Doomsday Clock #1 (no spoilers)

This is the first comic in a while that I couldn't wait to read. I'm not even a fan of Watchmen, though I have a certain appreciation for it.

I credit books like Watchmen for sending comics storytelling in a darker, more violent direction--a reaction to the goofiness of the Silver Age. (Fans often mistake darkness and violence as being more "adult.") It's taken some decades for the whimsical nature of comics to reassert itself, though it never completely left us. (It did struggle more, though.)

What intrigues me about this book, from the few interviews I've read, is that it is set up as a story about pessimism vs. optimism, despair vs. hope. On a meta-story level, I think it is about the DC heroes reasserting themselves over the influence of Watchmen, in both a character sense and a publication history sense.

Writer Geoff Johns has told versions of this story before, most notably with Infinite Crisis, in which the heroes are all in dark places because of their own decisions and compromises. (This book was hindered by the fact that there were too many other books leading up to it, so I would not call it "standalone.")

This first issue feels accessible, requiring only that we have read Watchmen (something that I'd wager almost any long-time comics fan has done) and have a general knowledge of the DC heroes. In fact, as someone who has not been actively keeping up with DC comics since the launch of New 52 (and has only read the Rebirth special and the "Button" crossover), I didn't feel any confusion at all.

At the core of a story like Watchmen (and seemingly at the core of Doomsday Clock) is that the world--perhaps the universe itself--feels like a villain. Everyone feels helpless and that events are out of their control. Johns even steals a few headlines and talking points from our world--as if he deliberately wants fans to fight each other over this book.

I don't really know what kind of outcome I want from a book like this. I used to think that I wanted the DC heroes to have a definitive triumph over the influence of Watchmen, ushering in a new era of fun and optimism. But ultimately I think the two sides of the equation will have to find a balance.

If Johns is as ambitious as this book makes him seem he wants to be, then ultimately it will tell us something about our own world and our own struggles with hope and despair. The timing of this book couldn't be better--if it's really the book I hope it is.

At 12 issues, it will take a year for this story to unfold. At the rate our culture is moving, I wonder if the relevance and poignancy it strives for will still apply by the time the final issue comes out. Is this book rooted in a specific time, or does it speak to something larger and more universal? If it sticks to a monthly schedule, the final issue will come out shortly after the midterm elections--and no matter the outcome, we will need some optimism.