"Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt" Watch

Watch was the main story of the Peter Canon Thunderbolt series writen by Kieron Gillen and pencilled by Caspar Wijngaard.

Argument

The story tells how Peter Cannon faces an alien invasion helping the superheroes of his world to defeat and act united against this common enemy. However he suspects than such invasion is false and a way to force the goverments of the different nuclear powers to act as one against a different enemy. And the only person who could creae such plan is Peter Cannon himself.

Using the knowledge of the Ancient Scrolls, Peter and the Meta-Agents travel to a parallel universe where an evil Peter Cannon has been creating and sending alien invaders to see if they can transform their societies.

The Meta-agents are defeated by "Thunderbolt" and Cannon must run away twhen he discovers he can't defeat him there. In his run throught the space between worlds, he reach a world whitout superheroes and where another version of himself, Pete Cannon, is just a normal guy who spend his time with a crow of friend in a local pub. In this world, Cannon discovers the key to defeat Thunderbolt.

Peter choose to return to face Thunderbolt when he sees how Thunderbolt has started his alien invasion on this new world. One in Thunderbolt's world, he using his new knowledge than includes break the formalism of the comic narrative (breaking the fourth wall of sort) is what defeats his doppelganger. Uncapable of win, his twin escape thinking he has learned the way to travel to other universes, but Cannon knew than he didn't could do it. For that, he should had to want to change. And that it was something than Thunderbolt didn't wanted to do. Thunderbolt found death thorugh "formalism".

Peter Cannon then returned to his world with the robotic Tabu from Thunderbolt world and with the bodies of his colleagues, after learning new ways to face the future.

Analysis

The story properly is a refutation against the themes and concepts of the Watchmen series. Through Thunderbolt, who was the inspiration of Ozymandias, Gillen opposes the alternative and also make comments about the narrative in comics and how the market works.

The story make two different references to the Watchmen characters (inspired in the action heroes of Charlton) in their heroic identities and in their civilian identites. Also, references to the authors are showed in the story.