There is some confluence here. Bryan Hitch used to draw The Ultimates for Marvel. Now he writes Justice League for DC. And Al Ewing writes Ultimates for Marvel. And today they seem to be doing similar things…

Justice League #25, during an epic battle, has Batman on the sidelines talking – or being talked to – about the very nature of reality. In quite a meta way.

Sorry, that was Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Back to the totally unrelated Justice League #25…

Familiar phrasing there. But also the idea that storytelling repeats. That stories get told again and again, lacking originality, regurgitations of what has been before. Indeed, criticism that Alan Moore himself has made about DC Comics reusing stories of his, time and time again.

I increasingly get a sense of the comics industry going through my trashcan like raccoons in the dead of the night… That's a good image, isn't it? They weren't even particularly good ideas.

And that was even before they got to Watchmen in DC Rebirth.

It's just that the characters involved rarely notice. But when they do, things start to break. Especially when they get the idea that a creator might be involved.

Why the DC universe revolves around the Earth? It may be the only worthwhile question asked by someone in the DC – or Marvel universes. Although maybe a little less with the "Bruce", unless you are Australian, that's only going to be interpreted one way.

And indeed, in today's Ultimates2 #9, that's exactly what The Maker, the Ultimate Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe, a character designed by Bryan Hitch, is asking. And also filling us in on the Maker's relationship with the end of Secret Wars.

Pointing out that in that universe, every story can be rewritten, taking advantage of having everything revolve around that particular Earth.

And contrasting Marvel's actions showing it all, vast intelligences and existential concepts punching and fighting over it all and commenting on it – with DC Comics' simply commenting on it.

As today's US Avengers, also written by Al Ewing reminds us, that's pretty much all that's going on!

And yes, that line about puppets seeing the strings? We know where that's from too… so where is iut all going?

Is the darkness Dark Matter? Or Doomsday?

Justice League #25, Ultimates2 #8 and US Avengers #8 are all published today. Doomsday Clock is published in November.