Doomsday Clock #9 Review

Tick, Tock, Tick...

Written By: Geoff Johns

Art By: Gary Frank, Brad Anderson

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: March 6, 2019

How the hell can Geoff Johns top himself after the previous issue?  The world that was alluded to us in this future DC landscape came into perfect view in issue #8 and it captivated the hell out of me in not only achieving that, but also with the emotional dialog and amazing art that accompanied it.  The world has changed now.  Superheroes are on the outs with the people of Earth, but that's not going to stop our heroes from protecting them.  Let's jump into this issue and see if the momentum keeps building as the Doomsday Clock ticks down.  Let's check it out.

Subtlety for the most part is left behind for this issue and for all the build up we've had leading to it, it works for me and makes complete sense.  In the previous issue we had Superman, Firestorm and even Batman to a very lesser degree caught in an energy blast in Moscow that made superheroes public enemy number one with the idea that it was Firestorm that caused the complete and utter destruction.   Well, this pisses our heroes off and with the intelligence that what ever really caused it came from the planet Mars, we see some of DC's best and brightest on a trip to the red planet to confront its maker.  

The sheer scope that Geoff Johns creates here in showing the different ships and the heroes that make up their crew on this trip is why I love comics so much.  Before anything of any substance takes place in the book, the individual panels that are used to show the characters that will be facing off against Dr. Manhattan creates such an anticipation of dread that I was legitimately terrified for the heroes that I grew up reading because for everything that they've encountered in their long lives of retcons and continuity shifts, they've never come up against someone like Dr. Manhattan and when you add in the idea that something larger is taking place in the background around them, the universe and the timeline itself....... Hell, even us, it just makes the idea that the rest of the series is probably going to be delayed almost unbearable because you just need more of what you're getting here.

While there is a battle right up in your face in this issue that is amazing, you're also getting the idea of everything coming together in what we've been dealing with in the background of this series since its start.  We get information about the Supermen Theory, the idea that the timeline as we know it is wrong and what Dr. Manhattan is willing to do to prevent his own destruction......... even though I believe that last part is a ruse for the true villain at the end of the series.  I praised last issue for the emotion it brought with Superman and Firestorm and while you don't get that here exactly, you get emotion from the will of our heroes and the idea that everything that's been wrong lately is fixable and everything we've lost as fans can still be obtained.  Yeah, there's talk about Doomsday Clock not being the book that will come in and make everything right in the world, but after issues like the last one and this, it's hard not to be optimistic for what's to come from DC Comics.

Bits and Pieces:

With art that will blow you away, this installment of the Doomsday Clock lived up to the personal hype I had after last issue and Geoff Johns just keeps wowing me with the way that he plots and writes our heroes.  Everything feels big and even the smallest parts of this issue come off as important.  This is why I read comics.

9.5/10