DC Comics' Doomsday Clock #6, Annotated, Part 2

We've reached the halfway point of Doomsday Clock, and at first glance issue #6 has very little plot advancement. That's not really a criticism, just an observation; since the miniseries seems to be settling into a similar structural groove as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. The 1986-87 classic featured flashback-laden world-building issues in alternating installments, including its own Issue #6.

Of course, to say much more would involve SPOILERS, so we hope you have your copy handy. Like the backstory-heavy issue #4, this is going to be something of a departure; but there's still plenty to go over. For this following along at home, we covered the first half of Doomsday Clock #6 here; the rest will unfold below.

Doomsday Clock issue #6 was written by Geoff Johns, drawn by Gary Frank, colored by Brad Anderson and lettered by Rob Leigh. Amie Brockaway-Metcalf has been designing the text pages, and we regret deeply not listing her in the credits earlier. Brian Cunningham was the Editor, with Amedeo Turturro as Associate Editor.

Evil Empire (Pages 10-11, 13-17, 23-26)

Who's Who in the Injustice Gang — The Injustice Society of the World

Page 10 kicks off the Riddler's meeting. On Page 14 we learn that he wants to call the group the "League of Villainy." The tradition of DC all-star supervillain groups goes back to October-November 1947's All Star Comics issue #37, which introduced the Injustice Society of the World. The group's creation is credited to editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Bob Kanigher, and in the context of the story the villainous Wizard brought the team together. Its charter members were The Gambler, Brain Wave, Vandal Savage, Per Degaton and the Thinker. Later, the Justice League fought the Injustice Gang (debuting in May-June 1974's Justice League of America #111, written by Len Wein and pencilled by Dick Dillin); the Secret Society of Super-Villains (first appearing in May-June 1978's Secret Society of Super-Villains #1, written by Gerry Conway and pencilled by Pablo Marcos); and the Injustice League (first appearing in Late September 1997's JLA issue #10, written by Grant Morrison and pencilled by Howard Porter).

Currently the League is up against the Legion of Doom, a name which goes back to 1978's "Challenge of the Super Friends" TV series. It migrated to the comics starting in June-July 1996's Extreme Justice #17, and was used for various villain groups which fought groups like Extreme Justice and the Teen Titans. The current Justice League storyline (starting in Early August 2018's Justice League issue #1; written by Scott Snyder and pencilled by Jim Cheung and others) marks the first time any so-called Legion of Doom has fought the main Justice League.

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The miscreants present (mostly on Page 10, Panel 4 et seq.) are

-- members of the Court of Owls (created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo and first appearing in January 2012's Batman issue #3);

-- Doctor Psycho, Doctor Poison and Giganta (all created by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter and first appearing, respectively, in June-July 1943's Wonder Woman issue #5, February 1942's Sensation Comics issue #2 and Summer 1944's Wonder Woman issue #9);

-- the second Tattooed Man (created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver for April 2006's Green Lantern issue #6);

-- Hector Hammond and Sonar (both created by John Broome and Gil Kane and first appearing, respectively, in March-April 1961's Green Lantern issue #5 and July 1962's issue #14);

-- the aforementioned Mister Freeze;

-- the Penguin (created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane and first appearing in December 1941's Detective Comics issue #58);

-- Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, the Top and Captain Boomerang (all created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino and first appearing, respectively, in February-March 1951's Flash issue #105, May-June 1957's Showcase issue #8, November 1963's Flash issue #140, August 1961's Flash issue #122 and December 1960's Flash issue #117);

-- Doctor Thadeus Bodog Sivana (created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck and first appearing in February 1940's Whiz Comics issue #2);

-- the Prankster (created by Jerry Siegel and John Sikela and first appearing in August 1942's Action Comics issue #51);

-- Toyman (created by Don Cameron and Ed Dobrotka and first appearing in September 1943's Action Comics issue #64);

-- Black Bison (created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick and first appearing in June 1982's Fury Of Firestorm issue #1);

-- Professor Pyg (created by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert and first appearing in July 2007's Batman issue #666); and

-- the Riddler (created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang and first appearing in October 1948's Detective Comics issue #140).

Also present are Two-Face and the Scarecrow (both discussed back in issue #4), what looks like Tweedledum & Tweedledee (mentioned in issue #2) and Typhoon and Moonbow (to be discussed below, in the text pages).

Every villain ever — The Earth-3 Crime Syndicate summons a villainous army in Forever Evil #1

While the Riddler has received a few makeovers in his seventy-year history -- most recently the sideburns-heavy hipster of "Zero Year" who became the buff bro of "The War Of Jokes And Riddles" -- here he's rocking his original look, made famous by actor Frank Gorshin in the "Batman" TV series. Riddler alludes to the various sub-groups' different motivations -- the Flash's Rogues' Gallery just wants to get rich, the Batman villains tend to be unbalanced, the Green Lantern foes tend to want power, etc. Riddler also adjusts his familiar catchphrase from "riddle me this," probably because he doesn't have a suitable riddle (which is itself surprising).

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Page 10's mention of "that Sanctuary place" appears to refer to the setting of Tom King and Clay Mann's upcoming Heroes In Crisis miniseries. It reminds us that the DC Universe has a lot of moving parts which can inform this miniseries directly and indirectly. The "first Tattooed Man" was Abel Tarrant, created by John Broome and Gil Kane and first appearing in September 1963's Green Lantern issue #23.

When Sonar says that "the Lantern's other adversaries left for the stars," he's probably talking about Hal Jordan's traditional Silver Age foes, many of whom had extraterrestrial origins or other such connections. In fact, considering the amount of time Hal spends in space these days, we don't think he's got a lot of regular enemies left on Earth.

Ever since 1986's George Pérez-led Wonder Woman revamp, Themyscira has been the name of the Amazons' other-dimensional island home. The name comes from an ancient Greek town which was considered the Amazons' pre-exile home. Eschewing that part of Greek mythology, William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter created "Paradise Island" for the feature's debut back in December 1941's All-Star Comics issue #8. It was renamed Themyscira as of February 1987's Wonder Woman issue #1. Taking Wonder Woman forcibly back to Themyscira doesn't sound like something the Amazons would do, but in recent years the Amazons have gotten a little less benevolent than they used to be.

These references to super-people "leaving" -- we're reminded of the phrase "self-deporting" -- recall the exodus of super-folk in the backstories of alternate-future miniseries like The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come. Since we're pretty sure they're all coming back, we're kind of hoping that this is all part of a plan orchestrated by Wonder Woman, who's a) pretty good with tactics herself and b) too big to leave out of this story.

On Page 11, Captain Boomerang refers to the Suicide Squad. Originally a straightforward team of government agents, the Squad -- formally known as Task Force X -- was created by Bob Kanigher and Ross Andru and first appeared in August-September 1959's The Brave and the Bold issue #25 (three issues before the Justice League's debut). The team got a radical revamp in 1986-87's Legends miniseries, thanks to writer John Ostrander. First appearing as such in January 1987's Legends issue #3, the new Squad was made up of supervillains who were offered clemency in exchange for ultra-dangerous government-sponsored missions. Boomerang has been a regular Squad member ever since.

Page 11 also gives us a glimpse of Batman foe Black Mask, created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake and first appearing in August 1985's Batman issue #386. Another Moench co-creation, Nocturna, shows up on Page 14. Created with Gene Colan, she first appeared in August 1983's Detective Comics issue #529.

When Two-Face asks on Page 13 "who's Batman this time?" he knows what he's talking about. In fact, the 2009 Battle for the Cowl miniseries even teased Two-Face as a possible Batman replacement. There have been two major Bat-successors in the past 25 years, Jean-Paul Valley (from Early September 1993's Batman: Shadow of the Bat issue #16 to August 1994's Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight issue #63) and Dick Grayson (1994's "Prodigal" storyline, then from August 2009's Batman issue #687 to October 2011's Batman issue #713). However, Two-Face may also remember the faux Batmen of Christopher Nolan's 2008 film The Dark Knight.

Page 17's reference to "the goddamn Comedian" may just be one more example of D-Clock's mature-readers status, but we like to think it's a callback to Frank Miller and Jim Lee's infamous All-Star Batman & Robin.

Of course Mime & Marionette stay at the Caribbean Motel (Page 23), because pirates. We're hoping to see them compared to and contrasted with Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk, but we're not holding our breath.

We couldn't find additional context for the Charlie Chaplin quote which closes the story (Page 26), but we doubt that it refers to clown-themed criminals. Heck, it could just as easily refer to Dick "Robin" Grayson, described as a "laughing young dare devil" at the end of his introductory story (April 1940's Detective issue #38), which opened with his parents being murdered. In other words, while we don't know exactly where Chaplin's "pain" came from, we're guessing it wasn't as deadly.

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Text Pages

Firestorm vs. Typhoon — Firestorm first battles Typhoon, from Flash #295

Typhoon and Moonbow were already in D-Clock issue #5's text pages, but this issue they get a lot more attention. Each was co-created by Firestorm co-creator Gerry Conway, with Moonbow co-created by Joe Brozowski. Their Department of Metahuman Affairs serial numbers are unsubtle references to the issues where they first appeared. Typhoon debuted in February 1981's The Flash issue #294 (where "Firestorm" was, at the time, an 8-page backup series), so he gets FL294-1981; and Moonbow first appeared in June 1986's Fury Of Firestorm issue #48. Apparently the DMA thought Moonbow's first appearance was in issue #43, but ironically, that issue kicked off a two-part Typhoon story.

As for Typhoon's co-creator, it's a little complicated. Typhoon was supposed to debut in a story pencilled by Firestorm co-creator Al Milgrom which would have appeared in the unpublished Firestorm issue #6. (Eventually it was part of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade issue #1). However, between the cancellation of the first Firestorm series and the start of the Flash backups, Typhoon's backstory changed significantly. Jim Starlin ended up pencilling his revised debut in April-June 1981's Flash issues #294-96. There, David Drake was indeed turned into the terrible Typhoon following an accident with a nuclear-powered bathysphere ("The Manta"), but we note that said accident also involved Professor Martin Stein, who at the time was Firestorm's "backseat driver." Although both Stein and Drake were working for Concordance Research, it wasn't really either man's fault, since the captain of their research boat refused to take them out of a storm-prone area. Flash issue #294 also mentioned Drake's wife Marilyn and their children; but by January 1983's Fury Of Firestorm issue #8, the couple had split up.

Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis created Stephen Shin -- one-time mentor of Aquaman and the surface world's greatest expert on Atlantis -- for December 2011's Aquaman issue #2. Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick created Jivan Shi, a/k/a the second Hyena, for March 1983's Fury Of Firestorm issue #10. Shi was a psychologist who became a lycanthrope after being bitten by one of his patients, namely the original Hyena, Summer Day. Conway and Milgrom created the Hyena for September 1978's Firestorm issue #4.

We discussed the Creeper in issue #5, and we've already mentioned Giganta; but we'll note that the original version of Giganta was an ape mutated into human form. The current version is a woman given size-changing powers through a complex sequence of events. The "Crime Syndicate's invasion" was chronicled in the Forever Evil miniseries (September 2013-May 2014), written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by David Finch. Johns and Reis also created Sandstorm, a Syrian member of the Global Guardians, for May 2006's Green Lantern issue #10.

Go to bed old man — Rising Sun remembers Big Science Action, from Final Crisis #2

This issue doesn't have quite the roll call of super-people that last issue did; but this issue's lists appear to be from a similar infographic. We get three more countries' worth of geographically-organized super-teams, so buckle up:

-- Steve Englehart and Joe Staton created Betty Clawman and RAM for January 1988's Millennium issue #2;

-- James Robinson and Cully Hamner created The Argonaut for February 2012's The Shade issue #3;

-- Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel created Dark Ranger for November 2008's Batman issue #681, based on the Ranger created by Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff for January 1955's Detective Comics issue #215;

-- Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas and Todd McFarlane created Tasmanian Devil for November 1988's Infinity Inc. issue #32;

-- Alan Grant, John Wagner and Norm Breyfogle created Umbaluru for October 1988's Detective Comics issue #591;

-- Grant Morrison and Howard Porter created Goraiko for February 1999's JLA issue #26; and Morrison and J.G. Jones created Big Science Action (including Hammersuite Zero-X and Ultimon) for August 2008's Final Crisis issue #2;

-- Joe Gill and Frank McLaughlin created Judomaster for November 1965's Special War Series issue #4 (although this may be Judomaster III, created by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott for January 2007's Birds Of Prey issue #100);

-- John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake created Naiad for October 1989's Firestorm issue #90;

-- E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon created Rising Sun for November 1977's Super Friends issue #8, and he was incorporated officially into main-line continuity in June 1982's DC Comics Presents issue #46;

-- Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco created Sirocco for December 2006's Superman issue #657; and

-- Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis created Kahina the Seer for May 2012's Aquaman issue #7; but this is her younger sister Sayeh, created by Dan Jurgens and Lan Medina for July 2014's Aquaman and the Others issue #2.

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John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell created Manticore for May 1987's Suicide Squad issue #1. There have been four Manticores, with the first three being members of the terrorist group Jihad. The fourth first appeared in May 2006's Green Lantern issue #10, written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by Ivan Reis.

Samurai was created for the "Super Friends" TV series and debuted in Season 2's first episode (September 10, 1977). The comics have featured a couple of Samurai analogues, first in November 2009's Justice League of America 80-Page Giant issue #1, and then in August 2010's Justice League of America issue #46. The first was a time-lost Japanese warrior given super-powers, while the second was a present-day Japanese superhero.

For some of these characters we couldn't find much at all, including Iran's Blacksmith of Tehran and Super-Shayk. Australia's Miss Midnight might be a relative of the Spirit knock-off Midnight (created by Jack Cole for January 1941's Smash Comics issue #18), but we doubt it. Likewise, Patient One could be related to Patient Zero, created by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio for January 2018's Batgirl and the Birds of Prey issue #16; but we think "patient one" refers to one who can wait, not the first (or second) afflicted.

Although a coffee-cup stain obscures the name of the DMA's director, longtime DC readers probably think it's Mr. Bones. As related recently by CBR's master researcher Brian Cronin, Mr. Bones was a onetime supervillain who turned to the light side and ended up as the head of the Department of Extranormal Operations. However, as we pointed out in issue #2's annotations, that's not the same thing as the Department of Metahuman Affairs. As far as we know, the DMA's director is still Sarge Steel, one-time Charlton character who (along with Judomaster) didn't get a Watchmen analogue.

By the way, this issue's present-day sequences take place on "Wednesday, July 25," which matches the issue's 2018 on-sale date; but D-Clock is supposed to be taking place a year in the DC Universe's future. As far as we can tell, there won't be another Wednesday, July 25 until 2029. Does that mean that everything else is taking place a year in the DCU's past?

Heavy stuff, man. Heavy stuff.

What did you spot in Doomsday Clock #6? Let us know in the comments!