'Doomsday Clock' #8 Features an Adorable Kitten Cover

Earlier today on social media, Doomsday Clock artist Gary Frank shared the cover for the forthcoming eighth issue of the series, featuring a close-up on the face of Ozymandias's genetically-engineered cat Bubastis -- as seen in his revived form in early issues of the series.

Ozymandias has been largely out of the picture since the Owlship crash-landed on the DC Universe's Earth and he had it out with The Comedian in Lex Luthor's office, ending up in the hospital (and facing charges of assaulting Luthor).

Despite delays (the series has moved from monthly to shipping every other month), the story itself is moving along at a brisk pace, bringing in a larger number of DC heroes and villains, along with high concepts that threaten the status quo in the DC Universe, than fans had expected early on when the series was largely painted as being "Superman and Doctor Manhattan."

Bubastis, a genetically-modified lynx, was Adrian (Ozymandias) Veidt's sole companion at Karnak, his hidden research facility. Sacrificing Bubastis in the final act of Watchmen was a painful but, he thought, necessary step in trying to finalize his plot by nullifying Doctor Manhattan.

By the time the events of Doomsday Clock take place a few years later, Adrian -- facing a fatal brain tumor -- has got a new (and younger, arguably cuter) companion.

The cover was drawn by Frank and colored by series colorist Brad Anderson.

Each of the Doomsday Clock issues has featured two covers -- one which, like Watchmen before it, takes an image from the story's first panel, and another which is a more spectacle-driven image, usually featuring pin-up style art and featuring a DC character along with the characters from the world of Watchmen.

During an interview with ComicBook.com at Comic Con International in San Diego, writer Geoff Johns promised that the story would take a big turn with the next issue, due out in September.

"Issue six is kind of the fulcrum of the series," Johns, the former DC executive who writes the series, told ComicBook.com. "We are ramping up and then issue 7 will totally change what people think the series is about and where it's going, specifically with Doctor Manhattan."

According to the solicitation text for Doomsday Clock #7, "The critically acclaimed team of writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank continue the groundbreaking miniseries bringing the world of Watchmen to DC. In this chapter, the truth behind Dr. Manhattan's curiosity with the DC Universe is revealed as the planet teeters on the edge of the Super-War."

Fans have long speculated that Doctor Manhattan came to the DC Universe following the events of the Before Watchmen: Doctor Manhattan series, in which he suggested that he would create a new world of his own. Some have suggested that the world he created was the post-FlashpointDC Universe, an altered and truncated timeline which launched 2011's line-wide reboot The New 52. Johns, who writes Doomsday Clock and has taken point on almost all things Watchmen-related, was the one responsible for Flashpoint as well.

We'll find out more in two months.