We covered the first half of Doomsday Clock #2 yesterday (the annotations can be found here), and now we're back with an even bigger Part 2. As you might expect, the issue continues to play around with timelines in some interesting ways, though that's not all we have to discuss today.Clearly there will be SPOILERS from here on out, so grab your copy of issue #2 and follow along!

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Doomsday Clock issue #2 was written by Geoff Johns, drawn by Gary Frank, colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Rob Leigh. Brian Cunningham was the Editor, with Amedeo Turturro as Associate Editor.

Welcome To Gotham City (Pages 16-20)

Raise your hand if you were at all surprised to see (on Page 16) that Gotham City has a nice abandoned amusement park just perfect for an otherdimensional crash landing.

Page 17 seems to give us Rorschach II's first name, "Reggie."

Ozymandias' Page 18 remark that his cat is "the compass" makes us wonder a) if this is actually a clone or other re-creation of the Bubastis who got shredded alongside Doctor Manhattan in an intrinsic-field remover in Watchmen #12; and b) if she can sense Doctor M's intrinsic field because of this "relationship."

Nathaniel Dusk (Page 19) was a 4-issue DC miniseries (February-May 1984) by Don McGregor and Gene Colan. It and its 1985 sequel followed the adventures of the eponymous 1930s New York City private investigator. Because the art was reproduced directly from Colan's pencils (and then colored by Tom Ziuko), it heightened the series' noir elements. Neither Wikipedia nor IMDb know anything about an actor named "Carver Colman," real or fictional. In fact, McGregor and Colan stated on the very first page of Dusk #1 that Robert Culp (of "I Spy" and "Greatest American Hero" fame) would make a great Nathaniel Dusk.

Nathaniel Dusk
Nathaniel Dusk meets Mrs. Grant Morrison(!), by Don McGregor, Gene Colan and Tom Ziuko

The French filmmaker Jacques Tourneur (1904-1977) directed a couple of atmospheric classics, namely Cat People (1942) and 1947's Out of the Past. (Both were remade in the 1980s, with Out of the Past's 1984 version retitled Against All Odds and paired with a popular Phil Collins song.) Tourneur's career as a director spanned over 30 years, from his French films of the early 1930s to 1965's City Under The Sea (a/k/a War-Gods of the Deep).

Gotham City was named for the longstanding New York City nickname. Indeed, Batman's earliest adventures took place explicitly in New York (see, e.g., September 1939's Detective Comics issue #31); but by early 1941 the texts had started calling Batman's home "Gotham" (Winter 1941's Batman #4, February 1941's Detective #48, etc.). The name comes from Washington Irving's nickname for New York City. According to a New York Public Library essay, the old Anglo-Saxon name "Gotham" or "Gottam" means "goat's town." Medieval folk-tales use this word to describe a village of simpletons, or (more charitably) people playing dumb to fool the evil King John. Irving used this less-than-flattering meaning for his satirical takes on New York life.

What do "Hemingway, Woolf and Mayakovsky" have in common? Well, each was considered a pioneer in his or her chosen field. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was a writer, journalist and adventurer who first gained fame for driving an ambulance in World War I. Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a Russian futurist and activist whose various works often brought him into conflict with the emerging Soviet state of the early 20th Century. Nevertheless, he was a strong Communist, admired Lenin, and after his death was lauded by Stalin. British author Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) popularized modernist sensibilities and the stream-of-consciousness technique, and her perspectives on womens' issues helped inspire modern feminism. On a much darker note, however, all three committed suicide. In this context we wonder if Ozymandias' mission to DC-Earth isn't his own last hurrah.

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There are a few layers of metatext in Page 20's remark about "some [masked crimefighters being] entirely fictional." First, we know from Watchmen that superhero comics pretty much withered and died in their infancy. Although no real timeframe is given, we know (mostly from the text material at the back of Watchmen issue #5) that EC's various pirate comics and National/DC's Tales of the Black Freighter pretty much dominated the marketplace starting in the 1950s. With editor Julius Schwartz focused on Black Freighter, he probably wouldn't have been interested in revamping The Flash, so there would have been no Silver Age superhero boom and (gasp!) no Marvel Comics as we know it. In other words, the Watchmen characters would know only comic-book characters from the Golden Age, including Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, the Justice Society, Captain America, Captain Marvel, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. Although some would have been inspirational on a superficial level (as they inspired Hooded Justice and Nite Owl to various degrees), generally the presence of "real-world" super-people would have been detrimental to superhero comics. Superman survives in the world of Watchmen mostly through the lower-case "superman," as well as the term "super-hero" itself.

Of course, as far as DC cosmology is concerned, "fictional" superheroes aren't fictional for long. Barry Allen became the second Flash out of admiration for Jay Garrick's comic-book exploits, transmitted originally across the vibrational divide from Jay's Earth-Two to the Earth-One version of comics writer Gardner Fox (Flash issue #123, September 1961). Barry even traveled to "our" world of Earth-Prime, where all the superheroes are fictional, beginning in May 1968's Flash issue #179.

We won't speculate too much on Doctor Manhattan's potential DC-Earth identity, hinted at on Page 20, except to say that he's probably not DC-Earth's Captain Atom. We do know he's not the mysterious Mr. Oz (that would be Jor-El, rescued from Krypton's destruction as per Early January 2018's Action Comics issue #991) or Mr. Mxyzptlk (imprisoned by Mr. Oz as described in Early May 2017's Action #975); but that still leaves a lot of possibilities. While our thoughts run immediately to the aforementioned Captain Atom, we'll save that discussion for later.

It is a little too convenient that Ozymandias considers Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne the two smartest people on DC-Earth, but perhaps he's predisposed to favor extremely wealthy male American industrialists with enough resources to fund their own costumed crusades. For what it's worth, April 2006's Infinite Crisis issue #5 (written by Geoff Johns) established that Michael "Mr. Terrific" Holt was the world's third smartest man. Mr. Terrific is currently helping Green Lantern Hal Jordan over in Dark Nights: Metal, but maybe we'll see him here before too long.

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The Smartest Men On Earth (Pages 21-28)

Page 21 is our first look at a couple of longstanding Bat-elements, stately Wayne Manor and (indirectly) the presence of Alfred Pennyworth. Currently, both Wayne Manor and the Pennyworths have been associated for generations with the Wayne family; but originally each were later additions to the mythology. Bruce Wayne lives in an apartment in his first appearance (May 1939's Detective #27), but the first mention of "the Wayne mansion" is soon afterwards, in July 1939's Detective #29. March 1954's Detective #205 describes Bruce buying the house specifically for its potential headquarters attributes, including the vast cave which lies underneath it. As of February 1987's Batman #404, though, Wayne Manor is established firmly as the family's ancestral home.

Likewise, the Alfred Pennyworth we know today is an amalgamation of a few different sources. In the Golden Age, Alfred (no last name given) shows up unannounced in April-May 1943's Batman issue #16. February 1945's Detective issue #96 appears to give his last name as Beagle, so henceforth the Golden Age version of Alfred became known as Alfred Beagle. Not until November 1969's Batman #216 was the Silver Age's Alfred given the last name of Pennyworth. Either way, Alfred came to the Wayne household well after Dick Grayson did, and that wouldn't change until February 1987's Batman #404. Needless to say, Alfred tries his best to keep "Master Bruce" well-nourished, including carbo-loading with pancakes.

Secrets Of The Batcave (1968)
Secrets Of The Batcave (1968)

Although the standard Batman setup has just Bruce and Alfred as Wayne Manor's permanent residents, recent events should have expanded their family a little more. Bruce's son Damian Wayne (created by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert for September 2006's Batman #655) lives there, and we expect his fianceé Selina "Catwoman" Kyle (created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and first appearing in Spring 1940's Batman #1) would be joining them as well.

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Rorschach discovers the Batcave on Page 22, just as his predecessor discovered the Comedian's secret closet in Watchmen issue #1. Clearly this illustrates Rorschach's abilities, since Batman's security has such a formidable reputation (the open window on Page 21 notwithstanding).The grandfather clock reads four minutes to midnight, like many of the clocks (and clock allusions) in Watchmen. At one point the tradition was that the clock had stopped at the time of the elder Waynes' deaths. The Batcave itself goes back to 1943, when it appeared both in that year's Batman movie serial (complete with grandfather-clock entrance) and in the daily "Batman" newspaper strip. Before that Bruce Wayne had stored the Batmobile and other equipment in an old barn which connected to the Wayne house via an underground tunnel (see, e.g., Fall 1940's Batman #3). By August-September 1942's Batman #12 the texts referred to "secret underground hangars," and January 1944's Detective Comics #83 first used the term "batcave."

Page 23 brings us the Mad Hatter and the Tweedles in person. Of course, "Arkham" is Arkham Asylum, named for H.P. Lovecraft's fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. First appearing as "Arkham Hospital" in October 1974's Batman #258 (by Denny O'Neil and Irv Novick), it has since become a mainstay of the Bat-mythology.

The image of Bruce Wayne's parents, shot dead under the streetlamp, goes back to the first account of Batman's origin in November 1939's Detective #33. The particular perspective on Page 23, Panel 6 recalls David Mazzucchelli and Richmond Lewis' cover of the aforementioned Batman #404 (February 1987) , the first installment of Frank Miller, Mazzucchelli and Lewis' "Batman: Year One."

The partially-obscured caution signs and nuclear biohazard symbols on Page 24, Panels 2-3 are collectively a clear homage to the "Allout Helter" cover of Watchmen #3. The painting of Jacob wrestling with the angel is by the French painter Léon Bonnat (1833-1922), a professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. The painting is based on the Genesis 32:22-32 account of the Biblical patriarch who wrestled a mysterious figure through the night and could not be overcome. God dubbed Jacob "Israel" because "you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome." The parallels to Luthor's ambitions are obvious; but it is worth noting that Superman also wrestled an angel, in July 1997's JLA #7.

Page 25's escape attempt compels us to ask whether Mime actually has super-powers, or whether he's just good at hiding lockpicks. We suspect it's the latter, given Watchmen's strict rules on the subject.

Page 26 offers a pretty standard shot of the Batcave, focused primarily on costumes from the Golden and Silver Ages. This CBR story has a good rundown, including the Riddler's and Mr. Freeze (f/k/a Mr. Zero)'s first costumes, a rack of Penguin umbrellas and what looks like the Firefly's flame-spouting equipment. One leg of the giant robot Tyrannosaurus Rex (June-July 1946's Batman #35) frames Panel 4's right side, while the giant dice on the second level may be from an encounter with the smuggler named (wait for it) Doctor Doom (April 1950's Detective #158). Naturally, the costumes in panel 6 are the original versions of Batman and Robin's gear, the giant penny is from September-October 1947's World's Finest Comics #30; and the revolver in panels 6 and 7 was most likely used to murder Bruce Wayne's parents. "They couldn't let [the] past go" is one way to summarize the Bat-family's collective crusade.

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What's the Comedian doing on Page 28? That will have to wait for later; but we will note that Ozymandias has already brought his cat back from the dead and (in Watchmen #5) staged his own assassination, so we're not ready to exonerate him just yet.

Carson McCullers (1917-1967) was a Southern-gothic writer whose most famous works were The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (1940), Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941) and The Member of the Wedding (1946). The excerpt here comes from a longer passage:

All men are lonely. But sometimes it seems to me that we Americans are the loneliest of all. Our hunger for foreign places and new ways has been with us almost like a national disease. Our literature is stamped with a quality of longing and unrest, and our writers have been great wanderers.

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It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With Americans, it is a national trait, as native to us as the rollercoaster or the jukebox. It is no simple longing for the home town or country of our birth. The emotion is Janus-faced: we are torn between a nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.

There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.

To us this speaks to a certain inability to leave things alone, but maybe we're still dealing with the strangeness of this crossover. Certainly Watchmen juxtaposes its own formalism against the "improvisation of human existence" (expressed in the "thermodynamic miracle" of humanity). Aside from the obvious Janus/Two-Face association, though, this sort of "homesickness" may refer to Ozymandias' desire to remake DC-Earth into a better version of his own world, using Luthor's anti-superhero schemes as a starting point.

Text Pages

Because we're looking at a computer in the Gotham City Public Library, we're wondering how much of a culture shock it would be for someone from 1992 (even an alternative 1992 with some advanced technology) to "hack into" a library computer and just start Googling. Perhaps when you're the smartest man on your world it comes naturally.

The text pages also help establish a timeframe for Doomsday Clock, specifically December 2017. While this isn't that surprising, it indicates that the Watchmen world (where it is still November 1992) is some 25 years "behind" the main-line DC Universe. That assumes Ozymandias and company only traveled across dimensions, and not in time per se, but Ozy offers no indication that they did time-travel.

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Many of these Easter eggs are standard DC fare, including Ferris Airlines (onetime employer of Hal "Green Lantern" Jordan and Carol "Star Sapphire" Ferris), Kord Industries (family company of Ted "Blue Beetle" Kord), Genetech (developer of super athletes, including Jerry "Speed Demon" McGee), Dayton Industries (run by Steve "Mento" Dayton of the Doom Patrol) and the Sunderland Corporation (nemesis of Swamp Thing).

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Big Belly Burger, Metropolis' favorite fast food, was created by John Byrne and Jerry Ordway for June 1988's Adventures of Superman issue #441. Ordway used editor Andy Helfer as a model for his Big Boy-esque mascot, but here "Brian" is probably a caricature of D-Clock editor Brian Cunningham.

Belly belly good
Mr. Mxyzptlk animates a Big Belly Burger mascot

We don't think "Lowell Jeffries" is a significant name, but "secret origin" is common DC shorthand. DC has had a few different Secret Origins series over the years, including a 7-issue run (February-March 1973 to October-November 1974), a 50-issue run (April 1986-August 1990) and an 11-issue run (June 2014-May 2015). We especially recommend the 50-issue run for its comprehensive nature.

A few of the references herein relate back to the Metamorpho and Markovia notes on Page 15. Created by Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon, Sapphire Stagg is Metamorpho's longtime girlfriend. Dan Jurgens and Mike Norton created Doc Dread, who first appeared in Late January 2000's Metamorpho: Year One issue #4. Bob Haney and Sal Trapani created Stingaree, who debuted in January-February 1967's Metamorpho issue #10. (The unrelated pirate Captain Stingaree was a Batman villain of the 1970s who first appeared in June 1976's Detective Comics issue #460.) Haney and Jack Sparling created The Prosecutor for March-April 1968's Metamorpho issue #17. Doctor Helga Jace, the scientist who gave Geo-Force and Terra their earth-moving powers, was created by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo and first appeared in August 1983's Batman and the Outsiders issue #1. Both Metamorpho and Geo-Force were part of The Outsiders, the team Batman formed when he left the Justice League briefly in the mid-1980s. The troubled Terra was briefly a Teen Titan around the same time.

The Department of Metahuman Affairs (also known as the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs) is a confusingly-named division of the federal Department of Extranormal Operations ("DEO"). The DEO has a much higher profile these days, thanks to the "Supergirl" TV series. However, we may be more interested in the Department of Metahuman Affairs because the metal-handed Sarge Steel, formerly of Charlton Comics, was in charge of it. Pat Masuli created Sarge for Charlton's Sarge Steel issue #1 (December 1964). An ex-private eye and current secret agent, Sarge (short for his first name, Sargeant) was Secretary of Metahuman Affairs when Diana "Wonder Woman" Prince and Tom "Nemesis" Tresser were agents there (circa Wonder Woman vol. 3 issues #1-35, August 2006-October 2009). Although he started out as a Charlton "action hero," he doesn't have an easily-identifiable Watchmen counterpart.

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Speaking of the government, since the "Superman Theory" supposes that America's super-population is somehow government-created, it is in a way a reaction to the overwhelming role of U.S.-based superheroes (and comics professionals) in American superhero comics. Put another way, of course most superheroes are going to be American, because most superhero creators work for American companies who sell superhero comics primarily to American consumers. DC does have its share of international super-people, including the Global Guardians, the Club of Heroes (which morphed eventually into Batman Incorporated), Africa's The Kingdom (from Batwing) and Justice League Europe.

As alluded to in the text pages, the "metagene" was discovered as a result of the Alien Alliance's invasion in 1988's Invasion! miniseries (written by Keith Giffen and Bill Mantlo and pencilled by Todd McFarlane and Bart Sears). In seeking to rid the Earth of superheroes, the alien Dominators dropped a "gene-bomb" which instead activated the population's latent super-powers. In short, the metagene represents the potential to become super-powered, or "metahuman."

Here's the DC-Earth version of Doomsday Clock's namesake, a real-world measurement of the planet's nearness to global catastrophe. Begun in 1947 by the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, it tracks the dangers of both nuclear war and (since 2007) climate change. The clock has been anywhere from 17 minutes to midnight (1991) and two minutes to midnight (1953). Since January 2017 it has been at two-and-a-half minutes until midnight, thirty seconds closer than in D-Clock. In Watchmen#1 it was a big deal that the Clock was at five minutes until midnight.

Every year since 1731, Britain's Royal Society has awarded its Copley Medal for outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science. Its recipients include Benjamin Franklin, Dorothy Hodgkin, Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin.

Finally, a couple of indirect Justice Society references may hint at the JSA's potential involvement in D-Clock. The "green fire" which destroyed the All-American Steel factory is a reference to the Golden Age Green Lantern, created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell for July 1940's All-American Comics issue #16. GL Alan Scott's ring and battery were powered by the Green Flame of Life, which in turn came from the magical energies of the Starheart.

The other JSA reference is more obscure. Rex "Hourman" Tyler worked at Bannermain Chemical when he developed the Miraclo pill which gave him super-powers for an hour. (By coincidence, Alan Scott's GL ring had to be charged every 24 hours.) The name "Bannermain" goes back to a pair of 1940 Hourman stories which appeared at the same time. Although Rex Tyler's boss first appeared in Hourman's Adventure Comics #48 debut, his boss wasn't named for several months. Both All Star Comics #2 (Fall 1940) and Adventure #56 (both by Hourman creator Bernard Baily) refer to him as "Bannerman." In fact, the Adventure #56 story is rife with "what could go wrong?" details, since Bannermain directs Rex to do a special job for one of the company's customers, a "Doctor Slight" who owns Castle Doom.

We suspect these references, taken together, signal the JSA's impending resurgence (symbolized by the "green flame" reappearing) and the effects of its absence. The prominence of Bannermain Chemical suggests the absence of Rex Tyler's own company, Tyler Chemical, which was so successful it survived into the 853rd Century as Tyler Chemorobotics.

What did you spot in Doomsday Clock #2? Let us know in the comments!