Vanessa's Weekly Thoughts pt. 3: Watchmen (TV Show & Film) and Doomsday Clock are the Best Elseworlds Story. Period.

So I decided to change this from weekly “rants” to weekly “thoughts” — and I use the term “weekly” loosely because I barely blog as it is (working on it!). But, I realized part of why I haven’t kept up with this series is because I don’t always have something to rant about … so I decided to RE-BRAND!

I will use this space to vent, rant, critically think about and dissect things going around me. Mostly pop culture stuff, though.

This week, I want to talk about the Watchmen series.

Screenshot from Doomsday Clock, DC Universe.

So I was first introduced to Watchmen by Alan Moore when I was in college. I was taking a class that had us reading published works and then their live action adaptations. Mostly graphic novels turned into movies. Watchmen was one of them.

Reading the graphic novel for the first time did a number on my perception of comic books and actually started me on my long, long road back to reading comics again.

After I finished it, I saw the movie in theaters with a few friends. Compared to the graphic novel, I was less than impressed with the story, but in absolute love with the visuals … something of a pattern with Zack Snyder projects.

Silk Spectre I in Watchmen (2009), directed by Zack Snyder.

The Watchmen novel itself is a hard look at a post-superhero alternate Earth through the lens of a chaotic time where everyone was terrified of nuclear war. It was and is a brilliant piece of work. Throughout the years, it’s been interesting seeing new writers and artists take Alan Moore’s vision and story and move them forward in their own ways.

Zack was never interested in moving the Watchmen story forward in any meaningful way, he just liked seeing cool people fight — and big, blue dicks. Which is valid, honestly.

I really can’t say the same thing about HBO’s Watchmen, created by Damon Lindelof, or Geoff Johns’ Doomsday Clock with insanely dope art by Gary Frank.

Regina King, Jean Smart and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II brought Alan Moore’s Watchmen characters and themes to a new generation, with stories that felt familiar to the established fandom.

The twist/reveal of who Jon Osterman is and what he’s being doing the whole time after Veidt’s deception was peak comic drama writing. Laurie Blake’s (formerly Juspeczyk) blending of her old hero persona with her new bleak, darkly humorous outlook felt true to the core of the character.

The story was brilliantly weaved from the beginning to tell us what the hell happens AFTER armageddon happens, after Ozymandias tried to unite the world — and failed. Lindelof’s story wasn’t the only one to explore Veidt’s failure either.

Silk Spectre II and Sister Night in HBO’s Watchmen.

Doomsday Clock tells us a different follow-up story that is just as good if not more directly related to the overall DC universe. For those who haven’t read this incredible series, the long and short of it is, that at the end of Moore’s Watchmen, Manhattan left his universe for “one less complicated”. In Lindelof’s story, he just moves to Mars. But in Doomsday Clock, he goes to Prime DC Universe.

The one WB rebooted with the New 52. Yep, that’s right. DC rebooted its entire line of comics after Flashpoint and BLAMED DOCTOR MANHATTAN FOR THE CHANGES. I AM CACKLING AS I WRITE THIS BECAUSE IT’S FUCKING GENIUS AND COMPLETELY BATSHIT.

And more specifically, Jon Osterman’s curiosity and JEALOUSY of Clark Kent aka Superman caused him to start fucking with Earth Prime’s reality. Considering these are two of my favorite fictional superheroes of all time, I have been giddy about this piece of info since I heard about it years ago. Reading the story in full was worth the wait and gave me the opportunity to put all my thoughts in order.

Superman vs Dr. Manhattan

“I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lifelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too.” -James Joyce

These different stories may not feel connected to some, but they very much are aligned. Connected through the deconstruction of the superhero, the post-hero landscape, collective and national grief manifesting through protests and civil unrest … each story comes from the same theme. Are humans just each other’s monsters, or can we be something more? If we become something more, would that make things better or worse?

And at the end of each new work (HBO’s Watchmen and Doomsday Clock), all Manhattan really wanted was to share himself with someone else. Whether in love or passing on his own legacy.

So many comic books, TV shows and movies took Moore’s original idea and ran with it in their own way (*cough cough* The Boys) but truly HBO’s Watchmen and Doomsday Clock are worthy successors to his work.