Even two issues before its conclusion Batman #161’s fourth chapter of “Hush 2” has proven a number of things: First, with the right story, creators can go home again.

Where Magnus Robot Fighter #1-4 (“Steel Nation”) witnessed the initial world-building and set the stage, the second story arc, “Invasion,” cemented the world of 4001 A.D. for readers. In the initial arc, writer Jim Shooter and artist Art Nichols presented readers with an immense, complicated world to which they added equal layers of action and moral conflict. In this arc, Shooter makes the world even more complicated and yet draws the moral quandaries into starker relief.

Beginning in 1990 at Aircel Publishing, Cat & Mouse told the story of two thieves in New Orleans caught in between the Yakuza and the Mafia, which were each attempting to control the city.

What makes the best comic book covers? It’s a great topic for debate. For us as individuals there is no wrong answer, of course. It’s purely subjective. But with a little thought, it is frequently possible to explain what it is about a particular image that grabs you

In the pages of the “Steel Nation” arc that originally ran in Magnus Robot Fighter #1-4, Shooter and artist Art Nichols introduced Magnus to a whole new audience and reintroduced him to older fans.

When writer-artist Graham Nolan and writer Chuck Dixon’s Joe Frankenstein first hit from IDW Publishing in 2015, I somehow missed the first issue, so I ended up not reading the four-issue series. Then I compounded my mistake by completely missing IDW’s hardcover collected edition as well.

The second Eagle Comics issue of Judge Dredd takes readers to the moon, specifically the colony of Lunar 1, where the political tensions on Earth have clearly extended their entangling reach. US and Soviet tensions run high and contribute significantly to the tales.

For The Avengers #200, a real landmark issue for Marvel when it was released in 1980, Pérez got to once again handle not only The Beast and Wonder Man, but also Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Scarlet Witch, The Vision, The Wasp, Yellowjacket and Jocasta.

On any list of distinctive, game-changing works from that period must be Dean Motter’s Mister X, a brilliant blend of crisp design sensibilities, early German cinema, the art deco movement, and the concept of “retro futurism” and mysteries wrapped in further mysteries.