Alex Spencer

On first read, the obvious reference point was Ellis/Hitch’s AUTHORITY: page-filling destruction on a city scale, stacks of those famous widescreen panels, hyper-violence and neologistically overblown action-hero dialogue.pic.twitter.com/sTJqaMa1F4

But then I hit the big reveal: the city-destroying alien invasion was actually a hoax, perpetrated by an alt-universe Peter Cannon, complete with Arctic base, wall of TV screens and ridiculous armour. All he’s missing is the genetically-engineered cat.pic.twitter.com/WTrMvFylB4

You, boy – do you know what else opens on a string of full-page splashes showing the destruction of a city? Why, sir, it’s WATCHMEN #12! Another comic about an alien invasion which is faked to unite the nations of the earth against a common threat!pic.twitter.com/O7Xxmb9A8h

Once I had that realisation, it clicked: this issue is essentially a retelling of the events of Watchmen #12 in a post-Authority superhero universe. That is *precisely* my kind of clever-clever comics nonsense.pic.twitter.com/fW3nXrL1SJ

I love seeing these two seminal superhero comics, published 15 years apart, connected through their signature panel layouts: because *of course* triple-stacked widescreen panels are just an incarnation of the nine-panel grid.pic.twitter.com/659fQwnnmQ

(And, as @trivia_lad pointed out, the issue's title – “Watch” – is the perfect halfway point between its two main influences. “Stormwatch” and “Watchmen”, colling in an Ellis-esque single-word title.)pic.twitter.com/b4mXt5Yjgl

There are some really cool uses of the nine-panel grid this issue, and not all to do with the Watchmen connection. Taking the idea of the grid as the moment-to-moment beat of comics, to show the speed of Cannon’s reactions, is probably my favourite. (Note the dialogue.)pic.twitter.com/yKdNK7wapE

I also love the panels-as-TV-screens, with AU Cannon – the external observer – positioned outside of the grid.pic.twitter.com/ETT9beK8Me