3. This Is The Definitive Follow Up To Moore's Novel
DC Comics
One thing that will inevitably grate a portion of DC's audience, however, is the fact that the events of Doomsday Clock are the definitive follow up to Watchmen's ending. This is how it all went down, Rorschach's journal and all.
While there's a chance that all of this could be undone through some Manhattan-esque space-time malarkey, there's nothing to suggest that what we see in this first issue isn't canon. Apart from the fact that Alan Moore is no fan of DC reusing the Watchmen license, whether it be for film, TV or otherwise, it's also true that Johns' continuation detracts from the ambiguity surrounding the original book's ending.
And this isn't just another prequel; 2011's Before Watchmen did - irrespective of the ethical issues surrounding DC's use of Moore's work - serve a purpose in fleshing out the history of the Watchmen mythos. With Doomsday Clock, the story's own sense of importance is somewhat mitigated by an overriding sense of cynicism on DC's behalf; they know that Watchmen sells, and they know that Moore isn't fond of a return to the license.
It's likely to be a sticking point for fans of the original comic, but if you can get past it, Doomsday Clock could just be the comic it's cracked up to be.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
