Posted in: Comics | Tagged: annihilator, Comics, dc, frank quitely, frazer irving, legendary, multiversity, Pax Americana, wantedm grant morrison, Watchmen

Multiversity: Pax Americana – It's Not Just Watchmen. It's All Star Superman, Annihilator And Wanted Too!

Published Wed, 19 Nov 2014 05:00:04 -0600

by Rich Johnston

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Multiversity: Pax Americana by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, the book that made Jupiter's Legacy even later, is out today and it it stunning. Absolutely stunning, from beginning to end.

Focussing on the Charlton Heroes of the DC Multiverse, it continues to tell a metafictional tale and, as expected, is heavy reminiscent of Watchmen. With some rather pointed remarks, say with ~~Nite Owl and Rorschach~~ Blue Beetle and The Question.

But one of my favourite aspects of Watchmen was something you had to read into it. That Dr Manhattan saw the universe as we see a comic book. He could flip backwards and forwards in time, read it in the order of his choosing. Or simply stop. Stick it in our back pocket. Destroy it entirely. Or maybe be inspired to go off and tell our own stories. The most powerful creature in the Watchmen story has the same powers as every single reader of Watchmen. Who watches the Watchmen? Why, we do.

Well, in Multiversity, Captain Atom explains this rather literally.

But it's not just Watchmen. The opening scene of the book features an assassination shown in reverse…

That is totally the opening scene from the Wanted movie, right, based on the comic written by his nemesis Mark Millar, currently working with Frank on the aforementioned Jupiter's Legacy?

This staircase scene seems rather similar to a certain All Star Superman scene by Grant and Frank as well.

But that's not all. There's one intro scene…

And outro scene… and yes, as well as doing the Watchmen page transition, accidental object forming symbols thing…

He's also dong the blackness of the full stop – or in this case the dot on the I… just as has been happening in Morrison's other current series, Annihilator with Frazer Irving for Legendary.

We've already said that Annihilator seems to be a part of Multiversity, albeit it unofficially. The third issue of that is out today as well, featuring a fictional character who has walked out of a screenplay into the real world, and seems far better at being the author than the author himself.

Which also is reminiscent of Promethea… but what is that black spot. What else could it be?

Sure, but possibly not this dog.

Multiversity: Pax Americana #1 and Annihilator #3 are published today. Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London. With a Jason Aaron/Jason Latour/Ivan Brandon/Tom Muller signing today, with a Directors Commentary performance of Southern Bastards #1.