Andy Lanning

Suicide Squad: The New 52 Omnibus collects the violent, mission-driven Task Force X run built around Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark and Amanda Waller. Across 856 pages, the book follows disposable villains sent into impossible operations where survival is part reward and part manipulation. This is not a clean heroic team book: its appeal is pressure, mistrust and the way the New 52 turns DC criminals into weapons for the state. Adam Glass, Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett keep the squad unstable, messy and dangerous, which is exactly why the book should sit under Suicide Squad as a team entity rather than under any single member.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning built the modern Guardians of the Galaxy from scratch in 2008, assembling a team from the wreckage of the Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest cosmic events. The DnA Guardians — Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, Drax — were a deliberately makeshift team held together by necessity rather than destiny. This run is the direct creative source for the James Gunn films. Collects Guardians of the Galaxy #1–25, the complete DnA run, plus key tie-in issues.