Doomsday Clock #3 Review
Doomsday Clock has easily surpassed anybody’s expectations with its first to issues. The first issue successfully brought readers back into the world of Watchmen while also showing what the main goal of the series would be. The second issue believably brought these characters into the DC universe, and dropped one huge bombshell at the end of the issue. So, can this issue keep up the momentum, as well as explain the large twist from the end of issue two?
Story (MAJOR SPOILERS)
Doomsday Clock #3 starts with a remake of the start of Watchmen, with The Comedian being thrown out of his apartment by Ozymandias. However, instead of showing a puddle of blood on the street, we see him fall into the ocean by Metropolis. He swims to land, and is greeted by Dr. Manhattan. Then the scene cuts to Ozymandias and The Comedian, fighting with the injured body of Lex Luthor on the floor. The Comedian knocks Ozymandias back to the window, but the glass is too strong, and stops the poetic justice. The fight continues, until Ozymandias escapes his death by jumping out of a damaged window. He falls to the ground and passes out. We then see Rorschach and Batman talking, with Rorschach giving Batman the original Rorschach’s journal to explain Dr. Manhattan. The pages then split between Mime and Marionette deciding to explore Gotham, Batman studying the journal, and an old folks home playing both the news and an old detective novel. But we finally see Rorschach take off his mask, and then go to sleep for roughly 24 hours. Then Marionette and Mime go to a bar in Joker territory, and kill all the other patrons after being provoked. They then decide to go find the Joker. And wrapping up this issue we see Batman and Rorschach go into Arkham Asylum, as Batman said that Dr. Manhattan would be there. But when Rorschach goes into the cell Batman points out, when Rorschach gets locked in. Batman says it’s for the best and walks away.
Presentation
In this issue, we finally started spending all of our time in the DC world. There are a few areas we explore, from Lex Corp Headquarters, to the Bat Cave, as well as Arkham Asylum. All of these places look great, and the Watchmen characters seamlessly blend in. We also get to see more of the Comedian, who wasn’t prevalent in Watchmen, due to him being dead. And we get to see what Rorschach looks like under his mask, which helps relate to him more, which makes the ending of this issue hurt even more.
Final Thoughts
While this issue focuses on setting up future events, that doesn’t mean it’s boring. Quite the contrary, as this is the most action filled issue of the three. With two different fights that span across multiple pages, one of which being the awesome rematch of Ozymandias vs The Comedian, Doomsday Clock #3 delivers on the action. The issue also ends on a darker note than the previous two, which had things being okay for one if not both of our heroes.
