ditko art is statted in.
In a drawer, the detective finds a small label with a type-written name: Alma Adler. There is an Alma Thompson who lives in the building and, pressing a hunch, the dectective goes to visit her. She is a recent widow who once went on a date with Meyerson thirty years ago. The date did not go well, and she described it in detail to the detective. She got married to her husband, Carl, shortly after that, but she barely had any interraction with Meyerson after that. Her husband, however, used to tease him mercilessly about the date whenever they would meet in the hallway or in the elevator. The detective speculates that Meyerson must have slipped the nametag with her maiden name out of her mailbox, but she doesn't know anything about that.
Next, the detective interviews the building superintendent, who reveals he went into Meyerson's apartment only once, not too long ago, in fact. He got a call from a concerned neighbor, Mr. Stephenson, who reported a commotion coming from Meyerson's place, so the super went up to check on it. The door was ajar, and Meyerson was on the floor with a bloody nose and some bruises on his face. Meyerson said he was fine, though, refused medical help and went back to work at his drawing table, so that was that. On the drawing table was a page of original artwork with blood droppings on it. Mrs. Thompson had previously told the detective that, on their date years ago, Meyson disavowed pirate characters and desired to do something more mature. The character on the drawing board is "The Citizen" (looks like the Question and behaves like Mr.A), and he struggles against the "Unthinkers" of society. If you've ever read any of Ditko's later independent work, you know exactly what these pages are like.
Next the detective visits Mr. Stephenson, who reported the skuffle weeks ago. Although Stephenson has lived in the building for quite some time, he is still living out of boxes. This is because he recently traded apartments with another tenant after her husband died. (If you quessed that that tenent was Mrs. Thompson, give yourself a No-Prize.) He died of a heart attack right in that very room. Stepenson describes some odd behavior exhibitedby Meyerson on one of the few occasions they spoke. The detective notices that, off all the fixures in the apartment, only the door lock appears new.
Next he interviews Mrs. Thompson again, and shows her a picture of Laura Cummings, suspecting that she has seen her once before. Alma admits that, on the day Stephenson called the super, Carl and Meyerson had had a physical altercation. Thompson followed Meyerson into his apartment, bloodied his nose and kicked him in the face. A few days later, a knock comes on the Thompson's door. Before Carl can open it, a man dressed in a Rorschach costume kicks it in, breaking the lock. He is accompanied by Cummings in her cowgirl outfit. She holds a gun on Alma while Rorschach watches as Carl has a heart attack and dies. Next, the detective is going to Wyoming to investigate Laura Cummings background.
By this time I am hooked.
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