By Toren Chenault — If you haven’t been paying attention to the world, President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iranian General Qasim Soleimani. He was also impeached a few weeks ago. In Australia, more than half a billion animals have been killed by unstoppable wildfires. Around the world, pro democracy protests continue in places like Colombia, Spain, and Hong Kong. And here in the states, a battle for the Democratic nomination continues as reports say that Bernie Sanders possibly, maybe, or not at all, told Elizabeth Warren that he didn’t think a woman could win the presidency.

That’s not bias, no sides chosen — those are all just the facts, just a few of the things that mark the times we live in. From police killing black men to transgender people not being able to join the military. They are objective realities of our society.  

These are the events that inform our lives. They shape how we talk to people or whether we talk to certain people. Our biases are real, and not many of us work to confront them. Whether it’s the economy, police brutality, farm subsidies, or foreign policy, everything in our society affects someone else. Sometimes positively, and a lot of times negatively. Some day, you may be forced to act on one of these issues. And even if you know about them, and actively, consciously still decide to do nothing, that’s a political choice too.

Meanwhile, here are some common lines we hear within comics and entertainment these days:

• “Keep politics out of comics!” 

• “Everything has an agenda nowadays!”

• “Why does Hulk (or any other hero) have to be a woman?!?!”

• “Keep politics out of television!”

We hear it all the time. And not just from the deranged or mentally feeble on Twitter. It comes up almost daily in real conversations. But it is literally impossible to separate politics and art. And an asinine statement. Sure, you could 100 percent try to write a piece of fiction without a shred of politics. But even in the biggest of blockbuster media like the Transformers films or Marvel event comics, you’ll find some political undertone. It doesn’t always have to be negative, but it shapes the art, even if someone makes a conscious attempt to avoid it. 

But when art chooses to deliberately dive into a society’s psyche, and paint a picture, either through the screen or the pages of a comic, it’s magical. And at its best, it gives rise to works that stand the test of time. Because they resonate with what people are feeling in that moment, quite literally. Almost no piece of fiction achieves this quite like the seminal comic Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. 

Watchmen can be polarizing. Personally, it’s my favorite graphic novel of all time, but I’m not here to review it or litigate its place in history. Watchmen’s status as a seminal political work of fiction is inarguable. It captured the essence of the times it was writing about. Some of it might be dated now, but it laid the groundwork. And I knew that given to the right people, the universe could expand into something beautiful and tragic that reflects the current times we live in. Enter two key pieces of media that came out in 2019 — the Watchmen television show on HBO, and the Doomsday Clock comic. 

I want to give a brief overview of each series before going into what makes them masterpieces, just like their source material. Watchmen the show follows a policewoman named Angela Abar. She lives in the Watchmen universe years after the bomb set off by Ozymandias. She’s wrapped up in a conspiracy when her police chief is killed, only to realize her role in it is much bigger than anyone thought. Doomsday Clock, meanwhile, finally blends the Watchmen Universe and the DC Universe as we learn Doctor Manhattan messed with the DC Universe, causing the New 52 to occur. It’s all a little complicated. On the surface, both of these stories come off as cash grabs, capitalizing on a great property while making something new for fans. And while that part might be inherently true, the creators of these series also honored the core of Watchmen. And Doctor Manhattan is at the core of them both.

These two creations employ different political approaches. I like both approaches, but I’d be lying if I said they were equal in my heart. HBO Watchmen’s approach focuses mainly on race, a bold choice because right there, you eliminate a chunk of viewers. That’s fine, good. Anyway, there’s a white supremacist crew in the show that is led by a corrupt Senator. The show also reveals that Hooded Justice was a black man disguised as white, and Doctor Manhattan falls in love with Angela, adopting the body of a black man.  

I mentioned earlier about how the politics around us mold us. This show is a perfect example of that. It didn’t talk about everything regarding race, but it did more than most shows. The best example coming from Episode 6, where we learn the true origin of Hooded Justice. William Reeves decided to become Hooded Justice because he was frustrated as a black man in America during the 1940s. As a police officer, he wanted to help people, but he was never given a fair shot because of his skin color. So, he becomes a vigilante with white face paint so people believe he is white, dubbing him a hero. It’s an emotional episode and one that’s hard to watch at times. William is also bisexual, and hides that from his wife and society. There’s a deep pain within him that no one can truly understand because of the stereotypes placed on black men, and on bisexuals.

This is all 100 percent true today. As black men, we’re usually only expected to feel two emotions. Anger and joy. And in extreme forms. We’re expected to be uncontrollably goofy, or thug-like angry. It’s what makes us popular in media. We’re either internet stars for our comedy or showcased for our raw power in sports. Just two same emotions, every time. Anything else is seen as “weird” or “soft” depending on the social circle you’re in. And it comes from every angle in your life. Your family, your friends, coworkers. It’s suffocating. The show conveyed this pain extremely well, while also making it relevant to the present day plot by making William Angela’s grandfather. 

The Doomsday Clock comic approaches politics a bit differently. There isn’t direct focus on race, but there is on truth, lies, and the public’s responsibility during a moral crisis. Much like the original graphic novel. But, writer Geoff Johns and artists Gary Frank and Brad Anderson focus on using DC’s superheroes to answer these questions. In the story, the world is on edge about the “Superman Theory” where it’s believed that America is breeding superheroes. Of course, other countries don’t like that, so the world does what it does best and turns to its good friend hysteria. Just like in Watchmen, there’s a constant threat of nuclear war. Not with inanimate bombs, but with metahumans, which countries begin to stockpile.

Doomsday Clock #8 showcased this new political world the best. In it, Firestorm gets into a load of trouble in Russia when he accidentally crystallizes innocent people. And Superman swoops in to save the day. Doing what he does best, Superman inspires Firestorm and tells him that he can turn everyone back. Forget the politics, forget the fear. Just believe in yourself. And it works. But at the end of the issue, Superman literally stares down a Putin look alike and the entire Russian government, to say “The demonization of metahumans is wrong.” All while Batman is screaming in Clark’s ear, “Don’t pick a side!” It’s a really beautiful moment, and a tragic one given the way the issue ends. But Doomsday Clock didn’t shy away from having that conversation. And they put their two most popular heroes at the forefront. 

While the television show focuses on race, and the comic focuses on global politics, both use Doctor Manhattan to tie the theme of their stories together. And to me, they both can be summed up in two words. Love and Hope.

Doctor Manhattan is a funny character to me. And by that, I mean his arrogance and ignorance has always been comical, but something that isn’t really talked about. He’s a man that knows everything, can be or do anything, but he still doesn’t understand those two concepts. Love and hope. And he never has, even before he became a God. I think both of these pieces of media recognized that and set out to show a completely different side of Jon Osterman. Let’s focus on the show first again.

Doctor Manhattan went to Mars and left humans alone. That’s what everyone thinks, but that’s not what really happened. We saw that on Episode 8 when we learned that Doc met Angela in Vietnam and explained to her who he is. And a bit cocky while doing so, I might add. He explained his powers to her, how he experienced everything at once and he knew he was in love with her. He didn’t know why, but he knew it. And just like the original graphic novel, his omnipresence seems to be his downfall. It seems to be the main thing separating him from Angela. He’s unable to connect with her for a long while because of the way he experiences time. His inability to live in the moment hinders his ability to feel real emotion. Why focus on the positive when you know negatives are coming? It’s a weird emotionless pool that Doctor Manhattan wades in, but one he’s become accustomed to. All that changes when he comes “back” to Angela.  

When Jon comes back towards the end of the series, the show has reached its climax. The white supremacist crew has been plotting to capture Jon and use his powers to do their white male evil stuff. But when Jon comes back, he can’t see everything clearly. He can’t live in every moment like he used to. He’s stuck here. He does remember that Angela will try to save him but her efforts will be futile. It won’t work. Angela doesn’t give a damn, this is the man she loves. She’s going to try something even if it kills her. And Doctor Manhattan says those four words that will stick with me forever. 

“This is the moment.” 

The moment he fell in love with Angela. Not because he knew he would fall in love with her, but because he actually did. He fell in love with her. It’s a powerful scene and one beautifully acted by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. When Angela gets trapped towards the end of the episode, he does one thing he never thought he could do. He made a choice. A choice to save Angela even though he knew that no matter what he did, he was going to be captured and possibly die. And he does in fact, die. Disintegrated right in front of Angela in the last episode. But as he’s dying, he isn’t thinking about all the moments, his entire life. He’s only thinking about her. Their moments. Their love. And his final words, his final thought is…

“I love you, Angela.”

It’s a love story for the ages, and one I won’t ever forget. 

On to the comic now. Geoff Johns is my favorite comic book writer of all time. And the one who has written some of the best DC stories in the past 15 years. DC Comics has undergone a lot of changes and shifts in the last five years. And Johns hasn’t been too active a writer recently. If you ask me, DC has been missing the hope from their comics as of late. They still produce good stories, but there’s something missing from their newer series. Of course, that’s just my opinion, but Johns captures everything great about DC Comics towards the end of Doomsday Clock. And once again, he uses Doctor Manhattan to tell the story.

Doctor Manhattan is arrogant. He’s nosy. And he doesn’t really care about anyone else. The television series showed us what could happen when Doctor Manhattan cares about one person. Doomsday Clock showed us what happens when he cares about an entire universe. 

It all starts in Doomsday Clock #10. Where we see exactly what Doctor Manhattan has done to the DC Universe and why. He changed Superman’s origins, which changed pretty much everything else in the DC Universe. But why? Why did he change everything we know about DC? Why did this universe interest him so much? Two things. The first and the most important in his eyes, he saw his death here. He couldn’t see beyond Superman. It was the only thing in the multiverse that he couldn’t understand. So of course, since he still has human curiosity, he investigates. Second, he didn’t understand Superman. Didn’t understand what the fuss was all about. Why is he so important? And why was he not the first one to mess with his origin? Instantly, Doctor Manhattan doesn’t feel special. He’s like the 700th being to mess with Superman’s life. But why? It bugged him for the entire issue. 

But of course, he figures it out. Superman is the ultimate being. Everything in DC starts with him. Every story, every event, every moment begins with Superman becoming Superman. And Manhattan deduces that the universe he’s in isn’t a part of multiple universes. It’s the metaverse. The one and only, the OG. And he’s disturbed it. His vision ends with Superman charging at him, angry as hell. He can’t see past that so he assumes two things. Either he kills Superman or Superman kills him. He says “I am a being of inaction. On a collision course with a man of action. To this universe of hope, I have become a villain.” He’s so dramatic, I know. 

Doctor Manhattan couldn’t see how things would play out. Just like the show. And it didn’t go how he thought it would. Superman charges at him, but doing what Supes does best — he saves him. A riot is happening on the streets and metahumans are terrorizing civilians. Superman, without knowing him, saves Doctor Manhattan because that’s what he does. And he tells Manhattan that just because he doesn’t know what happens, doesn’t mean he can’t control it. 

He has a choice. 

So Doctor Manhattan makes a choice. He ends the fighting and returns the DC Universe back to its former glory. The Legion of Superheroes and The Justice Society of America join Superman for one final fight, saving the world.

But that isn’t it. Manhattan is inspired by Superman’s words, by his actions. Doc realizes that the main reason Superman becomes the man he is today, is because of the love his parents gave him. Something so simple, something expected, but something necessary. To receive love and to give it. Doctor Manhattan never had that. An all-powerful being just existing without love or compassion, it’s a miracle he didn’t become an actual villain. But, in a sense, he kind of was. He messed with all of reality just because he could. And he knew that, understood the error of his ways. So, the story ends with Manhattan dedicating his entire being, all of his power into raising a son. It appears to kill him as the boy grows up and comes down to Earth. Manhattan says as he dies: “A final thought as I give my power to this world and this child. So that this planet has a protector that will receive...and return it.” His last thoughts are ones that the DC Universe was built on. Hope. 

Both of these series used politics to make stories about two core themes we all can relate to. Themes that are in just about every piece of media we consume. And they used the Watchmen universe to elevate those themes. And they made one of the most stoic characters in comics history a man with emotion and passion. Love and hope. It’s something we need more of in this life. Sure, we say it everyday on social media, and people post feel-good stories all the time, but we need it. In our everyday lives and how we talk with people. 

And sometimes, for a lot of us, we can’t find it. People don’t reciprocate or have no interest in giving those things to us. Some are much too worried about their status or their looks to give true love and hope to others in their lives. And to me, I love that in 2020 we still have things like Watchmen and Doomsday Clock that can show us the impact those things can still have. 

White supremacy exists, Donald Trump does reckless things, and global politics are messy. Politics. Stop being afraid of it. Stop being scared to confront what you believe in. Because love and hope is at the center. Sometimes it’s a lack, a misunderstanding, or a complete absence of it. But we can’t disregard art that challenges the world we live in.

If Doctor Manhattan can grow. You can too.

Toren Chenault, a native of the Cincinnati area, currently lives in Michigan with his girlfriend. A graduate of Michigan State University, he is a long-time superhero fan who counts Captain Atom, Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Divinity, Nightwing, and XO Manowar among his favorite heroes. Mystic Man is his first book. Buy it now here, and check out more of Toren’s Why I Love series here.