Ed Brubaker

Bruce Wayne is framed for the murder of his girlfriend Vesper Fairchild and makes the controversial decision to abandon his civilian identity entirely — no more Bruce Wayne, only Batman. Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker weave a detective thriller where every member of the Bat-family — Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, Oracle — must work independently to prove the innocence of a man who no longer wants to be saved. A turning point for Batman before the New 52 that shows the character at his most psychologically stripped down.

Catwoman of East End Omnibus collects the Brubaker/Cooke era that turns Selina Kyle into a street-level protector with noir texture and moral ambiguity. Instead of treating Catwoman only as Batman's thief-romance counterpart, the run gives her a neighborhood, a supporting cast and a reason to stay in costume that belongs to East End. It is one of the clearest Catwoman shelves for readers who want crime fiction, character reinvention and Gotham seen from below.

The Authority Omnibus Vol. 2 continues the WildStorm experiment after the original shockwave, collecting later-era stories where the team becomes government, target, myth and liability all at once. Across 1600 pages, Ed Brubaker, Dustin Nguyen, Robbie Morrison, Garth Ennis and others explore what happens when a superhero team powerful enough to change the world has to live with the political consequences of doing exactly that.

Stephanie Brown wanted to prove she deserved to be Robin. Instead, she triggered a Batman contingency plan that required Batman as its centerpiece — and without him, Gotham burns. Every crime family goes to open war. Black Mask emerges as the new crime lord. War Games is the crossover that changed Gotham forever, told across all Batman titles in 1120 pages.