THE CLOCK #1
Writer: Matt Hawkins
Artist: Colleen Doran
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Publisher: Image/Top Cow
Rating: 8/10
Here we go with another limited series, hellbent on destroying your feels and all of humanity. In the miniseries The Clock, humans are dying at exponential rates from a form of a rapidly progressing cancer and no one knows why or where it came from. Right off the bat we are introduced to our main character Jack, a Dr. and cancer researcher and his father, on an expedition in rural Nigeria to figure out if ecological circumstances are the reason why certain populations are unaffected by this viral outbreak. Just as they are about to leave, Jack is informed that his wife has passed away from the same virus striking millions around the globe.
After the death of his wife, Jack throws himself into his work and enlists his father's support in continuing to raise his daughter. I think it’s interesting that both men have lost their wives and I don’t mind that direction, it shows a more passionate side to the men in this story, as his dad takes on the roll of caretaker and instructs his son to grieve and feel all of the emotions that come with losing his wife. The way their relationship is painted in the first few pages are kind of beautiful to me, especially being that the father is a military man and a US ambassador. We find out that the father has also lost his wife to this viral wave and that gives us the backdrop for why Jack is so hellbent on solving the problem, aside from a decent portion of the population being taken out by it.
When Jack tries to go to the people in Washington with his findings, it sends them into a panic and they insinuate that they want to hold a formal press release to notify the public of what exactly is at steak with this virus spreading. I can kind of see where the plot is taking us and I hope that it is more nuanced than what I’m thinking. In my opinion, the virus is a weaponized form of Cancer, designed to cull the population crisis. Which in reality is a very Thanos approach to our growing climate and overcrowding problem. Matt Hawkins promises more will be revealed in issue 3 so we will see. In the solicit we are to believe that Jack’s daughter catches this virus and he then has to race and find a cure. I have a few other theories about how the series will end but I’ll save them for after Issue 3 when the Big reveal happens. I don’t have much else to say about it thus far because of how little happened in this first issue with the promise of more to come. I’m looking forward to it, I’m curious more than anything to see how the story unfolds and when path the world of biological warfare will take us down.
