Joe Kelly

Joe Kelly's Amazing Spider-Man run is one of the most emotionally varied of the modern era. He moves effortlessly from the hilarious Deadpool team-ups — still considered among the best Deadpool stories ever written — to the devastating Rhino story that became one of fandom's most discussed single issues, to the brutal Grim Hunt arc where Kraven's family hunts down every spider-hero. Kelly understands Peter Parker's voice perfectly. Art by Ed McGuinness and Chris Bachalo at their most dynamic.

The explosive conclusion to Our Worlds at War collects the all-out battle against Imperiex and Brainiac-13 across the entire DC Universe. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, the Teen Titans, Young Justice, and virtually every hero face annihilation in this universe-defining event written by Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly, Phil Jimenez, Joe Casey, Mark Schultz, and Ed Brubaker with art by Ed McGuinness, Doug Mahnke, Mike Wieringo, and Kano. At 1,080 pages, this volume delivers the full scope of the war's devastating climax and its lasting consequences for the DC Universe. One of the most ambitious Superman crossovers ever collected.

Superman: Our Worlds at War Omnibus Vol. 1 is the opening half of DC's Imperiex conflict, where Superman's world turns from personal heroism into wartime mobilization. Joe Kelly frames the threat as cosmic destruction with real civilian and heroic cost. The value is the event's pressure on the Superman line: Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, Superman and Man of Steel all become fronts in the same war.

Joe Kelly's Deadpool run is the creative moment that transformed a 90s mercenary character into something genuinely literary — Kelly introduced the fourth-wall awareness as a systematic device, gave Deadpool his signature voice, and wrote the first truly great Deadpool story in issue #11's time-travel team-up with the Golden Age hero, which remains one of the most moving single issues in the character's history. Kelly balanced comedy and tragedy in a way that no subsequent writer has fully replicated, and his Deadpool is the template against which every later run is measured.

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.

Closing of the rotating phase before the start of Dan Slott's Big Time. The writers close their individual arcs and prepare the ground for the next phase: Horizon Labs, Spider-Island and the preparation of Superior Spider-Man. The end of Marvel's most ambitious editorial experiment with the character in decades.