‘Doomsday Clock’ #2 Covers Bring Together Lex Luthor and Ozymandias

The solicitation text and two covers for DC’s Doomsday Clock #2 have been released online, revealing an apparent meeting in the issue between Ozymandias and Lex Luthor.

During his Spotlight Panel at San Diego Comic-Con over the summer, DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns teased the meeting, characterizing Lex as the maybe the closest thing the DC Universe has to Watchmen‘s Adrain Veidt.

“[Doomsday Clock] 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,” Johns explained to fans. “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.”

Veidt and Doctor Manhattan have been teased since last year’s DC Universe: Rebirth #1, also written by Johns, which concluded with Wally West’s watch being reassembled on Mars by an unseen force while dialogue between Veidt and Manhattan replayed from Watchmen.

While there is no solid evidence yet, it is generally assumed that it was Doctor Manhattan who rescued Jor-El from Krypton, setting off a series of events that is currently paying off in Action Comics‘s “The Oz Effect.”

The Luthor/Veidt cover is actually technically a variant (although an open-order variant, so you can get it easily). The “main” cover is, like all Watchmen covers, a close-up on something which is a single panel within in the story.

In this case, the cover depicts a costume spilling out of a cardboard box and onto the floor. It has a frilly, Harlequin-style collar and features striped pants, which might cause DC fans to leap to the conclusion that it is in fact Alan Scott’s ex-lover, the mother of Jade and Obsidian.

What appears more likely, from the leather that goes over it and a handbag containing scissors and Veidt cosmetics, is that this is the leather outfit apparently worn at some point off-page by Silk Spectre during her years as a crimefighter before the events of Watchmen.

You can check out the solicitation text below and the covers in the attached image gallery.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #2
Written by GEOFF JOHNS • Art and cover by GARY FRANK
Variant cover by GARY FRANK
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.

DC and Watchmen characters collide at last! The story that began in DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH #1 comes to a thrilling and unexpected crescendo in the pages of this titanic twelve-issue series by the all-star team that brought you BATMAN: EARTH ONE and SHAZAM!

In this second chapter: The Dark Knight discovers another relic from the Watchmen world. Lex Luthor pays a devil’s bargain. And killer clowns trek through Gotham seeking a madman.

On sale DECEMBER 27 • 32 pg, FC, 2 of 12, $4.99 US • RATED T+