What do you think?
Rate this book
Absolute Doomsday Clock
NOTHING EVER REALLY ENDS. The world of Watchmen collides with the DC Universe in a story that rewrites the past, present, and future of comics!
Doomsday Clock finally gets the Absolute treatment! Dr. Manhattan, a near-omnipotent being from the Watchmen universe, has been using his powers to rewrite the DC Universe--reshaping some heroes' histories, erasing other heroes altogether, and playingwith the fates of the good and evil alike.
But why? What does a godlike being from another worldstand to gain from the DC Universe? The mystery remains, but now that our heroes know they're being toyed with,what can they do to stop it? The clock is ticking...
From Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Brad Anderson, the critically acclaimed team behind Shazam! and Batman: Earth One, this collection includes the full groundbreaking 12-issue miniseries.
Doomsday Clock finally gets the Absolute treatment! Dr. Manhattan, a near-omnipotent being from the Watchmen universe, has been using his powers to rewrite the DC Universe--reshaping some heroes' histories, erasing other heroes altogether, and playingwith the fates of the good and evil alike.
But why? What does a godlike being from another worldstand to gain from the DC Universe? The mystery remains, but now that our heroes know they're being toyed with,what can they do to stop it? The clock is ticking...
From Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Brad Anderson, the critically acclaimed team behind Shazam! and Batman: Earth One, this collection includes the full groundbreaking 12-issue miniseries.
496 pages, Hardcover
Published October 4, 2022
4 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Johns
2,727 books2,402 followersGeoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2023
Absolute Doomsday Clock, or perhaps a better title being: Unnecessary Cash Grab Sequel: The Crossover. I went into this book torn between wanting to like it and wanting to hate it. I love Watchmen. It's a perfect comic, deserving of all the awards and adolation it has received since being released. I'm also a big Alan Moore fan, and think that 90% of what makes that comic great comes from his writing. As much as I like the story and the characters, I didn't really want to check out a prequel or sequel, both of which DC has now released.
Much like the prequel series, collected in the Before Watchmen Omnibus, this is very much a mixed bag with some of the characters feeling story appropriate and having something added, but most of them feeling off, with the additional material ending up detracting from those characters' arcs. Whereas Before Watchmen seemingly tried to flesh out every character who shows up in the original story, this sequel focused on Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan, with a little bit of Comedian thrown in as well. Ozymandias and the Comedian come away OK here, with their characters and dialogue feeling in line with the original series. Doctor Manhattan is the biggest problem, with Geoff Johns dialogue and events basically all retreading the same ground as the Mars issue of Watchmen. It feels like somebody doing a bad impersonation of Moore's writing.
Much more successful are the three new characters, including the new Rorschach, as well as Marionette and Mime. The presence of a new Rorschach was tough to get over, but I ended up liking the way it tied into the original story. Likewise, the new villains were probably the best part of the entire book, as they didn't have another version to compare themselves to and had very memorable designs and weapons.
Unfortunately, Johns ended up using the Watchmen landscape as a way to tell another Superman multiverse story. It felt like a waste of the concept and took away from the fun of seeing these characters in their own world that Moore invented. Johns's other attempts at Moore's flourishes (including backup material at the end of each issue and a separate storyline going on in the background (this time a noir film instead of a pirate comic)) were likewise inferior to the original and felt forced in to fit the format. Overall, I'm glad I read it but I don't see myself recommending it to anyone who finishes Watchmen for the first time and asks what they should read next.
Much like the prequel series, collected in the Before Watchmen Omnibus, this is very much a mixed bag with some of the characters feeling story appropriate and having something added, but most of them feeling off, with the additional material ending up detracting from those characters' arcs. Whereas Before Watchmen seemingly tried to flesh out every character who shows up in the original story, this sequel focused on Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan, with a little bit of Comedian thrown in as well. Ozymandias and the Comedian come away OK here, with their characters and dialogue feeling in line with the original series. Doctor Manhattan is the biggest problem, with Geoff Johns dialogue and events basically all retreading the same ground as the Mars issue of Watchmen. It feels like somebody doing a bad impersonation of Moore's writing.
Much more successful are the three new characters, including the new Rorschach, as well as Marionette and Mime. The presence of a new Rorschach was tough to get over, but I ended up liking the way it tied into the original story. Likewise, the new villains were probably the best part of the entire book, as they didn't have another version to compare themselves to and had very memorable designs and weapons.
Unfortunately, Johns ended up using the Watchmen landscape as a way to tell another Superman multiverse story. It felt like a waste of the concept and took away from the fun of seeing these characters in their own world that Moore invented. Johns's other attempts at Moore's flourishes (including backup material at the end of each issue and a separate storyline going on in the background (this time a noir film instead of a pirate comic)) were likewise inferior to the original and felt forced in to fit the format. Overall, I'm glad I read it but I don't see myself recommending it to anyone who finishes Watchmen for the first time and asks what they should read next.
June 9, 2023
The Superman theory. How come that 97% of the worlds population identifies as American? What is Dr Manhattan doing in the DC Universe? And has Rorscharch returned from the Dead?
One world was near its end was temporarily stopped by a mans plan of massmurdering people into survival sympathetic peace.
Now another world that is nearing the same fate as the superman theory is being dawned by the press and government leaks.
This book has alot of questions even before the first issue was published. And as it dragged on it+s publishing the sure thing is that you will have a much better reading experience reading it all in one go.
One world was near its end was temporarily stopped by a mans plan of massmurdering people into survival sympathetic peace.
Now another world that is nearing the same fate as the superman theory is being dawned by the press and government leaks.
This book has alot of questions even before the first issue was published. And as it dragged on it+s publishing the sure thing is that you will have a much better reading experience reading it all in one go.
October 12, 2025
I can appreciate what was attempted here. The Superman parts are excellent. I really like the message of hope and legacy that this has. I am a big fan of DC’s Rebirth era and this is a good ending to it. I don’t think there was much need for the Watchmen characters besides Dr. Manhattan in this story. The Superman theory and Dr. Manhattans changes to reality was plenty for a story. Adding in what the other Watchmen characters were doing ended up being a bit unnecessary to the point where I think this event could have been a few issues shorter. The overall message and art are great but some changes could have made things even better.
December 31, 2023
Out of all the artistic industries to have creative decisions thrust upon them by rights management and IP recognition and action figures, the comics industry seems to make the most satisfying and creative lemonade out of the inevitable machinations of its industry.
Geoff Johns is the right man to tackle this and the end result is a gripping and satisfying mess that sort of addresses the original comic, the movie and TV continuity in a way and the multiverses and metaverses of DC over the years of rebirth and cements Superman as DC’s most important tentpole.
Geoff Johns is the right man to tackle this and the end result is a gripping and satisfying mess that sort of addresses the original comic, the movie and TV continuity in a way and the multiverses and metaverses of DC over the years of rebirth and cements Superman as DC’s most important tentpole.
December 27, 2024
Not nearly enough of this has been shelved. I sometimes question why everyone is so gaga about Johns.
He does some absolutely incredible character work in this. Faithful to existing characters, while developing new ones. Marionette and Mine are both terrifying.
He does some absolutely incredible character work in this. Faithful to existing characters, while developing new ones. Marionette and Mine are both terrifying.
June 3, 2023
what an amazing way to bring the watchmen into dc for real. Amazing story, and really good printing/binding/product.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews