Marvel & DC omnibus editions

The eleventh volume runs the magazine into its final years, with Dixon and Moench writing and Paul Gulacy turning up to draw some of the best looking Conan of the decade. Collects the eleventh run of The Savage Sword of Conan, written by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench and Don Kraar with art by Gary Kwapisz and Paul Gulacy.

Robert E. Howard's other great creation is a puritan swordsman who walks the world punishing evil because he believes God told him to, and he is far stranger company than Conan. Collects the first run of Marvel's Solomon Kane comics, adapted by Roy Thomas and Don Glut from Robert E. Howard with art by David Wenzel and Howard Chaykin.

Robert E. Howard's other great creation is a puritan swordsman who walks the world punishing evil because he believes God told him to, and he is far stranger company than Conan. Collects the first run of Marvel's Solomon Kane comics, adapted by Roy Thomas and Don Glut from Robert E. Howard with art by David Wenzel and Howard Chaykin.

Four mercenaries who drink more than they fight take contracts in a town that tolerates them because the alternative is worse. Kurtis J. Wiebe wrote Rat Queens as a fantasy party comedy and then spent sixty issues letting the characters get complicated enough to hurt each other.

Paprika is a young woman in a world of anthropomorphic animals where desire is the engine of everything and nobody admits it. Mirka Andolfo writes and draws the whole thing herself, as adult comedy with a cartoonist's timing rather than as erotica with a plot attached.

A perfectly ordinary man crash lands on a planet where absolutely everybody has superpowers, which makes him the freak. Jim Valentino wrote and drew normalman in 1984 as a parody of the entire superhero industry, years before he co-founded the company that now publishes it.

Spy vs. Spy Omnibus: Antonio Prohías's wordless MAD strip in an oversized hardcover. Two identical spies, one in black and one in white, trade traps, bombs and double-crosses, and neither ever wins for long.

Batgirl: Cassandra Cain Omnibus Vol. 1 collects the run built around a protagonist who barely speaks. Raised as a weapon and taught to read body language instead of words, Cassandra Cain became the most unusual Batgirl DC has had, and Kelley Puckett sustained it for years.

Peter Parker hits the Big Time: a full Avenger, a high-paying science job and a new girlfriend, and the pressure that comes with all three. The Hobgoblin returns, the Scorpion goes after J. Jonah Jameson and his family, Spider-Man joins the Fantastic Four, a new Venom debuts, and Manhattan wakes up with Peter's powers in Spider-Island. The official Marvel listing gives 1,376 pages.

Peter Parker hits the Big Time: a full Avenger, a high-paying science job and a new girlfriend, and the pressure that comes with all three. The Hobgoblin returns, the Scorpion goes after J. Jonah Jameson and his family, Spider-Man joins the Fantastic Four, a new Venom debuts, and Manhattan wakes up with Peter's powers in Spider-Island. The official Marvel listing gives 1,376 pages.

Roger Stern and John Romita Jr. on The Amazing Spider-Man: the Vulture's return, the fight with the Juggernaut, the debut of the Hobgoblin, clashes with the Mad Thinker and Thunderball, and a love life complicated by the Black Cat and the return of Mary Jane Watson. The official Marvel listing gives 952 pages.

Roger Stern and John Romita Jr. on The Amazing Spider-Man: the Vulture's return, the fight with the Juggernaut, the debut of the Hobgoblin, clashes with the Mad Thinker and Thunderball, and a love life complicated by the Black Cat and the return of Mary Jane Watson. The official Marvel listing gives 952 pages.

Mister Sinister and the demon N'astirh set their plans in motion and Inferno spreads across the Marvel Universe: the Marauders attack the X-Men, demons overrun New York, Illyana Rasputin fights for her soul, and Madelyne Pryor, now the Goblin Queen, threatens to turn Earth into a wasteland. The X-Men, X-Factor and the New Mutants face it together, with Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four drawn into the crossover. The official Marvel listing gives 1,240 pages.

Mister Sinister and the demon N'astirh set their plans in motion and Inferno spreads across the Marvel Universe: the Marauders attack the X-Men, demons overrun New York, Illyana Rasputin fights for her soul, and Madelyne Pryor, now the Goblin Queen, threatens to turn Earth into a wasteland. The X-Men, X-Factor and the New Mutants face it together, with Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four drawn into the crossover. The official Marvel listing gives 1,240 pages.

Animal Man by Jamie Delano and Steve Pugh Omnibus collects the run that followed Grant Morrison, in which Buddy Baker's connection to the animal kingdom becomes something closer to body horror and his family life falls apart around it. Delano took the strangest book at DC and made it stranger.

Wolverine shares the spotlight with Man-Thing, Shang-Chi, Black Panther and other Marvel characters in the opening years of Marvel Comics Presents. Chris Claremont, Steve Gerber, Doug Moench and Don McGregor are among the writers shaping an anthology that moves between serial adventures, short stories and very different corners of the Marvel Universe.

Wolverine shares the spotlight with Man-Thing, Shang-Chi, Black Panther and other Marvel characters in the opening years of Marvel Comics Presents. Chris Claremont, Steve Gerber, Doug Moench and Don McGregor are among the writers shaping an anthology that moves between serial adventures, short stories and very different corners of the Marvel Universe.

Jed MacKay sets the Avengers against the Ashen Combine, Kang and the mysteries of Myrddin’s Twilight Court. The Impossible City becomes their base, Storm joins the team and the fight expands to Orchis and Doctor Doom’s rule. Alongside the main series, the volume includes MacKay’s Avengers Mech Strike adventure.

Jed MacKay sets the Avengers against the Ashen Combine, Kang and the mysteries of Myrddin’s Twilight Court. The Impossible City becomes their base, Storm joins the team and the fight expands to Orchis and Doctor Doom’s rule. Alongside the main series, the volume includes MacKay’s Avengers Mech Strike adventure.

Wally West steps out of Barry Allen's shadow and becomes his own kind of Flash in the second of the two omnibus volumes of William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque's run, the stories that shaped the character: heart, humour and the friends and family who remind him he never runs alone. The official DC listing gives 944 pages.

David Michelinie, Bob Layton and John Romita Jr. put Tony Stark’s life outside the armour at the centre of Iron Man. His struggle with alcoholism and the arrival of Justin Hammer sit alongside a clash with the Hulk, new suits of armour and a journey with Doctor Doom into the age of King Arthur.

David Michelinie, Bob Layton and John Romita Jr. put Tony Stark’s life outside the armour at the centre of Iron Man. His struggle with alcoholism and the arrival of Justin Hammer sit alongside a clash with the Hulk, new suits of armour and a journey with Doctor Doom into the age of King Arthur.

Judd Winick puts Oliver Queen’s public responsibilities and private loyalties on a collision course. Enemies threaten Star City and the people around him, while Connor Hawke begins to define a future beyond his father’s shadow. This second Archer’s Quest volume follows both men as the cost of being Green Arrow becomes harder to keep at a distance.

Superman by Phillip Kennedy Johnson Omnibus Vol. 2 continues the run that sent Superman to Warworld to free its slaves, stripped of most of his power and with no guarantee of coming back. Kennedy Johnson writes him as a man who keeps going because stopping is not available to him.