'Watchmen' Star Rorschach Faces Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman on 'Doomsday Clock' #1 Variant

This morning on Twitter, DC chief creative officer Geoff Johns released the first lenticular cover for Doomsday Clock #1, due in stores on November 22 from DC.

The image, which you can see below, applies a lenticular effect to existing Watchmen art by Dave Gibbons, reorienting Rorschach's mask to reveal the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman logos.

Reusing pre-existing art has become more commonplace in comics in the last year or so; Marvel had a much-touted Todd McFarlane variant on a recent landmark issue of Venom, but it was art from McFarlane's Spider-Man run nearly thirty years ago. Marvel has also reused art from current DC co-publisher Jim Lee on X-Men covers.

When Before Watchmen was announced, DC approached Dave Gibbons but he reportedly declined, citing an ongoing rights dispute between his Watchmen co-creator, Alan Moore. Moore reportedly redirects his Watchmen royalties to Gibbons, as he refuses to deal with DC (even to take their money) but did not want DC to benefit from, or Gibbons to be hurt by, the disagreement. It is, therefore, probably not likely that Gibbons will create any new art for Doomsday Clock, although given his relationship with DC (which is to say, much better than Moore's), it's possible he was consulted before DC used his old art.

Of course, as in the cases of Venom and X-Men above, it's equally possible that DC did not approach Gibbons at all about Doomsday Clock, since they own the rights to the existing art.

The main cover, by series artist Gary Frank, features an angry crowd, one of whom is carrying a "The End is Here" sign, calling back to similar signs carried by Walter Kovacs, the civilian identity of Rorschach in Watchmen. Colorist Brad Anderson captures the mood of many of the "angry mob" scenes from Watchmen.

The first of two variant covers, also by Frank, features Superman floating before the reader, Doctor Manhattan looming huge behind him, as with part of Superman's body dissipating into watch parts.

The second variant will feature a lenticular cover. More details are to come on that one.

Doomsday Clock is 12 issues long,"and it takes place a year in the future of the DC Universe, so that when the last issue comes out, the DC Universe will catch up," Johns said during his Comic-Con spotlight panel. "Everything from Rebirth and Metal and everything else, this will take place after all of that, and by the time issue #12 comes out, the rest of the DC Universe will catch up and be affected. You'll see some changes to characters in this that you'll see unfold and you'll see events happen in the DC line that will then catch up to what we're doing."

"There's so much great thematic and important stuff about what the DC Universe is, what these heroes mean to us, what the world faces on a daily basis, and what these heroes — DC's in specific — speak to me and hopefully why they speak to you," added Johns. "That's what the book is about. The book is a celebration of all of it; it's a comic book that encompasses everything from Action Comics #1 in 1938 all the way till today, and it leads the DC Universe into tomorrow with issue # 12 — like, literally tomorrow. There's a lot of things that I'm excited for you guys to see, but one scene in particular that I love: I love seeing the smartest man from one world talking to the smartest man from another — and the smartest man from DC is Lex Luthor — and that's all I'll say."

Doomsday Clock #1 hits the stands on November 22nd.