We’ve just recently purchased 3 key books that tie-in perfectly with todays hottest comic! I’m talking about DC Comics 12 issue maxi-series DOOMSDAY CLOCK. Written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, this stunning book is a direct sequel to the critically acclaimed WATCHMEN series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
While most of you may already know, there are a few people that do not realize that the Watchmen script was originally for the old 1960s Charlton characters that DC had just acquired the rights for. DC loved Moores idea but had other plans for the Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and others so they asked Moore & Gibbons to do the book with their own characters rather than those. So the Question became Rorschach, Captain Atom became Dr. Manhattan, the Blue Beetle and his flying bug became Nite Owl and Archie the Owlship, and so on.
We have 3 key 1st appearances of the original characters that were meant to be the Watchmen available for sale.
CAPTAIN ATOM #83 – 1st appearance of Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle by Steve Ditko – FINE+ 6.5 Ditko had been drawing Captain Atom for awhile, having first co-created the character in 1960 – issue #83 had a brand new back up introducing the world to the NEW BLUE BEETLE. The original character of the Blue Beetle had been around since 1939 – but Ditko came up with a new guy (Ted Kord) – costume and the only similarity being the name.
BLUE BEETLE #1 – 1st appearance of the Question by Steve Ditko FINE+ 6.5 – proven popular in the Captain Atom backups, the Blue Beetle is given his own title in 1967 and Ditko once again introduces another lasting character by the name of the Question in the back up of the very first issue.
and lastly
CAPTAIN ATOM #85 – 1st appearance of Punch and Jewelee by Steve Ditko FINE/VERY FINE 7.0
who are they you say? Taking a cue from Alan Moore when writing the sequel to Watchmen (Doomsday Clock) – writer Geoff Johns took inspiration by trying to find two Charlton characters that were not used in the original Watchmen series that he could introduce into the Watchmen Universe for his sequel. The result was Punch & Jewelee who you know better as the Mime & Marionette from Doomsday Clock #1.
Looking back at the Charlton Action Characters that were originally going to be the main characters in Watchmen I realize that Ditko created (or co-created) the lions share of them.
Captain Atom (Dr. Manhattan)
Blue Beetle (Nite Owl)
Nightshade (Silk Spectre)
The Question (Rorschach)
and now Punch and Jewlee (Mime & Marionette)
should have been called Steve Ditko presents the Watchmen for how much was ‘inspired’ from his works..
All 3 books are available for order off the website – or can be viewed in person at our Plainfield, Illinois location!