'Doomsday Clock' Toys Coming From DC Collectibles

Action figures based on characters from the world of Watchmen, as well as the newly-created characters of The Marionette and The Mime, who originate from that world but did not appear in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's classic comic book series, will soon hit store shelves. UPDATE: The figures are available to pre-order here.

The 7" figures will release in sets of two, branded for Doomsday Clock, the Geoff Johns-written sequel currently on the stands from DC.

The Marionette and The Mime were created by Johns and Doomsday Clock artist Gary Frank. Johns and Frank's series, with colors by Brad Anderson, launched in November.

The two-packs will apparently break down as follows:

• Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias, due in September.
• Rorschach and Mime, due in October.
• The Comedian and Marionette, due in November.

Doomsday Clock action figures Gallery

You can see images of the figures in the attached gallery.

Some interesting notes to come out of the announcement: a press release from DC Entertainment identified the characters as "fan-favorite Watchmen characters Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, Rorschach and the Comedian, plus two new DC universe characters - Mime and Marionette-created in Doomsday Clock."

A reasonable reading of that line might be that Mime and Marionette are set to be added to the DC Universe once Doomsday Clock begins, and will not return to their universe as expected once their mission to retrieve Doctor Manhattan draws to a close. Such a move could lend the series long-term consequences to the DCU without materially altering the world of Watchmen or bringing Moore and Gibbons's characters, created to populate a stand-alone world, into the larger DCU.

Also of note is that Doctor Manhattan is pictured wearing his briefs and Ozymandias wearing his mask. Manhattan has not appeared in the current-day storyline yet (although he did appear briefly in flashback) in Doomsday Clock, but during a panel at New York Comic Con, Johns had implied in response to a fan question that Manhattan would likely be nude, as he as for much of Watchmen.

Ozymandias's mask has not yet been seen, and would seem to serve little to no narrative purpose within Doomsday Clock. One might wonder, then, if both the mask and Manhattan's briefs were simply decisions made to manufacture figures that resemble the ones Adrian Veidt manufactured and sold in Watchmen.

Among his accessories, Rorschach has interchangeable hands: gloved, and not. His non-gloved hands figure an African-American skin tone, one of the only visual ways to differentiate Doomsday Clock's Rorschach from Watchmen's.

The figures, along with numerous other DC Collectibles releases, will be fully unveiled at New York Toy Fair this weekend.

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