“Who watches the Watchmen?” It’s a phrase I’ve been familiar with through pop culture, and when I started getting into comics last year, I kept seeing Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal work appearing on best-of lists. On my first trip back to Perth in a year in February, Jacob bought me this stunning edition with the deliciously ASMR-inducing lenticular cover, and I have been fascinated exploring this depiction of an alternate reality, as the path of world events from WWII through to the Cold War was impacted by 2 generations of superheroes.

It starts with a murder, and the hunt for a killer, but quickly becomes a much larger and broader philosophical mystery that delves into notions of power, corruption and the meaning of life and humanity.

“A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally there’s no discernible difference. Life and death are unquantifiable abstracts.” A stunning piece of work that is deserving of its acclaim, and of the reread I’m going to have to eventually give it in order to fully wrap my brain around the enormity of it.