Ozymandias' plans achieved nothing, the world is still at war and the only thing that can save it is the help of the most powerful being in the universe. The problem is that he's no longer here.
The wait is over. The biggest DC event of the year is here (Yes, I probably said the same about Metal but the stakes are higher here) and is funny because it follows one of the most infamous announcements in history. The Rebirth initiative promised not only the rebirth of the classic DCU but also the rebirth of The Watchmen characters and that obviously created a huge uproar from fans who consider the series sacred (and I find myself among them to some degree). They already tried this with the Before The Watchmen line which was... inoffensive at the very least but never to this extent.
Not only that but also this big event was handled by Geoff Johns which is pretty much the kind of thing that people would have joked about ten years ago. A big crossover handled by a man who is not exactly known for his complexity about some of the most complex characters and themes that ever appeared in comic form. This wasn't exactly a promising premise.
But f*ck me, I'm actually quite digging it so far.
Johns obviously uses the set-up that the end of Watchmen created, about how Ozymandias' plans were in vain since his secret was immediately known by the world thanks to Rorschach's last act and now things are basically the way where their started and possibly even worse. This creates an interesting idea to be honest, one that not really depends on the strong themes that the original story was depicting as much as it explores what happens to the actual characters beyond that. Speaking as a person who values character work this is pretty appealing for me although I'm also a bit disappointed because I still wish Watchmen would have been self-contained.
About the character work, is surprisingly solid. I was pretty impressed about Johns' portrayal of Rorschah since he gets the character incredibly well, probably even better than when Brian Azzarello did in Before Watchmen. We all know what happened to the antihero at the end of the original story so the question of his appearance is quickly brought up and is also quickly answered in a way that fits Johns' style based on his idea of legacy. There are also new characters being introduced that are a nice suit for the universe that was based on superhero and supervillain archetypes and they're pretty interesting on their own. Ozymandias' appearance is decent I guess but I really hope that Johns doesn't go for a full Lex Luthor characterization since that's not the point of the character at all.
The writing is probably one of the densest things that Johns has done in years. Full of compelling narration in a style that is quite inspired by Alan Moore while still delivering solid and surprising moments.
And this all brings up the question: How does this involve Superman? Well, we will see.
Gary Frank's artwork is outstanding, he has an excellent ability to depict character expressions while following and even elevating the script even more.
Pleasent surprise. Hope it continues this way.
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