Rorschach the Houseguest (Pages 10, 12, 15-16)

Among all of Doomsday Clock‘s “newsworthy” developments, one of the biggest may be the apparent debut of the latest Batsuit. Although Batman is wearing his Rebirth-era costume in D-Clock promotional materials, this costume has a smaller chest symbol made of a rigid material like the Batman Incorporated or the second Batman: Earth One versions.

RELATED: The First Batman/Rorschach Team-Up Did Not Go How We Envisioned

The return of the Bat-symbol’s yellow oval (also part of the Inc. and Earth One versions) would be more surprising if DC hadn’t just announced the return of Superman’s red trunks in the upcoming Action Comics #1000. By our math Detective Comics #1000 won’t be out for over a year, and the 800th issue of Batman (i.e., the 2016 series’ issue #35) has come and gone. However, Detective #977, marking 950 issues since Batman’s first appearance and 650 since the yellow oval’s debut, is only a few months away. Sadly, Batman’s blue/black trunks are still missing in action.

The “Earth One” Batman and Jim Gordon

We see Rorschach’s real face on page 15, under much better circumstances than his predecessor’s unmasking in Watchmen issue #5. Alfred Pennyworth, discussed at length in last issue’s annotations, makes his on-panel D-Clock debut on page 15 as well. Yule marble comes exclusively from Colorado’s Yule Creek Valley; while Clive Christian is a British furniture designer known for his kitchens and perfume.

Page 3: Mime & Marionette's Bar Associations

Mime & Marionette’s Bar Associations (Pages 11, 18-22)

Like the earlier Ozymandias sequences, Mime and Marionette’s five pages in Jumping Jack’s are fairly straightforward. However, we did find some things to discuss.

Marionette’s reference to “Jersey” on Page 11 allude to Gotham City being located frequently in New Jersey. Presumably this allows it to coexist in DC-Earth’s northeastern United States along with Metropolis and New York City. This geographical specificity goes back at least to the March 1977 issue of DC’s in-house fan magazine Amazing World Of DC Comics. 2016’s Suicide Squad film also appeared to place Gotham’s latest movie incarnation in New Jersey.

McSurley’s Bar, from Detective Comics #570

As CBR has pointed out, it looks like the amusement park where the Owlship landed is the same one featured in Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke.

RELATED: Are Doomsday Clock’s Mime and Marionette Metahuman?

The bar that Mime & Marionette enter on Page 18 is called “Jumping Jack’s.” We think it’s new as of this miniseries, because we don’t quite remember the Joker ever owning a bar. (Personally, we always liked seeing McSurley’s.) By itself “Jumping Jack’s” is appropriate for a demented clown-faced criminal, but the “Jack” part (however generic) may refer to Jack Napier, the name given to the future Joker in 1989’s Batman film. Tim Burton directed it, Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren wrote the screenplay and Jack Nicholson played the Joker. Of course, Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson created the Harlequin of Hate for Spring 1940’s Batman issue #1.

Pages 19-20 establish Mime’s gimmick: He uses cloaked weaponry to make it look like he’s “miming.” We’ve seen already that Marionette’s gear is a bit less subtle.

We didn’t find any real-world reference to “Lindbergh Whiskey” (Page 22), so we’ll just note that its distiller was established in 1932, the year that Charles Lindbergh’s infant son was kidnapped. At the time it was dubbed the Crime of the Century, a title applied to any number of subsequent fictional capers.

We’ll be back with Part 2 tomorrow. In the meantime, what did you spot in Doomsday Clock issue #3? Let us know in the comments!