4. The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1 By Frank Quitely
So The Multiversity is pretty much the best comic book ever written (or at least the most complicated). Written by Grant Morrison with each issue drawn by a different artist, the story takes in the entire DC universe and the myriad alternate Earths within that, as an abstract threat attempts to tear down each of the fictional universes. Also that threat might be a metaphor for editorial interference or changing trends or something. Meta! Each issue takes place in a different part of the multiverse, with the prior issue existing as a comic in that universe. Confused? Yeah, it'd probably be worrying if it made sense on the first try. You would've had to be on as many drugs as Morrison in the nineties. The stand-out best issue of the run so far has been Pax Americana, a one-off that stands alone from the rest of the series and is also on of the most inventive, dense and compelling comics in a good long while. With long-term collaborator Frank Quitely Morrison provides a modern-day spin on Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic deconstructionist graphic novel that also comments on Watchmen? Confusing. It also borrows Watchmen's thing of the front cover also being the first panel of the book, with a burning peace flag that also (unintentionally or otherwise) resembles the current DC logo.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
