You can not make a sequel to Blade Runner. It will be terrible and taint the original. Turns out you can make a sequel that’s better and improves the original knowing where the story goes.

You can not write a sequel to Watchmen or have them interact with the proper DC characters. It will be terrible and very clearly go against one of the biggest themes of the story. Well it turns out you can write it so the characters slowly get introduced to the idea of someone as Powerful as Doctor Manhattan, while leading into a story that so far feels so much like the original series that it’s almost eerie. 

Geoff Johns has been a highly acclaimed writer in the comics world for a long time, and with good reason. He is able to perfectly capture the voices of so many varied characters and what makes them tick. So it really shouldn't have been a surprise he could do the same with Watchmen. Despite it’s nearly otherworldly status in the medium, Watchmen suddenly begins to feel incomplete after the first two pages of Doomsday Clock.

Not only does Gary Frank manage to meticulously recapture Dave Gibbons’ art from Watchmen, but the classic nine panel grid and its varied forms are straight out of 1988. The language and mannerisms of the characters and how they move, talk, and emote on the page all show how Johns and Frank have done more than their homework on this one. And you have too. There is so much baggage that comes with committing sacrilege that a writer can’t afford to skip homework when doing something like this.

Fortunately this is not the first time Geoff Johns has committed sacrilege in the eyes of the comic book community, and it’s always created some of the most iconic stories in the medium. And yeah, it would be naive to think Doomsday Clock was going to be any different. And after just nearly two issues, it is clear w may be in for his best work yet. We’ll find out in a year if him and Frank stick the landing, but at this point it’s at least clear they know how to recapture what made Watchmen, Watchmen.