Justice League: The New 52 Omnibus Vol. 1 is the flagship book of DC's 2011 relaunch: Geoff Johns and Jim Lee rebuilding the League from first contact, suspicion and Darkseid-scale pressure. It matters because the team is being invented inside a universe where superheroes are new, feared and not yet trusted.

Closing of the Snyder-Tynion run with Year of the Villain and Justice/Doom War. Perpetua, an entity that predates the creation of the DC multiverse, threatens to rewrite the entire reality. Jorge Jiménez pencils epic compositions that define the current Justice League aesthetic. End of the Snyder cycle at DC.

Closing of the longest run ever written about the Hulk: 12 uninterrupted years of Peter David on the title. It collects the final arcs of the run, the process of defusion of the Hulk's personalities and the narrative closure of all the threads that David had opened for more than a decade. End of the cycle.

The moment when Peter David merges the three personalities of the Hulk into a single entity: Professor Hulk. Body of the original, intelligence of Banner, cunning of Grey. Considered by many to be the best Hulk ever written and the version Marvel Studios adopted for Avengers: Endgame. Dale Keown on the art.

Peter David takes Hulk in 1987 and plants the thesis of dissociative disorder: Savage Hulk, Grey Hulk, Banner as separate personalities. This theory was adopted as canon in later film, television and comics. Art by Dale Keown, one of the key names in the Hulk aesthetic of the 90s. Beginning of one of the longest runs ever written about a Marvel character.

52 Omnibus is DC's weekly experiment after Infinite Crisis, a year without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman at the centre. Booster Gold, Renee Montoya, Black Adam, The Question, Steel and Ralph Dibny carry the universe while Johns, Morrison, Rucka and Waid make the absence of the Trinity feel like a narrative engine. It belongs in Events, not under Batman.

The second volume of Morrison's run executes his riskiest move yet: kill off (apparently) Bruce Wayne and let Dick Grayson take up the mantle. The Dick-Damian duo Morrison builds here is one of the best Batman and Robin ever written. Art by Frank Quitely, Morrison's long-time collaborator on All-Star Superman and We3.

Batman: No Man's Land Omnibus Vol. 2 closes the ruined-Gotham saga after months of gang borders, collapsed institutions and Bat-family survival. Lex Luthor enters with reconstruction money, the Joker delivers one of the era's cruelest final blows and Batman has to decide what saving Gotham means after the city has already been abandoned.

The era that transformed Daredevil from a minor title to one of Marvel's most respected comics. Frank Miller creates Elektra, reinvents the Kingpin, introduces the Hand Ninjas and writes Born Again: considered one of the 10 best superhero comics ever written. Miller also draws the seminal story — his art on Daredevil is raw, urban and unlike anything else in 1980s Marvel. Direct basis for the Netflix series and the Daredevil reboot.

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 1 is the modern rehabilitation of Hal Jordan and the launchpad for the emotional spectrum era. Rebirth brings Hal back, Sinestro Corps War expands the conflict and the Corps becomes cosmic mythology again. Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis and Carlos Pacheco help define the visual scale, while Johns builds the architecture that leads toward Blackest Night.

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 3 closes Johns' long Lantern architecture with War of the Green Lanterns, Sinestro's impossible return to the Corps and the road into the New 52. Its value is resolution: Hal, Sinestro, the Guardians and the emotional spectrum all reach the point where the mythology has to break, reset or transform.

Second volume with Lee and Kirby in full swing: Kirby at the absolute peak of his visual creativity and Lee taking Thor to scales no other Marvel character could handle. Sagas with Galactus, confrontations with Hela, exploration of Mephisto. Some of the most visually beautiful comics ever published by Marvel.

The Mighty Thor Omnibus Vol. 3 is the post-Kirby transition where John Buscema becomes the visual anchor for Asgard. The book matters because Thor has to keep mythic weight after Kirby leaves, and Buscema answers with anatomy, solemn staging and classical power. It is a visual evolution shelf for classic Thor, preserving the moment where John Buscema's solemn power carries Asgard after Kirby's explosive foundation.

Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley kick off the most acclaimed Spider-Man run ever written: 111 consecutive issues without interruption (an absolute record in modern Marvel). Ultimate version of the origin reimagined for the 21st century. It is, for many critics, the best Spider-Man ever written. A must for any fan.

Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 4 is the transition from the historic Bendis-Bagley partnership into Stuart Immonen's cleaner, more cinematic era. The book shows the title surviving a major artistic change while Peter Parker moves toward Ultimatum pressure and darker consequences. Its role is transition: same Bendis voice, new visual language from Stuart Immonen and the road toward events that reshape the Ultimate Spider-Man line.