Grant Morrison famously both paid homage to and critiqued Watchmen in their 2014 masterwork The Multiversity: Pax Americana, but the writer recently revealed that original plans would have seen them continue the story beyond that initial one-shot issue.
The fourth installment of Grant Morrison’s superhero magnum opus The Multiversity, Pax Americana takes place on Earth-4, the dystopian home of Charlton heroes like The Question, Blue Beetle and Captain Atom. The Charlton characters were originally meant to be the main heroes in Watchmen, so Morrison uses the setting and characters of Earth-4 as a way to comment on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ famous work. And, if Morrison had had their way, it would have only been the first installment of many more adventures.
Recently, Grant Morrison has been annotating each issue of The Multiversity via their newsletter Xanaduum. In the most recent installment covering Pax Americana, Morrison reveals that they could have continued telling stories in the world of Earth-4 for more issues. Says Morrison: “I felt certain I could write an 8-issue Pax Americana series with the same level of depth and complexity every issue – and had some interesting ideas for bringing in new storytelling techniques each time.” Indeed, the initial plans for The Multiversity were for each installment to act as the launching pad for a whole line of comics exploring the various worlds Morrison created for the larger DC Multiverse after it was reinstated in the pages of 52.
Grant Morrison Wanted to Continue the Story of Pax Americana
Even though Pax Americana acts a perfect story in-and-of itself, Morrison does pepper in intriguing details that could be further fleshed out in subsequent stories. Earth-4 is filled with fascinating characters, whether it’s the younger Nightshade, eager to fill in where her superhero mom left off, or the mysterious Sarge Steel, a private eye/spy with a mechanical left hand who never appears on-panel throughout the issue. Morrison also recalls Rorschach with their version of the Watchmen antihero’s progenitor, The Question/Vic Sage. Much like Rorschach, this version of The Question goes through an extreme change following some traumatic event, although we never see what happens to instill the character’s violent rebirth. According to Morrison, they know the reason for Vic Sage’s transformation, but the writer isn’t willing to spill the beans just yet: “I had a killer idea for the event that brought about [The Question’s] breakdown – one so good I daren’t write it down in case someone makes off with it.” The reason fans never got any more adventures on Earth-4? According to Morrison, it all came down to his artist and frequent collaborator, Frank Quitely. Morrison writes: “Frank Quitely was quite understandably unwilling to commit years of his life to a corporate superhero gig based on a bunch of C-list character acquisitions, so Pax Americana stands alone!” It’s a shame, but totally understandable – Morrison wouldn’t want to continue the story without Quitely, as the acclaimed artist’s work is what truly elevates Pax Americana to the next level.
With any luck, DC Comics will pick up where Grant Morrison left off with their Watchmen homage and continue the story of Pax Americana some day soon.
