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The Clock #1-4
The Clock
Within three weeks, hundreds of millions of healthy people worldwide contract various forms of aggressive cancer, and the proliferation, seemingly a viral outbreak, stumps the best scientific minds available. But after a leading cancer researcher loses his wife and watches his nine-year-old daughter begin to succumb to the same illness, he must race against the clock to end a global conspiracy that could propel the world straight into WWIII...or worse. Collects THE CLOCK #1-4.
128 pages, Paperback
First published October 7, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 12, 2020
An interesting, albeit touch too short, comic. I found it interesting how much of a comparison is made between the cancer virus of sorts in this comic and the current coronavirus pandemic happening right now. The idea of a virus pandemic definitely works in favour of getting the comic more readers but really not much of a comparison can be made; the two are very different.
I particularly liked how much attention there was to the protagonist's grieving process. Although there were more tears than I expected I found it was much more authentic that way.
If only this storyline was spread out over 2 vols. That would've been fantastic because this felt a little too rushed. And it would've enhanced the mystery, fear and uncertainty if it took them longer to find the truth and the protagonist had to be on the run for longer.
All in all, this wasn't bad but there just wasn't enough to earn 4 stars. Sad really because there was so much potential and the premise was very interesting...
I particularly liked how much attention there was to the protagonist's grieving process. Although there were more tears than I expected I found it was much more authentic that way.
If only this storyline was spread out over 2 vols. That would've been fantastic because this felt a little too rushed. And it would've enhanced the mystery, fear and uncertainty if it took them longer to find the truth and the protagonist had to be on the run for longer.
All in all, this wasn't bad but there just wasn't enough to earn 4 stars. Sad really because there was so much potential and the premise was very interesting...
December 31, 2020
The story idea is great, Matt does a solid job on dialogue for most part, but the pacing is extremely rushed espevially second half and rhe art...the covers are amazing but some of the interior art is just oddly done and emotional scenes turn into "what the hell is that?" Due to the body looking weird.
September 12, 2020
Hmmm… So there's a hugely fatal type of new cancer, that would be called a virus the way it's spreading, and nobody can work out how or why it's moving so fast through the population. We open with our chief researcher at a refugee camp in Africa, to see how the inhabitants don't have the disease. Bad action scene later, it's back home where we find his wife had died from it, their young daughter is soon to get it, oh and dad is not only a Senator but some black ops guy blowing things up.
It's not because of the experience Covid has unfortunately given us that I call this out as a little naively written and unrealistic. There is no way our man has been looking at this and not got a name for it, as is shown here – that is not a scientist to my mind. The action scene early on is unnecessary; the message-passed-on-by-stumbling-man incident a huge red herring; and other scenes are almost too cheesy for words. Several times characters don't seem to speak like humans using the English language would, or just repeat what was in a panel half a page ago.
Art-wise things are OK, but not brilliant. Certainly the girl is likeable, and the scenes with lower key drama are successful and clear (as opposed to the firefight). Book-wise, four quick issues do not deserve so many footnotes and added pages – not when the story is so throwaway and arguably not as good as it needed to be. I like a good Crichtonesque medical conspiracy thriller, but this really did not convince. One and a half stars.
It's not because of the experience Covid has unfortunately given us that I call this out as a little naively written and unrealistic. There is no way our man has been looking at this and not got a name for it, as is shown here – that is not a scientist to my mind. The action scene early on is unnecessary; the message-passed-on-by-stumbling-man incident a huge red herring; and other scenes are almost too cheesy for words. Several times characters don't seem to speak like humans using the English language would, or just repeat what was in a panel half a page ago.
Art-wise things are OK, but not brilliant. Certainly the girl is likeable, and the scenes with lower key drama are successful and clear (as opposed to the firefight). Book-wise, four quick issues do not deserve so many footnotes and added pages – not when the story is so throwaway and arguably not as good as it needed to be. I like a good Crichtonesque medical conspiracy thriller, but this really did not convince. One and a half stars.
August 5, 2023
1.5 stars. Interesting concept, but I felt like this story has been done better before. There was a beginning and an end to this, but didn’t feel like there was any substance in this one getting us from start to finish.
September 20, 2021
3.5 stars (rounded up.)
I remember buying and reading the first issue of this just before the pandemic, but somehow lost track of the title, so am just now reading the collected edition. I have a weekly pull list at my local comic store, and I don't recall ever seeing Issues 2-4 in floppy form.
I'm curious how much the pandemic impacted the process for this comic (both story and process-wise); it seems like the second half of the story defintiely seems.. rushed?... in comparison to the first issue?
And I'm curious if sales were heightened or depressed due to this story coming out during an ACTUAL pandemic. (My guess is the latter.)
All that said, this was an interesting idea, and the dialogue rings true, but it just seems not as well-executed as it could have been...
I remember buying and reading the first issue of this just before the pandemic, but somehow lost track of the title, so am just now reading the collected edition. I have a weekly pull list at my local comic store, and I don't recall ever seeing Issues 2-4 in floppy form.
I'm curious how much the pandemic impacted the process for this comic (both story and process-wise); it seems like the second half of the story defintiely seems.. rushed?... in comparison to the first issue?
And I'm curious if sales were heightened or depressed due to this story coming out during an ACTUAL pandemic. (My guess is the latter.)
All that said, this was an interesting idea, and the dialogue rings true, but it just seems not as well-executed as it could have been...
Read
September 13, 2020The introduction talks about how strange it feels to have had a comic about a pandemic in the works for ages, and then have it come out during a real one. It also disavows any notion of the creators as prophets, which I well believe, because for all that I doubt I'd have loved this anyway, I don't think anyone involved with it would have been fool or villain enough to deliberately intend the Plandemic resonances here. Still, Charles Stross blogged recently about how as a plot for fiction, the conspiracy theory needs a good long rest now, and even before the latest wave of them I would have inclined to agree – they're just no fun when people are taking them seriously, and that's been a major issue since, ooh, 19 years ago Friday? Granted, the vector here isn't 5G, but it's still very much within the sort of things those sort of people tend to blame, and other details (there's already a vaccine which the elite have taken but are keeping to themselves!) are right in keeping with current nutter discourse.
Now, you could argue, quoting chapter and verse from Saint Oscar, that it's a sin to judge art by its message, and I would generally tend to agree, finding that as tedious when it comes from modern moralists on either side of the culture wars as I did when it was torch-wielding believers or pious Victorians. The problem is that a typical conspiracy theory – sincerely held or otherwise – tends to be inherently clunky as art too, relying as it does on people acting in a way they simply don't. Not that naturalism is a virtue in and of itself, of course, or else whither pantomime? But if so, you have to lean into that, which nowadays often means playing the story as a pastiche (cf RPGs such as Over The Edge or Unknown Armies, which do a fabulous job of this). Whereas here we get stuff like a political cabal talking about how they can't tell the general public what's going on, although in the meantime "The scientific community knows. Everyone is working on this." Now, while this begs the question – what exactly are the astrophysicists contributing? Have the geologists really been able to help much? – we can forgive that bit as in-character idiocy, not the writer's; it is a politician speaking, after all. But seriously, even if we assume it's strictly life sciences, we're meant to believe there hasn't been a leak? Has anyone involved with this project met a scientist? Apparently so, given the extensive backmatter (I confess to having skipped the four-page list of cancers), which makes this all the more puzzling. And the clock which gives the comic its title is the Smithsonian's population clock, the scale of the plague revealed because it's started ticking backwards instead. Great image, but sadly complete nonsense, given said clock is not in fact some magical summary of the hourglasses in the store-room of a Pratchett-esque Grim Reaper, but based on projections, which presumably aren't going to be amended if the whole thing is being covered up.
As you'd expect from Doran's CV compared to Hawkins', the art is somewhat more satisfactory; I found a few of the action scenes a little unclear, but charitably one could read that as how action comes across to people who aren't used to being in it. And she's very, very good at the everyday bits, the scenes of sorrow and exhaustion, the sudden pull-back, such that even as the macro level of the story was pissing me right off, the micro could be very moving. On the whole, though: ouch. The ending is so pat and Hollywood that it manages to disappoint even when I hated the rest of the comic, which is some going.
It has managed one 'makes u think', though: in so far as any of it made sense, it reminded me of a clumsy approximation of Channel 4's excellent Utopia. Whose US remake was meant to be coming out soon, and will be a significantly bigger deal than a Top Cow miniseries-turned-halfOGN. So that's going to go down well, isn't it?
(Edelweiss ARC)
Now, you could argue, quoting chapter and verse from Saint Oscar, that it's a sin to judge art by its message, and I would generally tend to agree, finding that as tedious when it comes from modern moralists on either side of the culture wars as I did when it was torch-wielding believers or pious Victorians. The problem is that a typical conspiracy theory – sincerely held or otherwise – tends to be inherently clunky as art too, relying as it does on people acting in a way they simply don't. Not that naturalism is a virtue in and of itself, of course, or else whither pantomime? But if so, you have to lean into that, which nowadays often means playing the story as a pastiche (cf RPGs such as Over The Edge or Unknown Armies, which do a fabulous job of this). Whereas here we get stuff like a political cabal talking about how they can't tell the general public what's going on, although in the meantime "The scientific community knows. Everyone is working on this." Now, while this begs the question – what exactly are the astrophysicists contributing? Have the geologists really been able to help much? – we can forgive that bit as in-character idiocy, not the writer's; it is a politician speaking, after all. But seriously, even if we assume it's strictly life sciences, we're meant to believe there hasn't been a leak? Has anyone involved with this project met a scientist? Apparently so, given the extensive backmatter (I confess to having skipped the four-page list of cancers), which makes this all the more puzzling. And the clock which gives the comic its title is the Smithsonian's population clock, the scale of the plague revealed because it's started ticking backwards instead. Great image, but sadly complete nonsense, given said clock is not in fact some magical summary of the hourglasses in the store-room of a Pratchett-esque Grim Reaper, but based on projections, which presumably aren't going to be amended if the whole thing is being covered up.
As you'd expect from Doran's CV compared to Hawkins', the art is somewhat more satisfactory; I found a few of the action scenes a little unclear, but charitably one could read that as how action comes across to people who aren't used to being in it. And she's very, very good at the everyday bits, the scenes of sorrow and exhaustion, the sudden pull-back, such that even as the macro level of the story was pissing me right off, the micro could be very moving. On the whole, though: ouch. The ending is so pat and Hollywood that it manages to disappoint even when I hated the rest of the comic, which is some going.
It has managed one 'makes u think', though: in so far as any of it made sense, it reminded me of a clumsy approximation of Channel 4's excellent Utopia. Whose US remake was meant to be coming out soon, and will be a significantly bigger deal than a Top Cow miniseries-turned-halfOGN. So that's going to go down well, isn't it?
(Edelweiss ARC)
October 26, 2020
Review being submitted to Diamond Bookshelf for potential professional publication.
February 19, 2023
C'est une BD correct, mais ça n'innove pas vraiment nul part ni ne propose quelque chose d'intéressant.
November 3, 2020
The trade paperback collection of what was planned to be a four issue miniseries, THE CLOCK takes readers on a trip that so strongly echoes actual real world events that you have to feel a bit sorry for the creators.
Not that they told a bad story but the simple fact of telling a story about a pandemic while we are actually living through one is the worst possible case of bad timing. Of course, the first two issues were published as single issues before the world shut down and the decision was made to publish the final two issues as part of this collection.
So what's the story about? The world is teetering of the precipice of extinction when in the space of three weeks hundreds of millions of previously healthy people contract a heretofore unseen form of cancer. It's so aggressive that no treatment works against it and people are dying within a couple of months.
Dr. Jack Davidson is searching for answers. He's lost his wife and his daughter has just started showing symptoms. The race is on, but he soon finds that answers are not only hard to come by but there are those who might just not want any answers to be found at all. Jack's only allies seem to be his father, a powerful senator and Jack's research assistant Viet Phung.
It's a race against not only time but against those who would stop Jack from learning the answers to the questions that may have wide-ranging global implications.
The story is written by Matt Hawkins and in this collection there is tons of additional material at the back of the book. The artwork from Colleen Doran is outstanding as is the contributions from colorist Bryan Valenza and letterer Troy Peteri.
I found the story to be quite compelling but I would say that the comfort level of other readers may depend on their ability to set aside real world issues to read this as yet fictional story.
Not that they told a bad story but the simple fact of telling a story about a pandemic while we are actually living through one is the worst possible case of bad timing. Of course, the first two issues were published as single issues before the world shut down and the decision was made to publish the final two issues as part of this collection.
So what's the story about? The world is teetering of the precipice of extinction when in the space of three weeks hundreds of millions of previously healthy people contract a heretofore unseen form of cancer. It's so aggressive that no treatment works against it and people are dying within a couple of months.
Dr. Jack Davidson is searching for answers. He's lost his wife and his daughter has just started showing symptoms. The race is on, but he soon finds that answers are not only hard to come by but there are those who might just not want any answers to be found at all. Jack's only allies seem to be his father, a powerful senator and Jack's research assistant Viet Phung.
It's a race against not only time but against those who would stop Jack from learning the answers to the questions that may have wide-ranging global implications.
The story is written by Matt Hawkins and in this collection there is tons of additional material at the back of the book. The artwork from Colleen Doran is outstanding as is the contributions from colorist Bryan Valenza and letterer Troy Peteri.
I found the story to be quite compelling but I would say that the comfort level of other readers may depend on their ability to set aside real world issues to read this as yet fictional story.
January 31, 2021
After being super excited for this series, I think this is one that the Pandemic got... The plot itself is good, and the art is decent, though after being blown away by the superb intensity and beauty of the first couple covers, I felt the interior art didn't quite match that same level of intensity. It wasn't bad, I was just underwhelmed compared to the cover art. I bought the first two issues from my local, but then Covid caused the distribution shut down and this title wound up being scrapped, as far as single-issues were concerned. The entire story was eventually released as a TPB, even though many of us already bought the first two single issues, and I have to say, between chapters two and three, the pacing REALLY changed. I found myself wondering if they had edited some of the story out but I can't recall if this series was always slated as a 4-issue mini. The pacing ramped up even further in chapter four with a lot less story telling and a lot more exposition. While the story did wrap up, I felt cheated by what I thought was a lazy ending. This series could have easily added another chapter (issue), probably two. So, in all, it was decent, but when I finished it, I sat the book down thinking there was a lot of lost potential that I'm just going to chalk up to "Covid got it..."
January 19, 2024
There are some writers/series I'm honestly going to try and catchup on this year. Hawkins is in that group because I feel he is one of the few comic writers who brought some science to his science fiction comics in recent years while the rest and leaning on fantasy. He continues to do that here, though as a warning this series could feed some conspiracy wonks more than a little.
Davidson is a leading cancer researcher, who is investigating why a new and deadly form of cancer is spreading like a virus. Then all of sudden he starts hitting road blocks, and gets framed for multiple crimes because the cancer's trail could be leading to a bio weapon deployment.
Yeah, I know the last sentence is a bit of a giveaway, but this was written before the pandemic. This novella is well paced, well thought out, and personally I didn't find any glaring plot holes and I feel Hawkins merged science and fiction well.
Davidson is a leading cancer researcher, who is investigating why a new and deadly form of cancer is spreading like a virus. Then all of sudden he starts hitting road blocks, and gets framed for multiple crimes because the cancer's trail could be leading to a bio weapon deployment.
Yeah, I know the last sentence is a bit of a giveaway, but this was written before the pandemic. This novella is well paced, well thought out, and personally I didn't find any glaring plot holes and I feel Hawkins merged science and fiction well.
October 27, 2020
The concept is good. A weaponized form of Cancer is sweeping the world, and a young doctor whose wife dies starts trying to figure things out and becomes a target as a result.
The art is gorgeous. I've loved Colleen Doran's art since her days (as miserable as they apparently were) with Starblaze Donning as a teenager starting her A Distant Soil comic.
The problem is, I can't help feeling like we missed a few issues there. We go from the doctor on the run from the evil Senator who framed him, to him leading federal agents to arrest the man. How did he contact the feds? How did he convince them? It's like we skipped Act 2 of the story completely.
The art is gorgeous. I've loved Colleen Doran's art since her days (as miserable as they apparently were) with Starblaze Donning as a teenager starting her A Distant Soil comic.
The problem is, I can't help feeling like we missed a few issues there. We go from the doctor on the run from the evil Senator who framed him, to him leading federal agents to arrest the man. How did he contact the feds? How did he convince them? It's like we skipped Act 2 of the story completely.
October 13, 2020
In a world eerily similar to our own, the people in The Clock are facing a different kind of pandemic in their world, one where a new viral kind of cancer is ravaging the planet. What do you do when millions of people are being killed by an untreatable form of cancer? Well, you can find out for yourself in this mysterious graphic novel.
Check out my full review here!
https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpr...
Check out my full review here!
https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpr...
December 18, 2020
It's an interesting look at a sudden pandemic through the understanding and actions of 1 guy. It is also an interesting story of going against governmental actors when person's priority is the greater good. The story was only about 4 issues, so the rushed feeling of the ending makes sense. It had more potential that wasn't followed completely, which hurt the story. Also this story was initially released in January of 2020, so reading the complete story 10 months into quarantine hits a little different than the first issue in January. I appreciated the happy ending all-things-considered.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2020
Bumped up to two stars because of the interesting oncological facts at the end of the story. This was a pretty underwhelming conspiracy thriller about a global cancer pandemic. The art isn't that great and the plot of the story is far too rushed. If the story was spread out over a few volumes the reader would have had enough time to feel something for the characters and gain an understanding of the stakes at hand.
June 9, 2021
The storyline starts well, but it goes too far away from possible reality. How things happen are very cliche, and you more or less know what will happen. The resolution is super simple and it far to be brilliant. The art is very amauter, the shade is done very badly, you see shades in faces and clothes that doesn't make sense. The artist try to have a realistic style but it's style in between cartoon and realistic drawings making it super awkward. Honestly, it's a waste of time.
October 6, 2022
I got the single issues via the Top Cow 30th anniversary Humble Bundle. While reading the first issue it reminded me a bit of the Think Tank series. Surprise, surprise, it is by the same author, Matt Hawkins, but Think Tank is in a different (= higher) league.
The story is okay, the storytelling feels rushed, and the artwork is okayish at best.
The story is okay, the storytelling feels rushed, and the artwork is okayish at best.
September 17, 2020
Good book, had given 5 stars, but the digital copy had ten pages of missing text. An actual book to read in this pandemic settings and conspiracy all around us.
Did a Spanish review here:
https://pananime.com/LeAn/Entries/202...
Did a Spanish review here:
https://pananime.com/LeAn/Entries/202...
October 25, 2020
This started off fun to read but the plot got resolved too quickly and then it seemed like the author went into a conspiracy theory rant.
ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
November 24, 2020
This was a great premise and could’ve been fantastic but it was too short which made it feel rushed. Wish it had been at least 6 or even 12 issues
March 21, 2021
Cool science, shallow story.
May 24, 2021
This wasn’t bad, just not original. I didn’t finish it.
February 5, 2022
I found it quite enjoyable the art was really nice and the story was pretty good for the length of the narrative
June 8, 2022
Quite standard suspense world pandemic story, interesting idea with decent execution. Big plus for extra science material at the end.
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