Marvel Various

The second volume of Golden Age Captain America collecting more of the original Joe Simon and Jack Kirby run: the stories that cemented Cap as a wartime cultural icon. This omnibus continues directly from Volume 1, featuring Bucky Barnes at his most active, increasingly inventive villains, and Kirby's artwork growing ever more dynamic and confident.

Avengers: The Crossing is one of Marvel's most ambitious and divisive mid-90s storylines — a complex conspiracy narrative revealing that Iron Man had been a secret agent of Kang the Conqueror for years, manipulating events from inside the team. The storyline required the teenage alternate-universe version of Tony Stark to replace the compromised adult, a desperate editorial solution to the dead-end the Crossing's plot had created. Bob Harras coordinated a crossover that remains historically fascinating for how thoroughly it was reversed in subsequent years.

Avengers: The Gathering collects the material that Kurt Busiek and George Pérez used to set up their major Avengers run — the prelude issues, the Thunderbolts crossover material, and the gathering of heroes following the extended period when the main Avengers were missing after the Onslaught event. Busiek's preparatory work established the emotional and narrative foundation for one of the best-received Avengers creative runs in the team's history.