Marvel & DC Omnibus

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 3 closes Johns' Lantern saga around resurrected heroes and villains, the rebuilt Corps and the New 52 stretch of Hal Jordan's story.

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 2 moves the run into Blackest Night, where the emotional spectrum faces death itself. Hal Jordan and the Lantern Corps are pulled into a cosmic war against the Black Lanterns, with DC's dead rising across the universe.

Batman by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale Omnibus is the noir spine of modern Batman reading: The Long Halloween, Dark Victory and related material built around mystery, seasonal structure and the slow transformation of Gotham's crime world. Sale's silhouettes and Loeb's detective rhythm give the era a distinct identity between mob city and super-villain city.

Second classic volume with Stan Lee and Herb Trimpe. Trimpe visually defined the Hulk for a whole generation of readers in the 70s and is the cartoonist we always come back to as a classic reference. Clashes with the military, Leader, Juggernaut. The Hulk before Peter David came to psychoanalyse him.

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.

Classic third volume with Roy Thomas on script and Herb Trimpe on art: the era when the Hulk ceases to be "that weird Marvel character" and becomes a cultural phenomenon, culminating in the 1970s TV series. Thomas introduces emotional nuances that Stan Lee had barely explored, paving the way for Peter David.

The Mighty Thor Omnibus Vol. 5 closes the classic pre-Simonson stretch, with Gerry Conway, Len Wein and John Buscema guiding Thor through late Bronze Age Asgard before the next generational change. The value is transition: old mythic machinery preparing to hand the hammer forward. Its shelf value is transition: the late Bronze Age Thor machine preparing the ground for the next great reinvention while still rooted in Buscema's classical Asgard.

Marc Guggenheim (showrunner of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow) brings his sense of TV pacing to the comic: each issue with its emotional arc, each arc with its climax, and the whole working as a serialised season. Focus on individual characters and the ethical dilemmas that define mutants. Good gateway to the modern format.

The Ultimate relaunch of the foundational Marvel team with a teenage genius Reed Richards, a college Johnny Storm, a young scientist Sue Storm and a Ben Grimm as his childhood best friend. Adam Kubert on absolute form: one of the best Marvel cartoonists of the 2000s. Co-scripted with Brian Michael Bendis.

DC Versus Marvel Omnibus brings the rare cross-publisher meetings back into one oversized volume: Superman and Spider-Man, Batman and Captain America, the X-Men and Teen Titans, Punisher crossovers and the DC/Marvel battles that were out of print for decades.

Secret Wars: Battleworld Omnibus Vol. 2 collects another wave of 2015 Battleworld tie-ins, with Doom's patchwork reality turning Marvel characters into domain-level conflicts, alternate versions and genre experiments.

Spider-Man Brand New Day Omnibus Vol. 2 is where the rotating post-One More Day era starts to find its rhythm. Dan Slott becomes the dominant voice, John Romita Jr. brings muscular Spider-Man energy and Peter Parker's rebuilt life gains momentum through new villains and supporting-cast pressure. The volume is useful because it shows Brand New Day becoming less a reset shock and more a working Spider-Man engine, moving Peter toward Big Time and the later Slott era.