DC Comics

Hitman by Garth Ennis and John McCrea Omnibus Vol. 1 collects one of DC's great hidden-gem runs. Tommy Monaghan is a Gulf War veteran turned contract killer in the Cauldron, a rough Irish corner of Gotham; a alien bite leaves him with X-ray vision and telepathy, and he sets himself up as the hitman who specializes in killing super-people. Ennis and McCrea — years before their creator-owned fame — blend savage dark comedy with genuine pathos and one of comics' great supporting casts, the regulars of Noonan's bar. Brutal, funny and unexpectedly moving.

The Authority Omnibus Vol. 2 follows the team's dangerous space between rescue and political force, shaped by intervention, power, violence and the uncomfortable line between protection and control. The appeal is seeing this DC period collected as one reading path, with its own tone, cast and visual rhythm.

Hellblazer by Garth Ennis Omnibus is the run that turns John Constantine into a bruised, funny and spiritually exhausted survivor. Ennis and Steve Dillon balance pub realism, religious horror, old guilt and vicious comedy, making Constantine feel less like a superhero occult lead and more like a man who keeps winning by losing pieces of himself. Its shelf value is character voice: cynical, wounded, profane and still strangely human.