Doomsday Clock #8 Review

Writer: Geoff Johns / Artist: Gary Frank / DC Comics To say that Johns has found his groove with this Doomdsday Clock would be like saying having super-powered individuals fight it out in a public space is a less than stellar idea. As I really enjoyed the last issue with the appearance of Doctor Manhattan and his series-turning revelation, this may be my favorite issue of the run so far. I was hoping that in the last issues we would get more Superman and also, see of Black Adam as he’s been alluded to so often throughout. I didn’t realize we would get both in a glorious package of political maneuvering, opposing force, and a threat of mutually shared destruction. This issue mostly sidelines some of the characters that have been cultivated thus far to give us a very Superman-centric conflict, which is always what this book promised we’d get. Welcome to Kahndaq Johns nails all the characters while putting them in a unique situation. Some of the best Superman stories come from his “leaning too hard into compassion for someone to manipulate,” and there are definitely beats in this story that mechanic. The pragmatic approach of Black Adam with cold and veiled threats were some of my favorite panels. We’ve been hearing about his rule in Kahndaq, the metahuman sanctuary, but we got to see it up close for the first time. Including Adam’s throne room, which is kind of worth the price of admission.

Even though this story features Superman mostly, it definitely doesn’t desert the machi…